The shipwreck Canada found in the Arctic a month ago is HMS Erebus, personal flagship of Capt. Sir John Franklin on his doomed attempt to find the Northwest Passage.
shipwreck … 難破船
flagship … 旗艦、主要船
doomed … 運の尽きた、不運の、絶望的な
Northwest Passage … 北西航路
Prime Minister Stephen Harper made the announcement in the House of Commons a little before 3 p.m., ending a month of speculation.
Stephen [stí:vən] … スティーブン
House of Commons … 庶民院、下院
speculation … 憶測、推測
“I’m delighted to confirm that we have identified which ship from the Franklin expedition has been found,” Harper told the House of Commons. “It is, in fact, the HMS Erebus.”
expedition … 遠征隊
The wreck is the one Parks Canada’s archeologists were most hoping to find. Since it was Franklin’s own ship (the other was called Terror), they’re hoping it will contain some of his personal effects. The expedition’s leader may even have died on the ship.
Parks Canada … パークスカナダ（カナダの国立公園を管理する政府機関）
archeologist = archaeologist … 考古学者
personal effects … 所持品、身の回り品
In particular, they hope the icy waters will have preserved written records — books, charts, ship’s logs, or anything else that could hold clues to the lives and deaths of Franklin and his 128 officers and men.
chart … 海図
ship's log … 航海日誌
The two ships left England in 1845, but were locked in ice in Victoria Strait from 1846 on. Franklin died in the spring of 1847 and in 1848 the 104 surviving men abandoned their ships and tried to walk south to safety. None of them made it.
Victoria Strait … ビクトリア海峡
Erebus is lying in only 11 metres of water and Parks Canada divers were able to explore it in early September. Terror has never been found.
The nearly-identical ships were built strong as “bomb vessels” designed to carry heavy mortars for shelling forts. Solid and iron-plated, they lasted for a couple of years in the ice. But their location has always been a mystery.
mortar … 迫撃砲
shell … 砲撃する
fort … 砦、要塞
Erebus is a little over 30 metres long and had a crew of between 60 and 70 men. Erebus and Terror had already been on successful explorations of Antarctica.
exploration … 探検、探査
The expedition that found Erebus was the sixth Franklin search since 2008. The wreck lies in Victoria Strait, to the west of King William Island where many of the men’s bodies were found.
“Erebus was one of the great exploration ships of its era, of any era,” said John Geiger, CEO of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. The society was a partner in the search.
“To find it in such an incredible state of preservation represents a great moment for Canada, for Britain, and for those throughout the world with an interest in geography and exploration,” he said in a statement.
“Franklin was based aboard Erebus, that ship is where he lived and likely where he died. It was at the very centre of this great historical mystery. The stunning condition of the ship and the artifacts represent a global treasure,” he said. Geiger wrote Frozen In Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition with Professor Owen Beattie of the University of Alberta.
stunning … すばらしい
artifact … 遺物
fate … 運命、宿命、悲運
Geiger also praised Parks Canada, saying the wreck “is in good hands.”
in good hands … 信頼できる人に任せて、何も心配することがなくて、安泰で
Government archeologists have said they are very unlikely to try to raise the ship. It would be a very difficult job, complicated by the fact that some of the crews’ bodies are likely aboard, which means it deserves protection as a grave site.
deserve … ～を受けるに値する、～の価値がある、～にふさわしい
grave site … 墓地
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