History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | Breadalbane |
Namesake | Breadalbane, Scotland |
Operator | McNeil & Co. |
Builder | Hedderwich & Rowan |
Launched | 1843 |
Crushed by ice: | 21 August 1853 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Merchant ship |
Tons burthen | 428 bm |
Length | 38.1 metres (125 feet) |
Beam | 7.3 metres (24 feet) |
Depth of hold | 5.5 metres (18 feet) |
Sail plan | Barque |
Breadalbane was an 1843 British three-masted merchant barque that was crushed by ice and sank in the Arctic in 1853. Notable as one of the northernmost shipwrecks known,[1][2][3] she is also considered one of the best-preserved wooden ships ever found in the sea due to slow deterioration in the cold Arctic water.[4] Historically, Breadalbane is considered to be a time capsule.[1]
On 21 August 1853, she became trapped by an ice floe and was crushed. She sank to the bottom of the Northwest Passage near Beechey Island in Lancaster Sound, approximately 500 miles (800 km) north of the Arctic Circle.[5][6] Her entire crew of 21 abandoned ship in time and were rescued by her companion, HMS Phoenix.
In August 1980, the wreck was discovered by a five-man team led by Joe MacInnis working from the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Sir John A. McDonald. Three years later it was designated a national historic site of Canada because the ship was used in the search for John Franklin's lost expedition.[7]
Arctos_Canadensis
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).