A major disaster can send a shockwave throughout entire nations, if not the world entirely. Outrage, sorrow, and a demand for answers typically characterize the public response, and that's just as true today as it has always been. And indeed, that was the case in 1850 after a famous expedition that was supposed to lead to a landmark discovery turned tragic.
But after a mystery goes unsolved for long enough, a kind detachment from the original tragedy can develop. Curiosity rather than grief motivates new parties to pick up the torch and make it their mission to discover what happened all those years ago. And because enough of those ventures proved successful, we now have a fix on what happened to two infamously doomed vessels -- the HMS Erebus and Terror.
A fateful voyage begins
In 1845, British warships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, departed from England to embark on a voyage to what is now the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, their crews were tasked with finding the North-West Passage that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
An experienced leader
This expedition inspired a great deal of public confidence, in large part because Sir John Franklin led it.
Not only was Franklin a seasoned explorer, but he also had previous familiarity with the region after leading two other voyages to the Arctic.
England seemed so close
Partially due to Franklin's own work, England had explored enough of the Arctic coastline by 1845 that finding the North-West Passage seemed imminent.
Especially with a leader like Franklin taking charge.
The HMS Erebus and Terror were marvels back then
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, the ships also inspired confidence in the voyage due to how state-of-the-art they appeared by 19th Century standards.
Not only were they considered more powerful than previous ships, but they also had their own heating systems and a well-stocked pantry of preserved foods.
A full house
In addition to the 129 men aboard the two ships, the crews also brought an unspecified number of cattle, sheep, pigs, and hens to help feed them during the early stages of the journey.
The HMS Erebus also had three pets on board, including a cat to catch rats. The other two were a beloved Newfoundland dog named Neptune and a monkey presented to the crew by Lady Jane Franklin, which started off amusing but grew to be an "annoying thief."
A final sighting
In July 1845, a whaler in Baffin Bay between the coasts of Baffin Island and Greenland spotted the ships, which confirmed that they at least made it as far as northern Canada.
Royal Museums Greenwich explained that at the time, both crews were waiting for the ice to clear so they could continue through the Bering Strait.
Years without answers
Two years after the final Franklin expedition began, no trace of anyone from either the HMS Erebus or the HMS Terror had made it back to England.
Once this time had passed, the admiralty of the Royal Navy commissioned a search party to uncover the ships' whereabouts. They saw no success.
Outrage building back home
By 1850, only Franklin's first winter camp at Beechey Island to the northwest of Nunavut's mainland had been discovered.
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, this came after the British government conducted both land and sea expeditions to find more clues at the urging of Lady Jane Franklin, Parliament, and the press.
30 years of clues
Facing criticism for its lack of results, the British government offered a little over $21,000 bounties to anyone with news as to the mystery behind what befell the two vessels.
So over the next 30 years, thorough searches of the area uncovered a collection of tools and personal effects from the ships that all found their way back to England.
Shocking accounts spark more outrage
According to the Smithsonian Magazine, the first one to bring back any news of the ships' fate was a fur trader named John Rae, who met members of the Netsilik Inuit in 1854.
They told him stories of starving men who resorted to eating each other and confirmed that the men in question had crewed the doomed ships by providing relics from the final Franklin expedition.
People refused to believe these accounts
As the Smithsonian Magazine outlined, Lady Jane Franklin launched a smear campaign against Rae and his Inuit informants for the scandalous news and found support from none other than Charles Dickens.
The outlet quoted Rae's biographer Ken McGoogan, who described the backlash as dismissing anything Rae had to report on racial grounds due to who informed him.
A more palatable clue
More expeditions followed the smear campaign, and one led by Captain Francis Leopold McClintock uncovered an official document in 1859 that originated from Franklin's doomed expedition.
This document came to be known as the Victory Point Note. It was named for the location where a wandering party who once crewed either the Erebus or the Terror deposited a handwritten record of what happened to them.
Both ships were abandoned
As the Victory Point Note's author explained, both the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror became stuck on an impassible ice floe in what is now the McClintock Channel on September 12, 1846.
The note also confirmed that Franklin himself had perished on June 11, 1847. By April 22, 1848, Captain F. R. M. Crozier gave the order to abandon the two ships, which were just as stuck as when they ran aground a year and a half earlier.
A doomed journey on foot
After the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror were abandoned, Crozier led the surviving 105 officers and crew members on a march down the west coast of King William Island.
They headed south for what was then known as Back's Fish River, but most of the men did not survive to see the coastline end.
They never had a chance
The Victory Point Note describes the crew as being weakened by starvation and scurvy, which were likely major factors behind their heavy losses as they walked.
But according to Royal Museums Greenwich, forensic anthropologist Dr. Owen Beattie's analysis of recovered remains in 1981 suggests that the crew also suffered from severe lead poisoning. This likely originated from the lead sodder that contaminated the canned food they had lived off during the latter stages of their journey.
Truly harsh conditions
To make these hardships worse, it's easy to underestimate just how cold it would have been for these crews. Even with the ships' heating systems, they would still have to brave daytime temperatures of -31 degrees Fahrenheit and nighttime temperatures as low as -54 degrees Fahrenheit.
This is not only cold enough to turn the sweat from their hard work into ice but cold enough to take their skin off if they weren't careful with their cold, metal tools.
The search continued
After years of searching, some remarkably well-preserved remains from those who were buried during the crew's final march were recovered. This is how Dr. Beattie was able to analyze their bones for lead poisoning.
However, even by the 1980s, neither ship had been located, which would eventually prompt further exploration.
A discovery almost 175 years in the making
According to Royal Museums Greenwich, underwater archaeologists from Parks Canada collaborated with long-silenced Inuit voices to finally uncover the final resting places of both the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror.
Along with unspecified locals, the archaeological team worked with the Inuit Heritage Trust on what would turn out to be one of the largest missions of its kind in Canadian history.
A long, frustrating road to success
According to Parks Canada, archaeologists Ryan Harris and Jonathan Moore had been staring at sonar screens for years without any sign of either ship by 2014.
The technique they were using to uncover the lost vessels is known as "mowing the lawn," which involves dragging sensors behind vessels that move in orderly, controlled lines.
At long last, a discovery
Since it was only warm enough to search the waters between late August and early September, the windows to make any important discoveries were notably small.
But after a land discovery of a boat-raising mechanism that the HMS Erebus would have used, the team adjusted their search area. Once they did that, the lost ship appeared on their sonar clear as day within minutes on September 2, 2014.
Careful not to get ahead of themselves
Even though the team only had a few days to do so, they had to confirm that they were indeed looking at the HMS Erebus.
As such, they sent down a remote-controlled underwater vehicle to take high-definition images of the wreck, which were compared with the ship's original plans.
"The best dive of my life."
Not only was the wreckage a plausible match, but the team was pleasantly surprised to see that it was mostly intact and sitting upright on the sea bed.
They were even more surprised to see the ship's brass bell, which featured a "broad arrow" mark on its side. This signified that the vessel belonged to the British government and that it was what it was assumed to be. This led Harris to describe this discovery as "the best dive of my life."
Recovering lost artifacts
In the years that followed, the team would take advantage of their small windows of opportunity to recover items like this officer's leather boot from the HMS Erebus.
Although these efforts were hampered by bad weather as well, Royal Museums Greenwich reported the team as having recovered 350 lost items in the 2019 season alone.
The other half of the battle
Once the HMS Erebus was located, the obvious next step for Parks Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust was to locate the HMS Terror.
The team's techniques were similar to the ones used to find the Erebus, and they figured it would be closer to the area where the crew was said to abandon the dual vessels than the Erebus was.
The discovery's unsung hero
According to Parks Canada, the Arctic Research Foundation has been involved with their investigations since 2012. But its ship, the Martin Bergmann, would play a central role in discovering the terror.
And it all started on September 3, 2016, with an anecdote from one crew member who had only been aboard the ship for a day.
A sudden change of plans
The Martin Bergmann's crew had intended to depart from Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, to their pre-determined search area but suddenly changed course after hearing a story from lifelong Gjoa Haven resident Sammy Kogvik.
He recalled seeing a large piece of wood sticking up from the ice of Terror Bay while on a hunting trip six years prior. So Terror Bay became the new destination.
The gambit pays off
This change in direction took the Martin Bergmann about 62 miles from where the Foundation's teammates were searching, but Kogvik's story aligned enough with local legends that the crew considered it worth checking out.
And sure enough, when they dropped a sonar scanner beneath the icy waters, they quickly uncovered a ship with three masts sitting upright on the sea bed.
Due diligence
Just like with the HMS Erebus, the discoverers of the HMS Terror needed to confirm that was indeed what they found. And while it was delayed by bad weather, Parks Canada's underwater archaeology team confirmed on September 18, 2016, that this was the case.
What tipped them off were design quirks like the ship's double-wheeled helm that told them this could only be one of Franklin's ships.
Another mystery to solve
Archaeologists were excited to find that the HMS Terror still had its crew quarters, mess hall, and food storage room intact. Better yet, some of the window glass was even still more or less as the Terror's crew had left it.
But the question that still remains unanswered for the team concerns how the Terror came to rest where it did.
The lost men
As Royal Museums Greenwich outlined, another question raised from the discovery of both ships concerns whether any of the crew's remains will be recovered.
Although most of them left the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror before their ill-fated journey, it's not impossible that the remains of some of the crew remain in the wreckage. And even if they are found, it remains to be seen whether they can be accurately identified.
