The discovery came as quite a surprise. And it might help solve the 155-year-old mystery of the disappearance of Sir John Franklin and the crews of the Erebus and the Terror.

Near the end of the Canadian expedition through the Northwest Passage, an Inuk, Louie Kamookak, approached the crew of the St. Roch II. He invited the skipper, RCMP Sgt. Ken Burton, to see some remains from the Franklin expedition.

On the shores of one of the Todd Islands, a major historical find: the graves of five Franklin crew members.

Some of the recently discovered artifacts
Some of the recently discovered artifacts

One has been disturbed, apparently dug up by an animal. But unlike other remains found over the years, these graves are quite far south from where Franklin's two ships got stuck in the ice.

Other sites showed signs of cannibalism and that the 128 members of Franklin's crew died of disease and lead poisoning soon after they abandoned their ships. The Franklin expedition had set out to find the Northwest Passage 150 years ago. As every Canadian schoolchild has learned, no one survived.

The St. Roch II is in the process of retracing the route of the RCMP schooner St. Roch - the first boat to make it through the Northwest Passage both ways.

The Inuit say they have known about this site since the 19th century.

Archaeologists will excavate the site. Many more answers may lie in the undisturbed graves, adding more intrigue to the Franklin mystery.