The Terror - AMC

I think a nice flip of the show is to take a relatively explored genre in the "adventuring" category but not to follow the heroics

e.g the show has a very similar setting to the classic movie Endurance starring Kenneth Brannagh

But turned on its head as horror.

 

Having rewatched, I think the final scenes at Starvation Cove are the show runners homage to the likely horrific end of the real crew

I did some reading on the fascinating back story to the mystery, which burst back into life with the discovery of HMS Terror a couple of years ago. The location of Terror gives clues as to a much expanded story to what was previous thought.

It seems like the ships didn't break up and sink in the first couple of years, and the remains of the crew were found at numerous different locations.

Who knows what various and desperate missions set out .... but some stuff seems likely

1. It seems there was an abortive attempt to walk out in the first year - perhaps by an advance party.

2. At some point the ships were abandoned but then reoccupied. Erebus sank over 100km from Terror. Terror was also found in a completely different bay to where Inuit reported seeing her trapped in the first year (likely why it took so long to find her). So most likely Terror got free at some point and was sailed around King James Island - possibly with a skeleton crew

3. The camp at Terror Bay, in sight of the wreck, is therefore most likely where they finally abandoned ship. The "Boat Place" at Erebus bay (where a longboat with 2 skeletons in it was discovered) was long thought to be where they made landfall. But it now seems this was a functional work camp near where the ships were anchored.

4. There were numerous contacts with Inuit - who also reported seeing the ships occupied but frozen in during the first year, but later abandoned. The Inuit then took materials etc from the abandoned ships. The Inuit report seeing HMS Terror crushed by ice

5. Different to the show, there was a lot of food around in key places including seals, birds, caribou, rabbits etc - but apparently not on all parts of the island

It seems likely the ordeal played out longer than the 2 years originally thought when the boats were first trapped in winter 46/47

The last men may have finally died at Starvation Cove as late as 1951!

Reading about the huge food stores they had with them, and the hunting potential, not to mention the attrition in the crew, one can imagine they might have held out so long, especially with some help from locals.

Amazing story!

 

Here is a map which puts the events of the show into context.

We know where the ships were first trapped because Sir John left the messages in the cairn in winter 1846/47, then updated in 1847/48. (Sir John himself died in 1946)

HMS Erebus made it south of King William Island and went down west of Adelaide Peninsula on the Canadian mainland. Possibly it drifted there I guess

HMS Terror went down due north of Erebus in Terror Bay. As you can see, you have to sail due south from where the ships were trapped in 47-48, then east, then north up the bay to reach the wreck site. There is a camp at Terror Bay, so almost certainly a crew reoccupied the boat, sailed it to Terror bay, then abandoned ship there - likely when it got trapped again.

The marooned crew, maybe 40-50 strong were seen on the march at Washington Bay by Inuit sealers.

The group headed southeast to try to reach the Back River

A large number starved to death at a camp at Starvation Cove on the mainland after covering 100km

 

And as chance should have it - this footage of the wreck of HMS Terror has been released in the last 48 hrs!

 

One last post from me. As you can tell I am fascinated by this amazing story.

A question raised in the show was why the crew did not make more use of the Inuit

It seems in real life there were significant contacts over the years. Indeed according to one account there was a joint hunt of caribou on the island. Apparently in spring these were plentiful - though not on all parts of the island. One could also hunt birds and rabbits. Not to mention seals.

The inuit traded with the crew from time to time. Indeed Crozier's overland party traded a knife for seal meat. Also in the first year or so, the expedition had large resources.

However as subsistence hunters, there were significant limits on Inuit help. For starters they blamed the english for the bad winter in 46/47 which was apparently one of the worst ever seen, and virtually no spring/summer to follow.

But feeding their own families was a full time job, let alone 100+ starving sailors.

Hence the 3 sealers who met Croziers desperate party of 40 in Washington bay slipped away in the night, least they be pressed into service.

Maybe more than anything, that gives an indication of the dire straits the men were in.

Interestingly on his own successful Northwest Passage expedition, Amundsen was iced in on King William Island himself for 2 years from 1903 but learned how to use dog teams from the locals

 

I think this extract illustrates the challenges. The Inuit themselves knew where and when to hunt. e.g in the fishing season they lived on the ice. They hunted seals with specially trained dogs. In summer they headed back onshore to the grazing grounds of south and west King William Island to hunt the abundant caribou (these crossed over the sea ice and then apparently return to the mainland when the ice forms again at the end of summer. But as the inuit know, you have to do all your hunting in a few short weeks.

So this sort of subsistence living isn't practical in the context of forced marches - especially not with such big groups of men

My guess is they abandoned the ships in the north where there was simply nothing to eat - and them went back for them in a spring thaw in 1948. They then held out another 1-2 years at "The Tent Place" - probably simply waiting to be rescued.

 

Sadly yes

 

Yeah agreed. The cast is a bit weak IMO.

I also don't like the photography of the camp. It feels happy instead of spooky.