Shipwrecks and lost treasures sought off Haida Gwaii

Underwater archeologistsare launchingasearch forlost ships and forgottencultural treasures in thewaters around theGwaiiHaanasNational Park Reserve.

A four-member Parks Canada team is assembling Monday, and it plans touse targeted diving, remote sensing, and an underwater vehicle to explore the sea floor for three weeks.

Jonathan Moore,a senior archeologistwith Parks Canada, saidhis group ishoping to locate at least two historic shipwrecks dating back to first contact between Europeans and the Haida Nation in the late 18thcentury.

"So we have two vessels that we know were, well we believe were captured and sunk. One was theIno, which was, we believe, sunk in 1794, and another called the Resolution, which was also sunk in 1794," he said.

"These are two vessels engaged in the early maritime fur trade. So these are European vessels coming up to trade for sea otter pelts," Moore said.

The team is also searching for another ship that was in the area in 1851 during a search for gold.

The waters ofHaidaGwaii also witnessedthousands of years of Haida Nation history unfold, and theteam will also be searching forsubmerged harbours, fish weirs and middens.

They are working with the Gwaii Haanas cultural resource management adviserand arehopeful that shared knowledgewill help the teamlocate andinterpret the uses andsignificanceof different sites and finds.

Moore says that althoughthere has been considerablearcheologicalwork done in the HaidaGwaiiarea on land, this will be the first time a team will search underwater and it will be a difficult task.

Weather conditions can often turnstormy, and waters can get rough.

"And so there's a lot of anticipation, there's a lot of hope, there's a lot of hard work, really, to do the best we possibly can, to get the most we possibly can," Moore said.

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