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August 24, 2003
Last Day on Disko Island
The Sea Hunters departed Disko Island and arrived safely in Aasiaat where they will spend the night. Tomorrow they head back home to Canada.
Posted by victoria at 10:44 PM | Comments (0)
August 23, 2003
Diving the Fox: Dive 2
On today's dive the team recorded dimensions and surveyed the surrounding area. This will be the second arctic wreck to be archeologically documented.
The water was clear and the dive went well. The Fox appears to be flat, 2 dimensional. Jim believes the Fox has been pressed into the seabed after years of pressure from the ice and harsh elements.
However, he tells us that the large features, like the frame timbers and boiler are evident.
Posted by victoria at 04:28 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2003
Diving the Fox: First Dive
The first dive on the Fox went well. Although arctic conditions, it was a shallow dive causing the suits not to decompress, keeping the team warm. From the visuals obtained today Jim believes it will take archaeology to figure out just what happened to the Fox. Jim will plan out the targets for the next dive based on what was seen today.
Posted by victoria at 12:22 PM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2003
Delgado Explores on Land
While Mike and Warren were out on a dive Jim got to explore Qeqertarsuaq. As Executive Director of the Vancouver Maritime Museum Jim's first stop was to The local Museum.
Qeqertarsuaq Museum
The building that houses the Qeqertarsuaq Museum served as the Inspector’s home for over a hundred years. It has filled many roles in this small community such as: office, trade depot, meeting room and reception hall.
In 1950 the Inspectorate position was eliminated and the building became the doctor’s house, and later a standard family home, until 1992 when it was made into the museum it is today.
The museum’s permanent collection covers two floors, and stretches outside in the summer months. The upper floor holds the Greenlandic Christmas customs exhibit, library and study room, while the ground floor focuses on Greenlandic hunting traditions. The hunting exhibit includes a traditional whaling sloop and kayak. In addition the museum also exhibits traditional utensils and other items of archaeological importance to the area.
Posted by victoria at 02:12 PM | Comments (0)
Diving a Whaler: The Wildfire
Today Mike and Warren had a rare experience. On the advice of locals they set off to find another shipwreck the Wildfire. The Sea Hunter couldn't come all this way and not explore. After an initial dive by Warren, confirming the Wildfire was there, Mike joined him in the water. They were probably the first people to ever dive this vessel.
Posted by victoria at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2003
Whaling
Prior to the demand for whale oil created by the Europeans, the natives of Greenland hunted whales for food, using everything including the baleen and bone. Whale products were an important means of trade for the indigenous peoples of Greenland. They held a great respect for the animals that provided them with nourishment and emphasized the importance of showing respect for the whales to ensure a safe and successful hunt.
During the 17th and 18th centuries European whalers pushed the right whale to the brink of extinction. The colonial settlers held little regard for Inuit beliefs and traditional methods. With the considerable economic value of these products, this species gained its name because whalers considered it the 'right' whales for their industry. They were easy to approach, lived close to shore, floated when they were dead, and provided large quantities of valuable oil, meat, and whalebone.
Posted by victoria at 08:58 AM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2003
Arrival
After flying out of Iqaluit at 6:30am the Sea Hunters arrived at the Aasiaat Airport in Greenland. With no time to waste, they went right into town to obtain a vessel to take them to Disko Island. After trouble with the initial vessel they proceeded to catch a ride with Shrimper, Mr. West.
At last contact they had arrived on Disko Island.
Posted by victoria at 07:51 PM | Comments (0)
Greenland
Greenland is located in Northern North America. It is the world's largest non-continental island situated in the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Canada.
Roughly three times the size of Texas, the terrain is flat with slight sloping icecap covering all but a narrow, mountainous, desolate, rocky coastline.
The people of Greenland are dedicated to the protection of the arctic environment. They have been able to preserve their Inuit traditional way of life, including the both whaling and seal hunting.
Posted by victoria at 08:50 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2003
Onward to Greenland
The Sea Hunters are on the move. Diver Mike Fletcher left Halifax at 6:45am to meet up with Warren Fletcher and Jim Delgado in Ottawa. From there the team will spend the night in Iqaluit and then onward to Greenland.
Posted by victoria at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2003
The Franklin Expedition Calls Adventurers to the North Once Again
The Sea Hunters are about to head north to find the Fox a hearty arctic ship with over 50 years of service including being the vessel solved the mystery of Sir John Franklin.
Who was Sir John Franklin?
In a time when the water ways of the North were uncharted and dangerous John Franklin set out to change that. Franklin’s long naval career had been highlighted with adventure and exploration. In 1819 he was given command of an expedition from Fort York (now modern day Toronto) to the North. They reached the Arctic coast three years later traveling over a thousand kilometers in near impossible conditions. Not all members of the expedition made the return, nine men perished from either starvation or the harsh conditions. A tenth man was killed by the group when they believed him to be a cannibal. Franklin and the remaining survivors were later rescued by the area natives.
However there would be more triumphant adventures in the north for Franklin. In 1825 he set off for the Arctic once again but this time the expedition was a success. He and his team mapped over 800 kilometers of previously uncharted territory and upon his return to Britain, Franklin was knighted.
Over the next twenty years Sir John Franklin would write two books chronicling his adventures in the north but they would not be his last. Following seven years as Governor of Tasmania, Franklin would return to the northern hemisphere one last time. He would be given command of an expedition that was to map out a trade route through the North West passage. On May 19th, 1845 he left England with a crew of 134 men on two ships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, and never returned.
And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen :
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.
The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around :
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound !
From Samuel Taylor Coleridge “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” published 1798
The search for the North West passage from Europe to Asia had long been a goal of man. The desire can be traced back to Victorian attempts to obtain a geographical understanding of remote areas and to Elizabethan explorers and their attempts to circumnavigate the globe.
Posted by victoria at 08:37 AM | Comments (0)
