Archaeologists have found hundreds of preserved artefacts within the remnants of the HMS Erebus nearly two centuries after it sank in Arctic Canada.

Pistols, sealed bottles of medicine, fishing rods and seaman’s chests were among the discoveries made by Parks Canada, the underwater team that completed the most recent exploration of the wreck.

HMS Erebus and HMS Terror went missing in 1845 during an expedition that set off from Greenhithe in Kent to find the Northwest Passage, a polar route that linked the Atlantic and Pacific. It was led by the British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin.