Canadians closing in on lost wreckage of HMS Terror

It's a genuine treasure of American history, with a price tag to match: a rare, 195-year-old printing of the original sheet music for the Star-Spangled Banner is expected to sell for up to $300,000 at an auction next week in New York.

But as U.S. history buffs lined up for a look at the patriotic relic this week during Christie's pre-sale exhibition, Canadian archeologists were planning their next Arctic Ocean search for one of the very War of 1812 ships — the last in existence — responsible for the "rockets' red glare" and "bombs bursting in air" that helped inspire American poet Francis Scott Key to write his country's national anthem after witnessing the bombing of Baltimore in September 1814.

The surprising link between the Star-Spangled Banner and the lost Franklin Expedition vessel HMS Terror — believed to lie off the coast of King William Island in the Canadian Arctic — adds another layer to the rich history of the ship and helps explain Canada's three-year quest to find it, says the Parks Canada archeologist leading the hunt for the fabled shipwreck.

The resting places of the Terror and its consort vessel the HMS Erebus — both lost during British explorer John Franklin's ill-fated voyage of discovery to Northern Canada in the late 1840s — have already been declared a National Historic Site, even though their precise locations remain unknown.

In 2008, the Canadian government announced it was undertaking a three-summer search for the shipwrecks, seen to be instrumental in establishing British — and in turn Canadian — sovereignty in the Arctic by the end of the 19th century.

But the Terror's largely forgotten role in helping defend Canada and attack the United States during the War of 1812 only adds to the wreck's allure, says Marc-Andre Bernier, Parks Canada's chief of underwater archeology.

"HMS Terror's significance is certainly enhanced with this participation in the events at Baltimore," he told Postmedia News, noting that the ship had also been used on other landmark polar voyages before it vanished under Franklin's command.

Along with the Erebus, Bernier said, the Terror "is considered one the most significant ships in the history of the exploration of Canada's North."

After two major sweeps of the Arctic sea floor in 2008 and 2010, Parks Canada and its partner agencies have narrowed the search area considerably and are confident at least one of the vessels could be found next summer.

"We are still discussing with our partners, the Canadian Hydrographic Service and the Canadian Coast Guard, as to possibilities of holding this third year (of searching) in the summer of 2011," Bernier said.

A planned search in 2009 was called off when the Coast Guard icebreaker required by archeologists for sea floor surveys was unavailable.

The 340-tonne Terror, built in Britain in 1813, was part of a fleet of six ships assigned to the bombardment of Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore on Sept. 13, 1814.

Key, a Baltimore lawyer and author, had boarded a British ship under a flag of truce to try to secure the release of an American being held prisoner.

He was required to remain aboard during the overnight bombardment of Baltimore, after which — "by the dawn's early light" — he saw the American flag still flying at Fort McHenry.

His celebratory poem, written after the British ended their unsuccessful siege, was soon set to music and gained widespread popularity as a patriotic anthem.

The artifact to be sold during Christie's Dec. 3 sale of rare books and manuscripts is believed to have belonged originally to a War of 1812-era family in Pennsylvania whose daughter played piano.

A vintage album stuffed with music sheets and other documents "was purchased by the present owner in a small Pennsylvania auction," Christie's said in a statement announcing the sale of the relic. "He was surprised and gratified to discover in it the rare first edition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner.'"

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Author: Randy Boswell | Source: The Vancouver Sun [November 26, 2010]

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