Francis Crozier

Captain of the Terror, Crozier was 49 the time the expedition set off. Born in Banbridge, County Down, Ireland he first went to sea at the age of 13. Crozier had been to the Arctic on two previous occasions once an attempt to find the North West Passage with William Parry in 1821-23 and then again in 1827 with Parry in a failed attempt to reach the North Pole. In 1839, Crozier joined James Clark Ross initially as commander and then as captain of the Terror on a four year voyage to Antarctica that explored some very significant new areas and penetrated the pack ice to an extent never managed before, he returned from this expedition in 1843, two years before setting off with Franklin to look for the North West Passage again.

The atmosphere on Crozier's ship, the Terror was less positive and convivial than on the Erebus with Franklin.