Terror Bay (, ) is an

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

waterway in the

Kitikmeot Region Kitikmeot Region (; Inuktitut: ''Qitirmiut'' ) is an List of regions of Nunavut, administrative region of Nunavut, Canada. It consists of the southern and eastern parts of Victoria Island with the adjacent part of the mainland as far as the Boo ...

Nunavut Nunavut is the largest and northernmost Provinces and territories of Canada#Territories, territory of Canada. It was separated officially from the Northwest Territories on April 1, 1999, via the ''Nunavut Act'' and the Nunavut Land Claims Agr ...

, Canada. It is located on the southwestern side of

King William Island King William Island (, ; previously: King William Land) is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between and making it the list of islands by area, 61st-largest island in the world ...

. The entrance to the bay is marked by Fitzjames Island on the west and Irving Island to the east. The bay opens to

Queen Maud Gulf Queen Maud Gulf lies between the northern coast of the mainland and the southeastern corner of Victoria Island in Nunavut, Canada. At its western end lies Cambridge Bay, leading to Dease Strait; to the east lies Simpson Strait; and to the nort ...

Association with John Franklin

The bay was one of a series of landmarks along the waters explored by

John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer and colonial administrator. After serving in the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, he led two expeditions into the Northern Canada, Canadia ...

during his lost expedition between 1845 and 1848. The bay has the same name as , one of the two ships of the expedition. The ships entered

Baffin Bay Baffin Bay (Inuktitut: ''Saknirutiak Imanga''; ; ; ), located between Baffin Island and the west coast of Greenland, is defined by the International Hydrographic Organization as a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is sometimes considered a s ...

in 1845 on their quest to find a

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea lane between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, near the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Arctic Archipelago of Canada. The eastern route along the Arctic ...

, and were abandoned sometime in 1848. Terror Bay was officially named by the

Geographical Names Board of Canada The Geographical Names Board of Canada (GNBC) is a national committee with a secretariat in Natural Resources Canada, part of the Government of Canada, which authorizes the names used and name changes on official federal government maps of Canad ...

in 1910.

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

oral history provided clues about the ships' demise, but the precise locations of the wrecks were not known for over 160 years. In 2016, Arctic Research Foundation researchers on board the ''Martin Bergmann'' announced that they had found the wreck of HMS ''Terror'' in Terror Bay. They had been led there by a tip from

Inuk Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labr ...

crewman Sammy Kogvik, from

Gjoa Haven Gjoa Haven (; Inuktitut: Uqsuqtuuq, syllabics: ᐅᖅᓱᖅᑑᖅ , meaning "lots of fat", referring to the abundance of sea mammals in the nearby waters; or �ʒɔa evən is an Inuit hamlet in Nunavut, above the Arctic Circle, located in th ...

, who reported seeing a mast protruding from the ice in Terror Bay during a hunting trip in 2010. The wreck of the other ship of the lost expedition, HMS ''Erebus'', had previously been found in 2014. Following the rediscovery of the ''Terror'' and the Nunavut Field Unit of

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

restricted access to a rectangular area of the bay, as part of the Wrecks of HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror'' National Historic Site. The area runs from Point E () to Point F () to Point G () to Point H ().

References

{{Bays of Nunavut Bays of Kitikmeot Region Franklin's lost expedition History of Nunavut Maritime history of Canada