HMS Terror in ice

The wreckage of one of two missing ships from Franklin’s lost expedition of 1845 is believed to have been found. It is not known yet if the wreck is of HMS Terror or HMS Erebus. The Franklin expedition was an attempt to traverse the last unnavigated section of the Northwest Passage.  Franklin, 128 men of the expedition and the two ships, were all lost.  Searches for the lost expedition began in 1848, and continued through much of the 19th century. Since 2008, Parks Canada has led six major searches for the ships. A remotely operated underwater vehicle searching the Victoria Strait made the discovery on Sunday.

Before serving as an expedition ship, HMS Terror played a memorable role in American history. Indeed, so did a ship named HMS Erebus.  Two hundred years ago this week, during the War of 1812, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus fought in the Battle of Baltimore. HMS Erebus served as a rocket vessel, firing Congreve rockets at the defenders of Baltimore’s Fort McHenry. Likewise HMS Terror was one of five bomb ships, firing bombs, which is to say exploding shells, from two mortars on the ship. Whenever Americans sing the lines “the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,” in the national anthem, The Star-Spangled Banner, they are referring to these ships.

HMS Terror went on to serve as an exploration ship on three Arctic expeditions, including the Franklin expedition, on which she was lost. It would be far too good a story to say that the rocket vessel, HMS Erebus, was the other ship on the Franklin Expedition. Unfortunately it was not. HMS Erebus, which inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the lines, “the rockets red glare,” was broken up in 1819. A ship with the same name, HMS Erebus, was the second Frankin ship. She was a bomb vessel, similar to HMS Terror, but a bit larger, built in 1826.

Our congratulations to Parks Canada for locating one of the two ships.

Thanks to Alaric Bond for contributing to this post.