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| Credit: PA |
The doomed 1845 voyage of Sir John Franklin to the Northwest Arctic Passage was one of the greatest disasters of British polar history, ending in the deaths of 129 crewmen.
Now the Inuit community where the wreckage of the HMS Terror and its sister the Erebus were found say its curse has been reawakened - and is claiming lives in the tiny indigenous settlement.
Fear has gripped the remote Arctic settlement of Gjoa Haven, on Canada's King William Island, amid claims of "non-human" beings stalking the ice.
The ships left England in 1845 on a mission led by the Victorian explorer, to navigate a route through the Northwest Passage.
They became frozen in near King William Island and none of the 129 men on board survived.
The wrecks of Franklin's "lost expedition" were only discovered recently by Canadian divers near Gjoa Haven - Erebus in 2014 and Terror in 2016.
Divers have been removing artifacts from the wrecks which are expected to go on show at a local museum.
But a spate of six unexpected deaths in the space of two weeks at Gjoa Haven has led to a belief among the 1,000 strong Inuit community that the wrecks should not have been disturbed.
Jacob Keanik, whose brother and nephew drowned in a boating accident after the ships were found, told Canadian radio: "People are superstitious. They feel there is a connection between the deaths and disturbing the wreck sites.
"My late mother told me, even before these shipwrecks were discovered...the whole King William Island has non-human people that we cannot see.
"It's a funny feeling when we get on the other side of the island. You sense that somebody's around you, but there's nobody around you."
Other deaths included a vehicle accident and a heart attack.
Tamara Tarasoff, an official with Parks Canada, the government agency protecting marine conservation areas, said the community "feel the wrecks are cursed and should not be disturbed".
At a community meeting Fred Pedersen, of the Kitikmeot Inuit Association, told concerned residents of Gjoa Haven: "It is only artifacts that are being found and being taken off wreck sites.
"There are plans in place that if any bodies are found, they will be left in place. We will not bring up or disturb human remains."
The site of the Erebus wreck was blessed by Inuit "guardians" shortly after it was discovered.
But no quick blessing was carried out for Terror. A blessing of Terror has now been performed in an attempt to stop the "curse".
Dominique Tessier, spokeswoman for Parks Canada, told Canadian radio: "Following the tragedies elders blessed sand from Gjoa Haven and the guardians brought it to the wreck of HMS Terror, where they sprinkled it over the wreck and performed a blessing. The blessing was led by Inuit from Gjoa Haven."
The first blessing on the Erebus site was carried out by Louie Kamookak, a local Inuit elder, but he died before being able to conduct the blessing on Terror.
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