 HMSTerror in theArctic | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Terror |
| Ordered | 30 March 1812 |
| Builder | Robert Davy,Topsham, Devon |
| Laid down | September 1812 |
| Launched | 29 June 1813 |
| Completed | By 31 July 1813 |
| Fate | Abandoned 22 April 1848,King William Island |
| Wreck discovered | 3 September 2016,Terror Bay |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Vesuvius-classbomb vessel |
| Tons burthen | 325 (bm) |
| Length | 102 ft (31 m) |
| Beam | 27 ft (8.2 m) |
| Installed power | 30Nominal horsepower[1] |
| Propulsion | |
| Complement | 67 |
| Armament |
|
| Official name | Wrecks of HMSErebus and HMSTerror National Historic Site |
| Designated | 2019 |
HMSTerror was a specialised warship and a newly developedbomb vessel constructed for theRoyal Navy in 1813. She participated in several battles of theWar of 1812, including theBattle of Baltimore with the bombardment ofFort McHenry. She was converted into a polar exploration ship two decades later, and participated inGeorge Back's Arctic expedition of 1836–1837, the successfulRoss expedition to theAntarctic of 1839 to 1843, andSir John Franklin'sill-fated attempt to force theNorthwest Passage in 1845, during which she was lost with all hands along withHMS Erebus.
On 12 September 2016, theArctic Research Foundation announced that the wreck ofTerror had been found inNunavut'sTerror Bay, off the southwest coast ofKing William Island. The wreck was discovered 92 km (57 mi) south of the location where the ship was reported abandoned, and some 50 km (31 mi) from the wreck of HMSErebus, discovered in September 2014.
HMSTerror was aVesuvius-classbomb ship built over two years at the Davy shipyard inTopsham in southDevon, for the Royal Navy. Her deck was 31 m (102 ft) long, and the ship measured 325tons burthen. The vessel was armed with two heavymortars and tencannon, and waslaunched in June 1813.[2]
Terror saw service in theWar of 1812 against theUnited States,[3] during which the ships of theNorth America and West Indies Station of the Royal Navy blockaded the Atlantic ports of the United States and launched amphibious raids from itsbase inBermuda, leading up to the 1814Chesapeake campaign, a punitive expedition that included theRaid on Alexandria, theBattle of Bladensburg, and theBurning of Washington. Under the command ofJohn Sheridan, she took part in the bombardment ofStonington, Connecticut, on 9–12 August 1814. She also fought in theBattle of Baltimore in September 1814 and participated in the bombardment ofFort McHenry; the latter attack inspiredFrancis Scott Key to write the poem that eventually became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner".[3] In January 1815, still under Sheridan's command,Terror was involved in theBattle of Fort Peter and the attack onSt. Marys, Georgia.[4]
After the war,Terror waslaid up until March 1828, when she was recommissioned for service in theMediterranean Sea. She was removed from active service when she underwent repairs for damage suffered nearLisbon,Portugal.[5]
In the mid-1830s,Terror was refitted as apolar exploration vessel. Her design as a bomb ship meant she had an unusually strong framework to resist therecoil of her heavy mortars; thus it was presumed she could withstand the pressure of polarsea ice, as well.[2]
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In 1836, command ofTerror was given to CaptainGeorge Back for an Arctic expedition toHudson Bay.[2][3] The expedition aimed to enterRepulse Bay, where it would send out landing parties to ascertain whether theBoothia Peninsula was an island or a peninsula.Terror was trapped by ice nearSouthampton Island, and did not reach Repulse Bay. At one point, the ice forced her 12 m (39 ft) up the face of a cliff.[5] She was trapped in the ice for ten months.[3] In the spring of 1837, an encounter with an iceberg further damaged the ship. She nearly sank on her return journey across the Atlantic,[3] and was in a sinking condition by the time Back sailed her intoLough Swilly, before beaching her atRathmullan, Co. Donegal, Ireland on 21 September.[5][6][7]
The admiralty dispatched the shipwright, William McPherson Rice, to refloat and repairTerror sufficiently to enable her to sail to the naval shipyard at Chatham in Kent, where full repairs were carried out. Correspondence describing the repairs and the crew's sojourn in Rathmullan are held in theRoyal Museums Greenwich collection.[8] Back subsequently published a complete account of this voyage right up to the decommissioning ofTerror in Chatham.[9]
In 1839Terror was assigned to a voyage to theAntarctic along withErebus under the overall command ofJames Clark Ross.[2][3]Francis Crozier was commander ofTerror on this expedition, as well as second-in-command to Ross.[2] The expedition spanned three seasons from 1840 to 1843 during whichTerror andErebus made three forays into Antarctic waters, traversing theRoss Sea twice, and sailing through theWeddell Sea southeast of theFalkland Islands. The extinct volcanoMount Terror onRoss Island was named after the ship by the expedition commander.[2][5]
Before leaving on theFranklin expedition, bothErebus andTerror underwent heavy modifications for the journey.[3] They were both outfitted with steam engines, consisting of formerLondon and Greenwich Railwaysteam locomotives. Rated at 25 hp (19 kW), each could propel its ship at 4 kn (7.4 km/h). The pair of ships were among the first Royal Navy ships to have steam-powered engines and screw propellers.[3] Twelve days' supply ofcoal was carried.[10] Iron plating was addedfore andaft on the ships' hulls to make them more resistant topack ice, and their decks were cross-planked to distribute impact forces.[3] Along withErebus,Terror was stocked with supplies for their expedition, which included among other items: two tons oftobacco, 8,000tins ofpreserves, and 7,560 L (1,660 imp gal; 2,000 US gal) of liquor.Terror's library had 1,200 books, and the ship'sberths were heated via ducts that connected them to the stove.[3]
Their voyage to the Arctic was with SirJohn Franklin in overall command of the expedition inErebus, andTerror again under the command of CaptainFrancis Crozier. The expedition was ordered to gather magnetic data in theArctic Archipelago and complete a crossing of theNorthwest Passage, which had already been charted from both the east and west, but never entirely navigated. It was planned to last three years.[3]
The expedition sailed fromGreenhithe,Kent, on 19 May 1845, and the ships were last seen enteringBaffin Bay in August 1845.[5] The disappearance of the Franklin expedition set off a massive search effort in the Arctic and the broad circumstances of the expedition's fate were revealed during a series of expeditions between 1848 and 1866. Both ships had become icebound and were abandoned by their crews, all of whom died of exposure and starvation while trying to trek overland toFort Resolution, aHudson's Bay Company outpost 970 km (600 mi) to the southwest. Subsequent expeditions up until the late 1980s, including autopsies of crew members, revealed that their canned rations may have been tainted by bothlead andbotulism. Oral reports by localInuit that some of the crew members resorted tocannibalism are supported by evidence of cut marks and pot polish[11] on the skeletal remains of crew members found onKing William Island during the late 20th century.[12][13]
On 15 August 2008,Parks Canada, an agency of theGovernment of Canada, announced aCAD$75,000 six-week search, deploying the icebreakerCCGS Sir Wilfrid Laurier with the goal of finding the two ships. The search was also intended to strengthen Canada's claims ofsovereignty over large portions of the Arctic.[14] Attempts were also undertaken in 2010, 2011, and 2012,[15] all of which failed to locate the ships' remains.
On 8 September 2014, it was announced that the wreckage of one of Franklin's ships was found on 7 September using aremotely operated underwater vehicle recently acquired by Parks Canada.[16][17] On 1 October 2014, Canadian Prime MinisterStephen Harper announced that the remains were that ofErebus.[18]
On 12 September 2016, a team from the Arctic Research Foundation announced that a wreck close toTerror's description had been located on the southern coast ofKing William Island in the middle ofTerror Bay (68°54′N98°56′W / 68.900°N 98.933°W /68.900; -98.933 (Terror Bay)), at a depth of 69–79 ft (21–24 m).[13][19] The remains of the ships are designated aNational Historic Site of Canada with the exact location withheld to preserve the wrecks and prevent looting.[20]
Sammy Kogvik, an Inuk hunter and member of theCanadian Rangers who joined the crew of the Arctic Research Foundation'sMartin Bergmann, recalled an incident from seven years earlier in which he encountered what appeared to be a mast jutting from the ice. With this information, the ship's destination was changed from Cambridge Bay to Terror Bay, where researchers located the wreck in just 2.5 hours.[19][21][22] According to Louie Kamookak, a resident of nearbyGjoa Haven and a historian on the Franklin expedition, Parks Canada had ignored the stories of locals that suggested that the wreck ofTerror was in her namesake bay, despite many modern stories of sightings by hunters and from airplanes.[21]
The wreck was found in excellent condition, her decks and interior spaces largely intact. A wide exhaust pipe that rose from the outerdeck was pivotal in identifying the ship; it was located in the same location where the smokestack fromTerror's locomotive engine had been installed. The wreck was nearly 100 km (62 mi) south of where historians thought her final resting place was, calling into question the previously accepted account of the fate of the sailors, that they died while trying to walk out of the Arctic to the nearest Hudson's Bay Company trading post.[13]
The location of the wreckage, and evidence in the wreckage of anchor usage, indicates continued use, raising the possibility that some of the sailors had attempted to re-man the ship and sail her home (or elsewhere),[13] possibly on orders from Crozier.[21]
On 23 October 2017 it was announced by BritishDefence Minister SirMichael Fallon that the British government would be givingTerror andErebus to Canada, retaining only a few relics and any gold, along with the right to repatriate any human remains.[23]
In 2018,Terror andErebus were gifted to Canada and theInuit, in care of the Inuit Heritage Trust, by the government of the United Kingdom. This includes all the remaining artifacts.[24][25]
Although the exact location has not been released, Nancy Anilniliak, the Field Unit Superintendent of the Nunavut Field Unit, has restricted access to an approximately 10 km × 5 km (6.2 mi × 3.1 mi) rectangular area in Terror Bay. The area runs from Point E (68°54′25.45″N98°59′42.07″W / 68.9070694°N 98.9950194°W /68.9070694; -98.9950194 (point E)) to Point F (68°54′25.24″N98°51′29.08″W / 68.9070111°N 98.8580778°W /68.9070111; -98.8580778 (point F)) to Point G (68°48′46.23″N98°51′31.25″W / 68.8128417°N 98.8586806°W /68.8128417; -98.8586806 (point G)) to Point H (68°48′46.44″N98°59′42.15″W / 68.8129000°N 98.9950417°W /68.8129000; -98.9950417 (point H)).[26]
In August 2019, taking advantage of "exceptionally co-operative" weather conditions, Parks Canada conducted 48 dives over the course of seven days toTerror, 3D-mapping the wreck and searching the interior withROVs. The team was able to map out ninety per cent ofTerror's lower deck, but were unable to access Crozier's cabin due to the buildup of sediment. Despite this, Crozier's cabin was considered the best preserved space in the lower deck, and Parks Canada has expressed the hope that written materials may be found there.[27] The planned exploration of the wreck sites in 2020 was cancelled due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[28] Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Team returned to the wrecks in May 2022, after a two-year postponement caused by the pandemic.[29][30]
HMSTerror is featured, often alongside HMSErebus, in fictional works that involve or allude to the Franklin expedition, such as:
On the 14th, the combined forces [at Point St Peter], accompanied by the bomb vessels Devastation and Terror..ascended the river to St Marys
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