Shearwater divers describe visit to Franklin wreckage as “electric”

WATCH: A pair of Shearwater divers is recounting their first-hand experience surveying HMS Erebus. The ship sunk 170 years ago and the elite group of Navy divers recently returned from a trip up North to see it.

HALIFAX – Awe and excitement.

That’s how two members of the Navy’s elite diving team are describing their first-hand encounter with HMS Erebus.

The doomed ship was part of the ill-fated Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage. It was discovered last year, and a team consisting of Parks Canada divers and divers from the Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic) made a special trek to survey the wreckage in April.

READ MORE: ‘Expedition of a lifetime’: Shearwater divers to get close-up look at Franklin wreckage

“The average temperature was between minus 20 and minus 50 with the wind chill. It takes a little time to get acclimatized but once you’re there and situated, tents set up, heaters going, it became quite comfortable quickly,” said Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Larry Lyver, who is the operations chief for Fleet Diving Unit (Atlantic).

The team set up a camp site then cut through metres of ice to create a hole to dive in. They then had to maneuver through frigid Arctic waters to get to the ship.

“The significance of diving on the Erebus was incredible. To see the ship…with your own eyes, to touch it and to be so close, it was mesmerizing,” said Navy Lt. Greg Oickle, who dove the site.

“It was amazing. I feel like I’m a broken record to say it’s amazing but it really was.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "The significance of diving on the Erebus was incredible. To see the ship…with your own eyes, to touch it and to be so close, it was mesmerizing," said Navy Lt. Greg Oickle, who dove the site.</p><p>"It was amazing. I feel like I'm a broken record to say it's amazing but it really was."

Oickle said it was a unique experience to lay eyes on something that has been sitting on the ocean floor for 170 years and that only a select few have actually seen in-person.

“You can actually see the wreck from the surface,” Oickle said.

“As soon as you break the surface of the water and start going down, it was right there. I remember thinking it was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.”

Parks Canada divers and Navy divers were paired up to survey the ship and clear kelp off the hull.

“There was some growth, less than you’d expect. The cold water has really protected it,” Oickle said. “It’s sitting…upright. You see it floating in the water. It’s sitting the same way on the bottom. It’s in fantastic condition for a shipwreck.”

The enormity of the mission was not lost on the team, who describe a bustling atmosphere.

“It was electric. It was amazing,” Oickle said. “It didn’t get old the entire time we dove.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It was electric. It was amazing," Oickle said. "It didn't get old the entire time we dove."

“The divers came up and everyone smiles. There’s so much energy, so much excitement and enthusiasm.”

“[There was] A big moment of awe. Primarily, the first look in their face was just disbelief in what they saw,” said Lyver.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "[There was] A big moment of awe. Primarily, the first look in their face was just disbelief in what they saw," said Lyver.

The ice divers helped retrieve long-lost artifacts to bring to the surface. A cannon, dinner plates and tunic buttons were discovered during the expedition.

“This is normally behind glass or behind a velvet rope in a museum and I’m seeing this stuff come out of the water and I’m touching it and holding it,” Oickle said.

The divers said they hope to be invited back to the wreckage for another expedition.

When contacted by Global News, a spokesperson for Parks Canada said no date has been set for another dive to the Erebus.