The crew then discovered the Ross Ice Shelf, which they were unable to penetrate, and followed it eastward until the lateness of the season compelled them to return to Van Diemen's Land.

The expedition was ordered to gather magnetic data in the Canadian Arctic and to complete a crossing of the Northwest Passage, which had already been partly charted from both the east and west but had never been entirely navigated.

The broad circumstances of the expedition's fate were first revealed when Hudson's Bay Company doctor John Rae collected artefacts and testimony from local Inuit in 1853.

Both ships had become icebound and had been abandoned by their crews, totaling about 130 men, all of whom died from a variety of causes, including hypothermia, scurvy and starvation while trying to trek overland to the south.

Subsequent expeditions until the late 1980s, and autopsies of crew members, also revealed that Erebus and Terror's shoddily canned rations may have been tainted by both lead and botulism.

[9][10] The search was headed by underwater archeologist Robert Grenier, of Parks Canada, and local historian Louie Kamookak, who had collected Inuit oral histories related to the wreck, as well as working with the written records.

[20][21][22] On 23 October 2017, British Defence Minister Sir Michael Fallon announced that the United Kingdom would transfer the ownership of both ships to Canada, retaining only a few relics and any gold, along with the right to repatriate any human remains.

[23] In September 2018, Parks Canada announced that Erebus' condition had deteriorated significantly, with a 14 metres (46 ft) section of the upper deck detaching from the ship, flipping over, and moving towards the stern.

Parks Canada attributed the deterioration to "an upwards buoyant force acting on the decking combined with storm swell in relatively shallow water".

Underwater archaeology team leader Marc-Andre Bernier remarked that Parks Canada was "concerned about Erebus", given the wreck's shallower depths and the earlier reports of damage.

[26] Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Team returned to the wrecks in May 2022, after a two-year postponement caused by the pandemic; particular attention would be paid to any further damage to Erebus, due to her shallower depths.

[29][30] On 5 September 2019, passengers of Adventure Canada on MS Ocean Endeavour were the first members of the public to visit the site of the wreck of the Erebus.