HMS Erebus: The Doomed Franklin Expedition Ship Found Frozen in Time

Before she went north, she went south — deeper into the Antarctic than any ship had ever sailed, giving her name to a volcano at the bottom of the world. Then in eighteen forty-five she turned north as the flagship of the most ambitious Arctic expedition Britain had ever mounted, carrying one hundred and thirty-four men in search of the Northwest Passage. She never came back. In twenty fourteen, after a century and a half of searching, HMS Erebus was found sitting on the seabed in shallow Arctic water, remarkably intact. Tonight, drift slowly through her story — the bomb vessel built to absorb the recoil of enormous mortars, the Antarctic voyages that made her famous and put her name on the map, the refit that gave her a steam engine and a screw propeller for the ice, the provisions and the library and the confident departure, the two winters beset off King William Island, the abandonment and the note left in a cairn that is nearly all we have, the Inuit accounts that recorded what happened next, and the divers who now work her deck each summer, bringing up plates and bottles and instruments left exactly where they fell. Let the tale carry you gently toward sleep. Lost Vessel explores the greatest ships ever built — and the greatest legends the sea has ever told — slowly, calmly, and made for rest. 🌙 Subscribe for a new great ship every week. 🎧 Best enjoyed with headphones, eyes closed, as you drift off. This is a place to sleep, not to study — so let the details wash over you and rest easy. #LostVessel #HMSErebus #FranklinExpedition #Arctic #MaritimeHistory #SleepHistory