Searching for Franklin LIVE CHAT REPLAY with David Common

The CBC's David Common is on board with the crew of the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier.  They are part of a team that's searching for the British ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus.  The two boats set sail back in 1845 hoping to traverse the fabled Northwest Passage, but ended up lost at sea.

Under the command of Sir John Franklin, the expedition set out to find and cross the much-sought-after shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and a route to the riches of Asia. But he would never make it. Dozens of search missions have set out to find the ships, and despite turning up many clues, none has been successful.

Since 2008, collaborative efforts between Parks Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard to find the Franklin ships have been unsuccessful, but each year the search area narrows as previous search sites are struck off the charts.

This summer, two ships, the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir Wilfrid Laurier and a chartered research ship, the Martin Bergemann, are being deployed to search two prime areas where it is believed the doomed ships may be located. David Common joined them late last week and has quickly become an expert on the search.  He joined us live from the Arctic to take your questions. Also chatting live with us was Marc-Andre Bernier, Chief of the Underwater Archaeology Service (UAS) with Parks Canada.  Marc-Andre is just back from the Arctic and was live from his office in Ottawa.