The Wreck of HMS Terror

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "The Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site of Canada: 2016-2019 Underwater Archaeological Investigations" , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

This paper will present a preliminary archaeological examination of the wreck of HMS Terror, discovered in September 2016, in the aptly (but coincidentally) named Terror Bay, along the southwestern shore of King William Island, Nunavut. To date, Parks Canada has carried out both open-water diving and through-ice remotely operated vehicle dives at the wreck. The quite remarkable archaeological condition of the wreck is presented in detail, including aspects of its physical disposition (both exterior and interior), site environment, structural integrity, and artefact potential. The research implications of the wreck’s situation in Terror Bay are provisionally explored, with reference to the wreck of HMS Erebus, located roughly 75 km due south in Wilmot and Crampton Bay. Nineteenth-century Inuit accounts of the disappearance of Franklin’s two ships are re-evaluated in this geographical context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• The Wrecks of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror National Historic Site of Canada: 2016-2019 Underwater Archaeological Investigations

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 768