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Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

theguardian.com

11–20 of 77 posts

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#11
post #9

There was an earlier excavation of some of the frozen corpses as well and they were taken to laboratories to be studied. After thawing some of the gut bacteria, some were still alive. One of the scientist was smart enough to experiment with how the old bacteria handled modern antibiotics. Strangely many already had resistance[1]. And this discovery was largely unreported. [1] http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn

[deleted]

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's cleared dramatically as the Arctic sea ice is melting. The wiki has satellite pics, it's pretty dramatic https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage

Despite the obvious CO2/warming reasons, wouldn't these research vessels/cruise ships cause more ice melt as well? (Breaking up the ice causing faster melt)

The Arctic is pretty big and there aren't many research boats. There are only a few dozen icebreakers in the world.

https://news.usni.org/2013/07/23/u-s-coast-guards-2013-reive...

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#13
post #6

The best part is that a local hunter found the boat six years ago. That's awesome.

That is one of the problems with hunting, you are more likely to find things that other people won't and sometimes its very unpleasant. Humans like to stash their sins in the wild.

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#14
post #9

There was an earlier excavation of some of the frozen corpses as well and they were taken to laboratories to be studied. After thawing some of the gut bacteria, some were still alive. One of the scientist was smart enough to experiment with how the old bacteria handled modern antibiotics. Strangely many already had resistance[1]. And this discovery was largely unreported. [1] http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn

I wonder if you (or anyone) know where to find the study?

I found the researcher herself, but none of her publications seem to be about this

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Kinga_Kowalewska-Grocho...

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#15

Isn't there a cruise ship trying to make the northwest passage next year?

It's cleared dramatically as the Arctic sea ice is melting. The wiki has satellite pics, it's pretty dramatic https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage

It didn't clear at all last year though if i'm not mistaken.

And based on this: https://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/ It's already closed up again.

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#16
post #9

There was an earlier excavation of some of the frozen corpses as well and they were taken to laboratories to be studied. After thawing some of the gut bacteria, some were still alive. One of the scientist was smart enough to experiment with how the old bacteria handled modern antibiotics. Strangely many already had resistance[1]. And this discovery was largely unreported. [1] http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn

> Strangely many already had resistance

Keep in mind that modern antibiotics were created partly because at the time plants with antibiotic properties were being used so heavily that they were already becoming endangered. E.g.: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldenseal

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#18
post #9

There was an earlier excavation of some of the frozen corpses as well and they were taken to laboratories to be studied. After thawing some of the gut bacteria, some were still alive. One of the scientist was smart enough to experiment with how the old bacteria handled modern antibiotics. Strangely many already had resistance[1]. And this discovery was largely unreported. [1] http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn

Reminds me of when the military dug up corpses from the artic so they could get at the 1917 Spanish flu

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#19
post #6

The best part is that a local hunter found the boat six years ago. That's awesome.

"Given the location of the find [in Terror Bay]"

I tried hunting around online to find out how Terror Bay got its name after I saw this article on another site last night, but I couldn't find anything. Makes you kind of wonder whether the location of the wreck was known at some point, but nobody bothered to write it down.

Re: Ship found in Arctic 168 years after doomed Northwest Passage attempt

#20
post #9

There was an earlier excavation of some of the frozen corpses as well and they were taken to laboratories to be studied. After thawing some of the gut bacteria, some were still alive. One of the scientist was smart enough to experiment with how the old bacteria handled modern antibiotics. Strangely many already had resistance[1]. And this discovery was largely unreported. [1] http://tinyurl.com/z9sy2qn

In case anyone else was confused, those corpses retrieved and studied in the above article were bodies buried from the same expedition, not bodies recovered from the sunken ship. Thanks for sharing the clipping though, very fascinating.
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