Photo: Royal Navy bell retrieved from Franklin wreck

The first major artifact recovered from Franklin’s HMS Erebus, which sank in Queen Maud Gulf in 1846 and was discovered, after more than a century of searching, on Sept. 7, was the ship’s bell, seen here during a September reconnaissance dive by a Parks Canada team of underwater divers and archaeologists. The bell, complete with the Royal Navy’s “broad arrow” insignia and the number 1845, the year the ship was refitted for its final journey through the Northwest Passage, was revealed during a news conference in Ottawa Nov. 6 lead by the minister responsible for Parks Canada, and Nunavut MP, Leona Aglukkaq. The bell will be stored in an environmentally-controlled and physically secure location at a Parks Canada lab in Ottawa and will undergo a lengthy conservation treatment. Divers will return to the site next summer to continue their underwater analysis and excavation. (PHOTO BY THIERRY BOYER/PARKS CANADA)