Behind the scenes of the expedition that found Franklin’s HMS Erebus

The Northwest Passage search
In 1845, Captain Sir John Franklin led an expedition to the Arctic to navigate the Northwest Passage. His ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, were lost in the snowy north, and all those involved in the expedition perished. In September 2014 – nearly 170 years after the ill-fated expedition – the wreck of Erebus was located in northern Canadian waters.

The discovery is the subject of a new Channel 4 documentary, Hunt For The Arctic Ghost Ship, which airs on Tuesday 4 August at 9pm. Jonathan Wright, BBC History Magazine’s TV editor, interviewed the documentary’s executive producer, David Upshal, to find out more…