The Terror was published by Little, Brown in 2007. The novel fictionalizes the real-life Franklin Expedition of 1845, in which HMS Erebus and HMS Terror — two Royal Navy bomb vessels under the command of Sir John Franklin — entered the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage and were never seen again. All 129 men perished.
Simmons takes the known historical facts — the ships became trapped in ice near King William Island in September 1846 and were never freed — and adds a supernatural element: something is hunting the men across the ice. The creature, connected to the Inuit spirit world and to a mute Inuit woman the crew calls Lady Silence, picks off sailors one by one. But the monster is almost secondary to the real horrors: scurvy, starvation, lead poisoning from the expedition’s tinned food (sealed with lead solder), frostbite, the psychological disintegration of Victorian social hierarchy under extreme duress, and ultimately cannibalism.
The novel was adapted as an acclaimed AMC television series in 2018, with Jared Harris as Captain Francis Crozier.
Collecting The Terror
First edition (Little, Brown, New York, 2007): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- First edition, fine in jacket: $50–$150
- Signed first: $150–$350
Projected values (2026–2036): Strong appreciation. The AMC television adaptation (2018) and the discovery of the real HMS Terror wreck (2016) have dramatically increased interest.
The Lost Franklin Expedition
In 1845, Sir John Franklin led 129 men and two ships into the Arctic in search of the Northwest Passage. They were never seen alive again. The real mystery — what happened after the ships became trapped in ice — has fascinated historians for 170 years. Simmons uses the historical record (scurvy, lead poisoning from tinned food, possible cannibalism) and adds a supernatural predator connected to Inuit mythology, creating a novel that is simultaneously rigorous historical fiction and primal horror.
Frequently Asked Questions
Was the Terror based on real events? The expedition is real. HMS Erebus was discovered in 2014 and HMS Terror in 2016. The crew’s fate — starvation, lead poisoning, scurvy, and almost certainly cannibalism — is documented through Inuit testimony and archaeological evidence. Simmons invented the supernatural creature but otherwise hewed closely to the historical record.