HMS Investigator
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Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | HMS Investigator | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | survey vessel | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | United Kingdom | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Operator | Royal Navy | Wikidata P137 operator |
| Sea / ocean | M'Clure Strait | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Canada | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 4 km from land |
| Position | 74.0844, -119.0026 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
HMS Investigator was a merchant ship purchased in 1848 to search for Sir John Franklin's ill-fated Northwest Passage expedition. She made two voyages to the Arctic and had to be abandoned in 1853, after becoming trapped in the pack ice.
Her wreckage was found in July 2010, off Banks Island in the Beaufort Sea. She was the fourth ship of the Royal Navy to bear the name.
Diving & visiting
In July 2010, a team of Parks Canada scientists, archaeologists, and surveyors began searching for the sunken wreck of the Investigator in Mercy Bay at the northern tip of Aulavik National Park. It was the first expedition to specifically search for the ship. The team arrived on Banks Island in the Beaufort Sea on 22 July and began a sonar scan of the area three days later, based on the original Royal Navy records of the position of the ship when it was abandoned. Its remains were quickly discovered, 150 m (490 ft) off the north shore of Banks Island, with the deck of the ship about 8 m (26 ft) below the surface.
According to a superintendent with Parks Canada, the ship was found "sitting upright in silt; the three masts have been removed, probably by ice." Her hull lies partially buried in silt and the cold…
Location
- Recorded position: 74.0844, -119.0026 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: M'Clure Strait
- Nearest coast: Canada
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article HMS Investigator (1848) (revision 1376033291), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery of wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
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