HMS Erebus stamp

A stamp issued in NZ in 1957, featuring a ship that features a little in early NZ history, but more in Canadian history. Launched in 1826 this sailing warship was constructed by the Royal Navy in Pembroke dockyard, Wales. The vessel was named after the dark region in Hades of Greek mythology called Erebus. The 372-ton ship was armed with two mortars - one 13 in (330 mm) and one 10 in (250 mm) - and 10 guns.

The stamp marks NZ's Ross Dependency in Antartica as in early 1841 she departed from Tasmania for Antarctica in company with HMS Terror. In January 1841, the crew of both ships landed on Victoria Land, and proceeded to name areas of the landscape after British politicians, scientists, and acquaintances. Mount Erebus, on Ross Island, was named for the ship itself (see the earlier post about the Air NZ crash on Mt Erebus in November 1979). They 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 Tasmania. The following season, 1842, Ross continued to survey the "Great Ice Barrier", as it was called, continuing to follow it eastward.

The ship is best known as one involved in what is known as "Franklin's Lost Expedidtion". 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 charted from both the east and west but had never been entirely navigated. The ships were last seen entering Baffin Bay in August 1845. The disappearance of the Franklin expedition set off a massive search effort in the Arctic.