Author’s Note: On May 19, 1845, the British ships HMS Ere­bus and HMS Ter­ror embarked on a momen­tous expe­di­tion from Green­hithe in Kent, intend­ing to uncov­er the fabled North­west Pas­sage, a pur­port­ed route through the North Amer­i­can Arc­tic that could con­nect the Unit­ed King­dom to lucra­tive Asian trade routes. This ambi­tious jour­ney, how­ev­er, would soon fade into his­to­ry as the ships were nev­er heard from again after being spot­ted in Baf­fin Bay in July 1845, just days before they dis­ap­peared. Despite exten­sive search efforts over a sev­en-year peri­od, the expe­di­tion was offi­cial­ly declared lost on March 1, 1854, with all crew mem­bers pre­sumed dead. The only piece of evi­dence found was a cairn dis­cov­ered in 1859 by William Hob­son, which con­tained a cru­cial note left by the crew, a sig­nif­i­cant part of which is dis­cussed in Chap­ter IX of this nar­ra­tive.

The ill-fat­ed jour­ney was led by Sir John Franklin, a man with a notable but con­tro­ver­sial his­to­ry, as he had pre­vi­ous­ly failed dis­as­trous­ly in the Cop­per­mine expe­di­tion of 1819. His com­mand on this mis­sion was accom­pa­nied by Cap­tain Fran­cis Crozi­er of the HMS Ter­ror, a skilled and sea­soned sailor with sig­nif­i­cant Arc­tic expe­ri­ence. Crozi­er was known not just for his naval exper­tise, but also his sci­en­tif­ic back­ground, which made him a crit­i­cal mem­ber of the expe­di­tion. In con­trast, the Ere­bus was led by Cap­tain James Fitz­james, a charis­mat­ic but less expe­ri­enced leader in polar explo­ration. Despite Fitz­james’s charm, he lacked the exten­sive expe­ri­ence need­ed for such a per­ilous voy­age, and he was sup­port­ed by First Lieu­tenant Gra­ham Gore, one of the few offi­cers in the crew who had pri­or Arc­tic expe­ri­ence, though Gore’s life remains large­ly undoc­u­ment­ed.

Gra­ham Gore’s per­son­al life is some­what mys­te­ri­ous, with only his ser­vice record sur­viv­ing. He was born into a naval fam­i­ly and was like­ly about thir­ty-five years old at the time of the Franklin expe­di­tion. While much of his back­ground is obscure, a let­ter from Fitz­james to his sis­ter-in-law paints a rare por­trait of Gore’s char­ac­ter, reveal­ing that he was not only phys­i­cal­ly capa­ble, but also had artis­tic tal­ents, play­ing the flute and cre­at­ing draw­ings. This brief char­ac­ter sketch offers a glimpse into Gore’s mul­ti­fac­eted nature, sug­gest­ing he was a well-round­ed man who earned the respect of his peers, though lit­tle else is known about his per­son­al thoughts and feel­ings dur­ing the expe­di­tion.

Gore was known for his pop­u­lar­i­ty among his peers, a rare achieve­ment in a time when con­sis­tent naval employ­ment dur­ing peace­time was uncom­mon. His calm demeanor and unwa­ver­ing char­ac­ter were qual­i­ties that made him well-liked in the often harsh envi­ron­ment of naval life. Gore was also not­ed for his sport­ing abil­i­ties, par­tic­u­lar­ly in hunt­ing, where he earned admi­ra­tion for his skill and ded­i­ca­tion. A lone daguerreo­type cap­tures his like­ness, depict­ing him as a hand­some and com­posed indi­vid­ual, a strik­ing con­trast to the grim and gru­el­ing nature of his naval ser­vice. His image, though few and far between, gives us a rare visu­al rep­re­sen­ta­tion of a man who was inte­gral to the ill-fat­ed Franklin expe­di­tion.

In craft­ing this nov­el, sev­er­al aspects of Gore’s char­ac­ter were ampli­fied for dra­mat­ic effect. The por­tray­al pre­sent­ed here depicts him as a man who remained calm and com­posed in the face of extreme dan­ger, a man whose ambi­tion was to rise with­in the mil­i­tary ranks. This nar­ra­tive began as a light­heart­ed project aimed at a small audi­ence but quick­ly evolved into a deep­er explo­ration of the his­tor­i­cal real­i­ties of the Franklin expe­di­tion. As the sto­ry pro­gressed, it became a way of under­stand­ing not just the his­tor­i­cal facts, but the emo­tion­al and psy­cho­log­i­cal depths of the char­ac­ters involved. Gore’s role in the expe­di­tion, as well as the broad­er con­text of the jour­ney itself, pro­vides a com­pelling foun­da­tion for the explo­ration of sur­vival, lead­er­ship, and moral choic­es dur­ing one of the most sig­nif­i­cant and trag­ic expe­di­tions in his­to­ry.

Kaliane Bradley
Lon­don, 2024