On 26 August 2014 as part of the SCAR open science conference held in New Zealand, a panel session and discussion forum was conducted for humanities researchers, science communicators, social scientists, archivists, curators and artists with interests in interdisciplinary research. Most of the 30 attendees were members of the SCAR history expert group and the SCAR social sciences action group.

The wreck discovered by the Victoria Strait expedition in early September (Barr 2014) has now been positively identified as that of HMS Erebus. This identification was based on a thorough analysis of the acoustic imagery (side-scan and multi-beam sonar),comparison with the plans for both Erebus and Terror from the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, visual measurements made during inspection dives by Parks Canada personnel on the site (particularly with regard to the 1845 modifications to the stern), as well as certain telling details which were captured with photo and video. The fact that Erebus was a longer and beamier vessel than Terror is readily discernible from the acoustic data. The locations of various deck fixtures such as the fore and main hatchways, forward suction pumps, bowsprit partners, deck illuminators, and ringbolts, as compared to the same fixtures shown on the plans, all offer very strong correlation with Erebus (and not Terror) (Ryan Harris, Parks Canada, personal communication, 3 November 2014).

Since at least 2001 Ken McGoogan has been claiming that in discovering Rae Strait in 1854 John Rae also discovered the final link in the northwest passage. This claim is false, in that a substantial section of the passage further north, some 240 km in length (between Bellot Strait and where James Clark Ross had found the north magnetic pole) was still undiscovered in 1854. On the basis of McGoogan's false claim Mr. Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, has been pursuing a campaign to have a corrective plaque installed near the Franklin cenotaph in Westminster Abbey to the effect that Rae, and not Franklin, discovered the northwest passage. The Dean of Westminster and the Abbey authorities have decided that a simple tablet with the words ‘John Rae; arctic explorer’ but with no further elaboration, will be installed in the Abbey near the Franklin cenotaph.