Canadians discover long-lost ship ‘fundamental’ to arctic sovereignty

National Post ^ | July 28, 2010 | Don Martin

[Squawk 8888]

MERCY BAY, N.W.T. • The ship whose crew discovered Canada’s Northwest Passage has been found 155 years after it was abandoned and disappeared in this isolated Arctic bay, a historic find and one that may help bolster Canadian claims to Arctic sovereignty.

The wreck of HMS Investigator was detected in shallow water within days of Parks Canada archeologists launching an ambitious search for the 422-ton ship from a chilly tent encampment on the Beaufort Sea shoreline.

“It’s sitting upright in silt; the three masts have been removed, probably by ice,” said Ifan Thomas, Parks Canada’s superintendent of the western Arctic Field Unit. “It’s a largely intact ship in very cold water, so deterioration didn’t happen very quickly.”

[Squawk 8888]

(((.)))

[Paladin2]

"HMS Investigator was a merchant ship purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin's lost expedition. She made two voyages to the Arctic and had to be abandoned in 1853 after becoming trapped in the ice. She was the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name."

Wouldn't this give the UK a claim to the Arctic?

[ClearCase_guy]

Canada became Canada is various stages as the UK gave up land rights. I believe the Northwest territories transitioned from the UK to Canada in about 1870. Any relevant rights that the UK might have claimed then became Canadian rights.

[CholeraJoe]

What about those pesky Viking settlements in Labrador, on Baffin Island and Hudson Bay? They predate this discovery by 900 years. Seems like Norway and Iceland really have claim to the high Arctic.

[The_Victor]

What about those pesky Viking settlements in Labrador, on Baffin Island and Hudson Bay? They predate this discovery by 900 years. Seems like Norway and Iceland really have claim to the high Arctic.

Except that Norway and Iceland cannot claim any kind of government lineage to the Vikings. Any legal claim to the lands died with the Viking civilization.

[Dan B Cooper]

http://www.jstor.org/pss/280509

[Tainan]

They find any whisky in the supplies?

[Rodamala]

Solving that mystery — thanks in part to changes in climate, since the first recorded year Mercy Bay was ice-free was the summer of 2007 — puts an ending to one of the Arctic’s greatest marine dramas.

GLOBAL WARMING ALERT!!!

Makes one wonder how exactly that ship got to where it was abandoned with all that ice/less CO2 pollution back in 1851. /sarcasm

[Clive]

-

[CholeraJoe]

Sorry, I don't believe so. The Icelandic Parliament, the Althing or Alþingi Íslendinga first began to meet in AD 930 and has met continuously since, except for the period 1799-1844. When Germany occupied Denmark in April, 1940, the Althing declared its sovereignty and independence from Denmark. The current Icelandic government can trace its existence back nearly 1100 years.

[The_Victor]

From Wikipedia

Towards the end of the 14th century, royal succession brought both Norway and Iceland under the control of the Danish monarchy. With the introduction of absolute monarchy in Denmark, the Icelanders relinquished their autonomy to the crown, including the right to initiate and consent to legislation. After that, the Althing served almost exclusively as a court of law until the year 1800.

The Althing was disbanded by royal decree in 1800. A new High Court, established by this same decree and located in Reykjavík, took over the functions of Lögrétta. [snip] It operated until 1920, when the Supreme Court of Iceland was established.

Being beholden to a government (the Danish Monarchy) that is distinctly not Viking, I would say lineage broken, but the truth of the matter is that it's all pretty much irrelevant.

[SunkenCiv]

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