4. The broken masts of HMS Terror (New Data).

Captain David Woodman has kindly provided me with the following information on what Parks Canada divers have found on the wreck of HMS Terror. The ship is sitting upright on the seabed in 72 feet of water.  Her three masts are broken off, with the tallest stump 5 m high.  The masts lie along the starboard side of the wreck and are still attached by the rigging.  Spars lying along the length of the ship indicate that she was rigged for ‘winter quarters’ when she sank. That is the topmasts, spars and sails were removed to prevent ice buildup.  Spars were rigged along the length of the ship to support a canvas awning, so that the crew might exercise in some shelter through the winter.

Captain Woodman also adds that the ship was not anchored. Six of her nine anchors are still aboard or lying directly beneath the ship. When a ship is anchored, it is not her anchor that holds her but the weight and strength of the cable as a long ‘rode’ that does the work. Ideally there should be a ratio of seven to one for depth of water to distance from hawse to anchor. A heavy anchor dropped alongside the ship would be almost useless. For ships like Erebus and Terror a favourable anchorage depth would be 5 to 6 fathoms (thirty to thirty six feet) as it allows a good rode ratio.  So the ship lies in 12 fathoms (24m) which would probably have been too deep for a captain to try to anchor except in dire emergency. The fact that Terror is not anchored suggests she drifted to her location. No evidence has been found of a hole cut into the ships side as described in some Inuit testimony.

There are two reliable primary eyewitness accounts of Terror being thrown over onto her side. The first of these was collected by Hall in 1866 when on route to King William Island. He met a group of Inuit and their headman – Kok-lee-arng-nun gave an account (Nourse 1879, p. 255). Kok-lee-arng-nun’s testimony is particularly important as he is the only one to give a description of what appears to be Sir John Franklin (with his unique bald head) and his relations with his two senior officers. This may be the earliest meeting of the Inuit with the expedition.

‘The old man and his wife agreed in saying that the ship on board of which they had often seen Too-loo-ark was overwhelmed with heavy ice in the spring of the year. While the ice was slowly crushing it, the men all worked for their lives in getting out provisions, but before they could save much, the ice turned the vessel down on its side, crushing the masts and breaking a hole in her bottom and so overwhelming her that she sank at once, and had never been seen again. Several men at work on her could not get out in time, and were carried down with her and drowned.  ‘On this account Ag-loo-ka’s company had died of starvation, for they had not time to get the provisions out of her.’

The second account was also collected by Hall in May 1869 from two eyewitnesses Tee-kee-ta and Ow-wer. It describes the famous meeting in Washington Bay on 1850. At first only the two Inuit hunters, Ow-wer and Too-shoo-art-thar-i-u, met with a Franklin officer (‘Aglooka’ – possibly Marine Sergeant Solomon Tozer) who was accompanied by an armed marine (‘Ill-kern’ – possibly Marine private Pilkington) who was told to put down his weapon. Neither of the Franklin men spoke Inutitusk, so Aglooka made a pantomime explaining what had happened to their ships which they had abandoned (Woodman, 1995, p.126, Hall’s spelling):

‘Aglooka pointed with his hand to the southward & and eastward & at the same time repeating the word I-wil-ik. The Innuits could not understand whether he wanted them to show him the way there or that he was going there.  He then made a motion to the northward & spoke the word oo-me-en, making them to understand there were 2 ships in that direction; which had, as they supposed, been crushed by the ice. As Aglooka pointed to the N., drawing his hand & arm from that direction he slowly moved his body in a falling direction and all at once dropped his head sideways into his hand, at the same time making a kind of combination or whirring, buzzing & wind blowing noise.  This the pantomimic representation of ships being crushed in the ice. While Aglooka was talking and making motions, the other men Innuits came to where they were.’

Presumably the officer dropping his head into his hand was intended to describe the great crash when a three-masted sailing ship fell onto her side.

At present there are two different interpretations of when Terror was thrown over onto her side by ice movements.   Captain David Woodman has suggested that it occurred in Terror Bay, where the wreck lies, probably in 1850.  Roobol (2019) has suggested that it occurred in 1847 before the 1848 retreat.

QUESTION: Was Terror thrown over onto her side in 1847 off the north-west coast of King William Island?

QUESTION: Was Terror used as a mausoleum ship for those who died over winter 1847 – 48? Is there evidence that bodies once occupied the bunks?

QUESTION: Are the crew’s personal possessions still aboard of was the ship a stripped derelict before she sank.

QUESTION: Was an abandoned Terror ice rafted to Terror Bay?

QUESTION: Was Terror remanned in late 1848 and sailed to Terror Bay?

QUESTION: Is there a hole in the hull cut through the side of the hold as described in Inuit testimony.

• This topic was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Admin.
• This topic was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Admin.
• This topic was modified 2 years, 7 months ago by Admin.