Two British explorer ships that disappeared 170 years ago in the Arctic in the quest to seek the Northwest Passage have been found.

The discovery could shed light to one of history's biggest conundrums, as well as bring pride to Canadians.

Under the command of Rear Adm. Sir John Franklin, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were last seen in the 1840s. The missing ships became the subjects of many poems, songs and novels.

Like Us on Facebook

The office of Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the well-preserved wreck of one of the ships was found close to King William Island, some 1,200 miles northwest of Toronto, at a depth of 11 meters.

The wreck was found using a remotely operated submarine,

Harper said that while sonar images had enough data to verify the ship to those of the Franklin expedition, the team that found the wreckage is still unsure which of the two ships it is.

In 2008, Canada announced it would mount a search for Franklin's ships, and millions of dollars have were invested in the project by Harper's government, with Harper himself helping with the search.

Underwater archaeologist Ryan Harris, who helped lead the search, said a sonar image identified a few of the ship's structures such as the main mast, which was cut by the ice when the ship sank. He added that artifacts inside the ship could also be well-preserved.

The ship was discovered shortly after a dark after a U-shaped object was seen in the Arctic snow by a coast guard helicopter pilot.

The object was a metal bore, which had a orange-brown hue, the identifying marks of the British Royal Navy. A search team sent to the site found that hunk of metal was part of a lifting mechanism, a davit, which would likely be from a lifeboat from one of the two lost ships.

Tagsship, Shipwreck, Canadian, Canadian Prime Minister