CANADIAN GOVERNMENT UNVEILS PRINTED MODEL

As part of Parks Canada’s search for the vessels of the lost 1845 expedition officials from Fisheries and Oceans Canada joined geospatial software company CARIS and technology supper center TECTERRA to unveil 3D printed models of HMS Erebus Sir Jon Franklin’s lead ship found last year in Canada’s Arctic waters.

The models were printed from the multibeam sonar data collected by Fisheries and Oceans Canada’s Canadian Hydrographic Service. The bathymetric measurements were processed in seafloor mapping software created by the New Brunswick-based company Caris and subsequently exported for use in a 3D printer provided by the Calgary-based non-profit Tecterra.

The high precision models are scaled representations of HMS Erebus as it sits on the seafloor in the eastern waters of Queen Maud Gulf. The level of detail in the models provides a clear view of the vessel’s current structure and even shows details of the wooden beams and materials surrounding the wreck as well as one of its anchors that rests off the port side.