Real Weird: Lost ship HMS Terror has been found after 168 years

Last Updated on July 31, 2021

In 1845, an Artic expedition led by Captain Sir John Franklin departed England on two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with the intention of sailing through the Northwest Passage. Unfortunately, both of the ships were lost in the Canadian Arctic in 1848, along with all 129 of the men who were aboard. Although the search for the ships and their crew went on for years, little trace of them was ever turned up. The mystery surrounding the fate of the ships and those aboard led to the creation of many theories, including "what if?" scenarios that strayed into the supernatural – like the story author Dan Simmons crafted around the facts of the ill-fated expedition in his 2007 novel The Terror.

After years of development, AMC is moving forward with an anthology series adaptation of Simmons' novel, which tells what happens when HMS Erebus and HMS Terror discover

a monstrous predator – a cunning and vicious Gothic horror that stalks the ships in a desperate game of survival, the consequences of which could endanger the region and its native people forever.

Tobias Menzies recently signed on to star in the series, which is expected to premiere on AMC in 2017.

Coincidentally, the sunken wreckage of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror have both been found in the years between the publication of Simmons' novel and the production of the series. Guided by the oral history of the Inuits who lived in the area where the ships were lost, searchers discovered the remains of HMS Erebus on September 2, 2014.

Two years later, on September 3, 2016, the sunken remains of HMS Terror were located on the bottom of an Arctic bay, at a depth of around 69 to 79 feet and 60 miles south of where many believed the ship had been crushed by ice. This successful search was spurred on by the sighting of a tall wooden pole sticking out of the ice in the area seven years ago – a mast. The HMS Terror went down around 60 nautical miles north of where HMS Erebus sank.

While the discovery of these ships brings some closure to a mystery people have been pondering for well over 150 years, AMC still plans to go ahead with their Terror series. Information gathered from the wreckage is not expected to have any impact on the story of the show.