In the mid-19th century, two British ships (the Erebus and the Terror), set off in search of the mythical Northwest Passage, become trapped by the Arctic ice. More than a century and a half later, underwater archaeologists have found one of the two wrecks. Broadcast on Saturday, January 9, 2016, at 20:50 on Arte, this captivating documentary film reveals the key to a maritime mystery over a century old.A bit of history…What was supposed to be a triumph of the British Empire turns into a nightmare. Indeed, in 1845, in the midst of territorial wars with other major world powers, the Royal Navy sends two ships, commanded by Sir John Franklin, into Arctic lands. The Crown aims to chart the impenetrable Northwest Passage, an unknown area supposedly linking the Atlantic to the Pacific by way of northern Canada. Despite the modern equipment of the ships, ice traps the convoy, forcing the sailors to spend two winters on site. Unfortunately, none of them will survive, and the two ships end up being engulfed by the ice.… on a fascinating maritime mysteryIn September 2014, after years of unsuccessful searches, teams of Canadian archaeologists, assisted by coast guard vessels, finally discovered one of the two ships. It is the HMS Erebus, which lies at a depth of eleven meters in the Gulf of Queen Maud. Computer-generated images from sonar enabled the creation of a 3D simulation of the wreck, down to its most astonishing details. Combining iconography, historians’ testimonies, and historical reconstructions around the quest for the wreck, this documentary will immerse you in the heart of the subject.
Save