In May 1845, the HMS Terror set off in search for the elusive Northwest Passage. It wasn't seen again for 175 years.
Wikimedia CommonsThe HMS Terror survived oceanic warfare before meeting its end on Sir John Franklin’s doomed expedition.
In 1845, seasoned naval commander Sir John Franklin set out to seek the Northwest Passage aboard two ships, the HMS Terror and HMS Erebus. The Terror, in particular, was an impressive ship. Initially built as a bomb vessel, it had participated in multiple skirmishes in the War of 1812.
In order to endure the harsh conditions of the Arctic, the Terror and Erebus were also substantially reinforced with iron plating capable of crushing through the ice. But despite their hardiness, both ships disappeared with the crew of the Franklin Expedition shortly after setting sail.
It would be roughly 170 years before anyone saw the Erebus or the Terror again, but this time, they were at the bottom of an Arctic bay. Historians have since attempted to piece together their final days — which included a grueling mixture of desperation, lead poisoning, starvation, and cannibalization.
This is the harrowing story of the HMS Terror, from its promising beginnings to its disappearance in the Arctic to the discovery of its sunken wreck.
The Terror Embarks On The Franklin Expedition
In May 1845, accomplished explorer Sir John Franklin was tapped by the English Royal Navy to locate the lucrative Northwest Passage. All the world’s major powers had long searched for the trade route, which was a theoretical Arctic connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
Wikimedia CommonsSir John Franklin was an accomplished explorer, and and had sought the Northwest Passage before.
This would not be Terror‘s first dangerous expedition. Launched in 1813, Terror saw action in the War of 1812 and even participated in the battle that inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.” After its military service, the ship also ventured to the Arctic in 1836 and the Antarctic in the 1840s, and survived treacherous conditions in icy, stormy seas.
Thus, by all accounts, Terror was seemingly well-prepared to brave Franklin’s expedition, and both the Terror and its sister ship, Erebus, were consequently equipped with robust, iron-layered hulls and steam engines. These were among the most scientific equipment available at the time.
Together, the ships carried 129 men, as well as enough food to feed them for three years. According to Parks Canada, the Terror and Erebus had 36,000 pounds of biscuits, 33,000 pounds of canned meat, almost 9,000 pounds of canned vegetables, 9,000 pounds of chocolate, and 3,684 gallons of “spirits.” The ships also had 7,000 pounds of tobacco and 2,700 pounds of candle wax, as well as a dog, cat, and even a monkey.
Setting off on May 19, 1845, the ships made stops in Scotland’s Orkney Islands and in Greenland, and then set course for Arctic Canada in hopes of finding the Northwest Passage. The last time anyone saw either of them was that July, when two whaling vessels spotted the ships in Baffin Bay.
Neither would be seen again for more than a century.
The Final Days Of The Terror And The Erebus
Royal Museums GreenwichA depiction of the HMS Terror in 1837, when it had previously braved the treacherous conditions of the Arctic.
What happened to the HMS Terror after it was seen in July 1845? While the exact sequence of events remains shrouded in mystery, the men of the Franklin Expedition left behind an important clue in the form of two notes, which were discovered in a stone cairn at Victory Point in 1859.
The first note, written in May 1847, has an optimistic tone. It explained that both ships had wintered in the ice, that Franklin was in command, and that conditions were “All well.” But roughly a year later, a second note left in April 1848 recounted a different story. Written by Francis Crozier, the second-in-command of the Terror, and James Fitzjames, the captain of the Erebus, this later note struck a much grimmer note.
It stated that both the Terror and the Erebus were “beset” by ice and had been abandoned. What’s more, 24 men had died, including Franklin. The captain had perished in June 1847, leaving Crozier in charge.
The 105 survivors then seemingly headed south toward the Great Fish River. But none of them would make it.
National Maritime Museum, LondonOne of the Victory Point notes. While the first of the two notes was optimistic, the second was much darker.
Instead, the surviving crew members of the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus would succumb to scurvy, starvation, and even cannibalization.
The Grim Fate Of The Franklin Expedition Crew
After two years had passed without any word from the HMS Terror or the HMS Erebus, the British Royal Navy organized a search mission. Dozens of expeditions were sent into the Arctic, but it wasn’t until the 1850s that they began to find evidence of what had happened to the Franklin Expedition.
In 1850, an expedition to Beechey Island discovered evidence of a camp from the winter of 1845-46, as well as the graves of three men: Petty Officer John Torrington, Royal Marine Private William Braine, and Able Seaman John Hartnell. In the 1980s, the three men’s mummified remains were exhumed and studied. They had each died early in the expedition, and had been ill at the time of their death: Torrington had pneumonia, Braine had tuberculosis, and Hartnell was badly malnourished. All three also had high levels of lead, suggesting that the crews of the HMS Terror and the HMS Erebus had been weakened by lead poisoning, possibly from their tinned food.
Brian SpenceleyThe preserved body of John Torrington, now a mummified corpse still buried in the Canadian arctic.
But what about the men who had survived for longer? As the local Inuits told the British search-and-rescue missions from the start, there were piles of human bones scattered around the area. Many of these skeletal remains were cracked in half — suggested that Franklin’s men likely resorted to cannibalism. In 1854, Scottish explorer John Rae, who had spoken to the Inuits, wrote that “From the mutilated state of many of the bodies, it is evident that our wretched countrymen had been driven to the last dread alternative [i.e., cannibalism] as a means of sustaining life.”
Many refused to believe Rae’s account at the time, but researchers in the 1980s and 1990s discovered knife marks on additional skeletal remains on King William Island. This all but confirmed that after abandoning the Terror and the Erebus a starving, desperate crew had turned to cannibalism to survive. These wretched survivors, in turn, had seemingly died from pneumonia, tuberculosis, starvation, scurvy, and lead poisoning.
But what happened to their ships?
The Rediscovery Of The HMS Erebus And The HMS Terror
Parks Canada, Underwater Archaeology TeamThe Parks Canada team hosted seven dives, during which they inserted remotely-operated underwater drones into the ship.
Though expeditions to the Arctic in the 1850s offered a good idea of what had happened to the men of the Franklin Expedition, it would take far longer to determine the fates of the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror. The Erebus wasn’t found until 2014, sunk in 36 feet of water off King William Island. Two years later, Terror was located about 45 miles away, about 80 feet deep.
“The ship is amazingly intact,” Ryan Harris, a Parks Canada archaeologist, told National Geographic in 2019. “You look at it and find it hard to believe this is a 170-year-old shipwreck. You just don’t see this kind of thing very often.”
With the help of local Inuits, the Parks Canada team was able to conduct seven dives in 2019 to create a 3D map of the Terror. The crew sent remote-operated drones into the ship through the main hatchway, the crew cabin skylights, the officers’ mess hall, and the captain’s stateroom.
“We were able to explore 20 cabins and compartments, going from room to room,” Harris explained. “The doors were all eerily wide open.”
Indeed, the HMS Terror appear frozen in time after nearly two centuries in the depths of the Arctic archipelago. Plates and glasses are still shelved. Beds and desks are in position. Scientific instruments remain in their cases. What’s more, “blankets of sediment” on the ship — along with cold water and darkness — has likely preserved “delicate organics.” This means that paper items like journals and charts could potentially be salvaged.
Parks CanadaCutlery, journals, and scientific instruments found inside the HMS Terror all seem to be perfectly intact after nearly two centuries underwater.
As such, the story of the HMS Terror continues. Located in the freezing waters of the Arctic almost two centuries after it first vanished, it may still contain clues about the final days of the doomed Franklin Expedition.
After this learning about the HMS Terror, check out five more intriguing shipwrecks. Then, take a look at 11 sunken ships found around the world.
