"HMS Terror" Death on the Arctic Tundra

After Dark: Myths, Misdeeds & the Paranormal

This episode explores the harrowing disappearance of HMS Terror and HMS Erebus during their 1845 mission to find the Northwest Passage. Host

Key takeaways

• The expedition was led by Captain Sir John Franklin and featured a mix of traditional sailing and new steam technology.
• The 'Victory Point Note' serves as the primary written evidence of the crew's descent into chaos and the death of Franklin.

Main topics

• Franklin Expedition
• Northwest Passage

Notable quotes

All well, all is good, all is fine. As expected.

Conclusion

A fascinating look at how modern science and indigenous knowledge conv

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Looking for more shady and sinister stories? Sign up to History Hit. You can join us to explore the tragic life of the Brontes or discover the chilling story of Burke and Hare. Plus, with your History Hit subscription, you'll unlock hundreds of hours of exclusive documentaries with a brand new release every week exploring everything from the ancient world to World War II. Just visit historyhit.com forward slash subscribe to start exploring the past. Speaker 2 (0:28) In 1845, 129 men vanished in the Arctic. Not one of them came home. HMS Terra and Erebus sailed from Victorian Britain on a mission to conquer the Northwest Passage. They were packed with supplies, armed with cutting-edge technology, and commanded by experienced Royal Navy officers. But somewhere in the frozen wilderness, everything went catastrophically wrong. For decades, nobody knew what had happened. Then the clues began to emerge. abandoned ships, desperate messages, starvation and evidence of cannibalism. So what went wrong? How did one of the greatest missions of the Victorian age become one of history's darkest mysteries? From the icy shores of the Canadian Arctic, welcome to After Dark. Speaker 3 (1:35) Hello and welcome to After Dark. I'm Anthony. And Speaker 2 (1:38) I'm Maddy. Speaker 3 (1:38) Now, in 1845, two Royal Navy ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, departed Britain on an expedition into the Arctic. Along their ill-fated, icy expedition, they disappeared almost completely, becoming one of history's greatest maritime mysteries. Speaker 2 (1:57) Dun, dun, dun. Um, committed After Dark listeners. will know that we have already done this topic. We have. This was, now I don't know if it was actually the first episode, but it was the first week of recording. First batch of recordings we ever did. Three years Speaker 3 (2:14) ago, Paddy Melling. Speaker 2 (2:15) Three years, almost three years. And I've Speaker 3 (2:17) gotten younger in the interim. Speaker 2 (2:19) yeah yeah the injectables are working babe looking good Speaker 3 (2:23) definitely have more yeah you Speaker 2 (2:25) were wrinklier and i was blonde now it's oh my god you were i was blonde crazy times go back and find that oh there's no youtube you won't be able to um okay yeah this I am obsessed with this history. I've been obsessed with it for a while. People who might not know the real history might have seen The Terror. That's how Speaker 3 (2:44) I came to this. Yeah. Initially. Phenomenal. Great, great, great, great, great. Speaker 2 (2:48) Great cast. Yeah. Love it. There will be fewer murderous... polar bears in this version fair Speaker 3 (2:55) enough though sadly oh fair i mean i think a Speaker 2 (2:57) murderous polar bear makes everything better i've seen Speaker 3 (2:59) pandas on the on instagram they're so cute i've Speaker 2 (3:02) seen what pandas yeah i know they're not polar Speaker 3 (3:05) bears but they are bears have Speaker 2 (3:06) sorry did you say have you just seen pandas on Speaker 3 (3:10) instagram because like they get frights all the time they're always jumping Speaker 2 (3:14) Yeah, they do. Speaker 3 (3:15) They Speaker 2 (3:15) do. Oh, Jesus. My favorite is the goats that get startled and then they faint and they just go sideways and they go like rigid. I want a goat. And Speaker 3 (3:21) they Speaker 2 (3:21) just, yeah. Anyway, Speaker 3 (3:22) HMS Terror. No polar bears in this episode. Well, there were, I Speaker 2 (3:24) think there were some goats. There was definitely sheep and also a monkey aboard this expedition. So we'll get to the animals. in just to say in the old episode that we did the early episode um we do go into a lot of the primary source material and because it's the old style episodes there are some pretty rip-roaring narrative sections in there so oh my god remember we used to do those yeah i wrote all of that episode i was very proud of it um So if you want to hear some more discussion of the primary material, go back and listen to that. But listen to this first. We're going to do an overview of everything. And we're also going to talk about a new discovery this year. I Speaker 3 (4:03) also Speaker 2 (4:04) told Anthony to queue me up to say that, but Speaker 3 (4:07) it's the end of the day. This is the last episode Speaker 2 (4:09) we're recording. I had to do my own work on this pod. Would you like to know what's happening in the wider world at this moment? Speaker 3 (4:17) So, OK, yeah. So before we zone into that new stuff, we're going to zoom out a little bit. Oh, yeah. Let's do the story. 1845. One thing I can tell you that's definitely happening. Great Irish famine. That's probably not on your list because it may not be having global impact, but it is happening. Is it on your list? It's not on my Speaker 2 (4:32) list. Speaker 3 (4:32) That's pretty Speaker 2 (4:33) shocking, isn't it? Fire whoever wrote this script. Speaker 3 (4:37) Turns out it was Maddie. Speaker 2 (4:38) Yeah, no, it wasn't this time. It really wasn't. I just don't care about Irish history. Untrue. Clip that. Clip that, put it on socials. Okay, right. 1840s. I'm really, I love this time period for a project at the moment. I'm spending time in the late 1830s, start of the 1840s. I think it's Speaker 3 (4:58) a Speaker 2 (4:58) really interesting time. Yes, we are technically in Britain in the Victorian era from 1837 onwards, but it's not the Victorian era that you might picture with, you know, sort of plump old Victoria, the height of the Industrial Revolution, you know, Sherlock Holmes going out the streets of London. He wasn't real. Just before anyone in the comments says, excuse me, I was not a historical figure. This is, you know, we've had global war against Napoleon, you know, fought across the British and French empires. We've had the Regency. We've had the sort of slightly grimy, fatigued world that comes just after that conflict and British victory. But we're not quite yet in that sort of height of Victoriana. It's a slightly strange and I think really delicious, quite gothic time. And this story absolutely feeds into this. It is a period of naval dominance by the Royal Navy. As I say, the Napoleonic War is over. Britain has defeated the French. There's negotiations in heavy quotation marks. in terms of trade with China when Britain wins the first opium war at the end of 1842. So there are new discoveries happening. There's this kind of sense that imperial prestige is growing. The British Empire... point two is arriving we've had the georgian version of it um focused largely on the transatlantic slave trade and then turning towards the east indies and now this is the era of you know the victoria empress of india and all of this so it's it's a world where trade is incredibly important and that brings us to the northwest passage ever heard of it Speaker 3 (6:48) yes it's what I do when I have chia seeds in a glass of water and it helps me to... Why did I know Speaker 2 (6:57) that was... I'm Speaker 3 (6:57) 42 now. You're not. I Speaker 2 (7:00) can't... Speaker 3 (7:00) Yeah. You are not 42. I mean, you know this. You genuinely... I just lie about it so often that you're like, wait, what? Yeah. God, Speaker 1 (7:08) you Speaker 3 (7:08) actually Speaker 1 (7:08) are. Yeah. Speaker 2 (7:09) And so I need... You need some assistance. Speaker 3 (7:13) Why am I Speaker 2 (7:13) talking about this? Speaker 2 (7:15) If you set out in a ship in the 1840s, you'd have to take your chia seeds with you. Speaker 3 (7:21) Chia seeds and water, but you have to leave them for a while because they expand. Also, I take this thing called, what's it called? I just call it poo juice, but I don't know what it's. It's this, it's a powder. NHS use it. They didn't give it to me. I just, I got it online. And you put it into water and you say, honestly, if you're backed up, which you would be if you're on HMS Terror and Erebus. Thank Speaker 2 (7:40) you Speaker 3 (7:40) for Speaker 2 (7:40) linking that back to the history. Then it Speaker 3 (7:42) would be a good thing. Speaker 2 (7:44) I'm just going to end the episode there. I'm going to just Speaker 3 (7:46) finish there. Now I'm Speaker 2 (7:47) going Speaker 3 (7:47) to pick that up. Speaker 2 (7:48) I'll just pick that up. Northwest Passage, right. In reality, Speaker 3 (7:51) the Speaker 2 (7:52) Northwest Passage is basically, it's an Arctic sea lane. It was kind of, it's often described as being fabled, right? It was hard to find. The idea is that, you know, in this world of trade, you need to be able to link up. the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans because at the moment the Brits are having to go down all the way under South America to get up to like China and all of that. So if you could go over the top, that would be quicker, it'd be easier. However, it's kind of a race to find the Northwest Passage, to find a route through sort of the, we're talking about like the far north coast of Canada. You know, there's pack ice, there's little islands dotted over, it's an extremely dangerous place to go. But if you can find a way through, you are... it's a bit like the straight of home moves right on a small scale um as in straight of home moves is smaller than northworth passage yes it must be um somebody comment in the comment section she's spiraling correct i'm spiraling i'm doubting myself oh my god you Speaker 3 (8:51) know can i ask you a question um that's also you know the way you're talking about trade yes Speaker 2 (8:55) in Speaker 3 (8:56) gay lingo what do you know what trade means no Speaker 2 (8:59) so Speaker 3 (9:00) trade is like Speaker 2 (9:02) Well, you just had to explain what a cottaging was to me off mic a minute ago. Explain Speaker 3 (9:06) that. And trade is like a good looking man. So trade is like, is X trade? And then you say whether he is or he isn't. So now you know. Okay. Speaker 2 (9:18) That's not what's Speaker 3 (9:19) happening here, but I'm just introducing Speaker 2 (9:20) some gay shit. Thank Speaker 3 (9:22) you very Speaker 2 (9:22) much. Some gay shit, literally, across this section. Speaker 3 (9:27) They're going to love that in the comments, aren't they? Speaker 2 (9:32) Okay, right. Recover this. Speaker 3 (9:34) Okay, HMS Terror, HMS Erebus. Speaker 2 (9:39) Possibly the two best named ships ever. Speaker 3 (9:41) I'm not getting on a ship called HMS Terror. I Speaker 2 (9:43) know, I know. It's not great, is it? What does Speaker 3 (9:46) Erebus mean? Speaker 2 (9:47) Erebus is... Is Speaker 3 (9:48) it classical? Classical. Yeah, sure. Speaker 2 (9:49) Yes. Right, Speaker 3 (9:50) so HMS Terror, HMS Erebus. We have people aboard. Who are they and what are these ships doing? Speaker 2 (9:58) Okay, so first of all, the ships, they're not particularly new ships in this period. They're designed as warships. They've been adapted, again, thinking we're in this sort of strange moment in between eras. So we're in 1838, HMS... Temeraire, the fighting Temeraire that Turner famously paints, you know, being being pulled away by a steamship. The world of sort of wooden warships, HMS Victory, Trafalgar, all of that is going. Speaker 3 (10:26) And Speaker 2 (10:26) steam and engines are coming in. And I think Terra, if not Terra and Erebus are both fitted with engines, but they're wooden ships. They have sails. They're this kind of weird hybrid, which, you know, causes massive problems in terms of like bringing loads of coal. And then the engines don't work properly and all this. So they're sort of strange, organic, metal, odd beings. Huge food supplies, as you might expect, come with them on this voyage. We're Speaker 3 (10:57) going Speaker 2 (10:57) to be gone for around about three years, they plan for. So when you go up into the Antarctic. you can expect to get stuck in the pack ice and have to winter there. So the ship is stuck in the ice. You don't go anywhere. That can be for months at a time. So that's normal. That would be expected. So you take things with you. So importantly, they take a lot of tinned food with them. And there's a theory, which I think has kind of been debunked now by a lot of historians, saying that when the... Speaker 2 (11:31) this expedition is is commissioned um the company that makes the tin food in london have to rush through the order because they got it they have to go to catch the season to get stuck in the pack ice at the right time etc um and there's this idea that the the tins were sealed with lead and they weren't done properly and lead seeped into the food they all got lead poisoning and they all went mad um there is going to be a descent into absolute chaos on this this expedition um Was it from the lead? I think that's been debunked now, but it's a common narrative that comes up with this. There are live sheep, live pigs, live chickens that are taken, of course. There's a dog called Neptune, which I love. I don't think we're ever going to hear the end of Neptune. I Speaker 3 (12:15) bet you I would have been like the weirdo in the corner who's like. cuddling the sheep or something because oh Speaker 2 (12:20) yeah i mean i always feel so sad like is it shackleton um one of shackleton's expeditions where they take all the dogs and there's photographs of the dogs from like 19 was that expedition like 12 to 14 or something it's just the outbreak of the first world war the dogs are so beautiful every single one of them gets eaten They have to eat all the dogs. Every single one. It's like, by you! And I'm like, oh yeah, them. The men. And I think it was that expedition where the cook has a cat aboard the ship and they have to eat the cat and the cook goes absolutely mad because he's like, that's my best friend. My poor cat. And I'm pretty sure it's the Shackatonic expedition and they all get a medal afterwards apart from the cook because he backchatted about the cat and fair enough to him. So that's kind of sad. Also aboard the ship is this monkey. Oh, Speaker 3 (13:07) yeah. So Speaker 2 (13:08) we're Speaker 3 (13:08) going Speaker 2 (13:08) to meet some people aboard in a second, but Captain Sir John Franklin is in charge of this expedition. It's his wife who's like, darling, here's a monkey to take with you. For goodness sake. My husband's in the army and he's been deployed all over the world and I have on occasion sent him off with ridiculous things. I wouldn't send him. I think I saw it down here in the bookcase somewhere. Dal Rimpel's massive history of the East India Company, which is a tome. Anarchy Speaker 3 (13:36) or something. Anarchy, yeah. Speaker 2 (13:38) I've seen it here somewhere, which is a brilliant book, but it's literally a doorstop. And yeah, Matt had to carry it from country to country and was like, this was not helpful. Speaker 3 (13:48) Well, funnily enough, my husband is a monkey. So in ways those two stories come together in unusual Speaker 2 (13:56) ways. Speaker 3 (13:56) It's always nice Speaker 2 (13:56) to share things from our personal lives. Okay, cast and crew. Go Speaker 3