The HMS Terror, pictured here in an 1838 painting by William Henry Smyth, was trapped in pack ice west of Baffin Island and stranded on an ice floe for 118 days during an arctic voyage, one of many casualties in the search for a way to circumnavigate the globe. (Royal Museums Greenwich)
The search for a Northwest Passage fundamentally shaped the history of Newfoundland, where John Cabot landed in 1497 while seeking a northwestern sea route to Asia.
Although European sailors equipped themselves with the latest marine technologies, from agile caravels to magnetic compasses, their faith in the existence of
