Francis Crozier Francis Rawdon Moira Crozier ( 16 August 1796 – after 1848 ? ) was born in Ireland at Banbridge , County Down and was a British naval officer who participated in six exploratory expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic . He was named after Francis Rawdon , the 2nd Earl of Moira , who was a friend of his father . Early life . Francis Crozier was born at Avonmore House which still stands today opposite his large memorial in Church Square Banbridge , County Down , Ireland . He was the eleventh of thirteen children , and the fifth son , of attorney - at - law George Crozier , Esq . Francis attended school locally in Banbridge , with his brothers William and Thomas and lived with his family in Avonmore House in the centre of Banbridge which his father had built in 1792 . Ancestry . His ancestors were of Norman descent and first emerged when they joined the armies of William the Conqueror to invade England in 1066 . A certain man called William was in the service of the Church also was the carrier of Bishop Odo ' s Crozier ( half brother of William the Conqueror ) and hence took the surname Crozier . Before this date surnames did not exist . He was the founder of the family . He was well known at that time and after Bishop Odo ' s departure to France , he continued to live in Canterbury and is buried there . William Crozier is mentioned in the cartulary of Gloucester in 1258 . Robert Crozier obtained a grant of land from the abbot of St Bees in Cumberland in 1262 . In the family arms which is used to this day are four bees and a cross indicating where they obtained their first grant . The early family consisted of Simon Crozier who lived at Swanick and was Clerk of the market of Marshalsey of the Royal Household and his son Sir William Crozier ( 1368 ) , who was household steward to John of Gaunt and held the office of Justice in the Eyre for Pleas of the Forest , his son Sir John Crozier ( 1402 ) who held many manors , including Hinwick , Aldenham , Maidencroft , Wrestingworth , Stoke D ' Abernon , Fetcham , Swanick and Pavenham in England and lived with his family at Stoke D ' Abernon in Surrey and at the Savoy Palace , London . Sir William was High Sheriff of Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire for the years 1346 and 1347 . He was also an Ensheator for the counties of Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire . Sir William was also Clerk of the Market of the Marshalsey of the Royal Household . He had two sons one Sir John Crozier and another William Crozier . In 1393 200 Oaks were cut from their land Stoke Park , they were used in the construction of the new roof which is still in existence on Westminster Hall . Some of that Oak is in the Carved Coat of Arms in the old Speakers Chair in Canberra , Australia . Also of the family was another William Crozier who in the 15th century was Canon of Glasgow , Archdeacon of Teviotdale , and held many prebend s , as well as being a Papal Legate , one of the founding fathers of St Andrews University and a Professor of Logic . He is well recorded in history and was a kinsman of James , Earl of Douglas . John Crozier came to Ireland as a cavalry officer in 1630 with Lord Strafford . Prior to that he came from Redworth Hall ( which still stands in the village of Heighington ) , County Durham ; his family had been there since 1407 . Before that time they were in Heversham , Westmoreland which was then part of Yorkshire . John Crozier had two sons . The younger son , John , had lands in Fermanagh at Coa , Cavantillycormack , Ardvarny and in County Tyrone at Moorfields and founded the Fermanagh branch of the family . William , the elder son , went to County Down and had lands in Stramore , Lower Stramore and the Parke , all in Gilford near to Banbridge , Co . Down . William went on to be the founder of the Banbridge line . Naval service . At the age of 13 , Crozier volunteered for the Royal Navy and joined HMS " Hamadryad " in June 1810 . In 1812 he served on HMS " Briton " and in 1814 visited Pitcairn Island , where he met the last surviving mutineers from HMS " Bounty " . In 1817 he received his certificate as mate and in 1818 he served on the sloop " Dotterel " during a trip to the Cape of Good Hope . In 1821 Crozier volunteered to join Captain William Edward Parry ' s second expedition ( 1821 – 23 ) to find the Northwest Passage in the vessels HMS " Fury " and her sister ship HMS " Hecla " . He returned to the Arctic with Parry in 1824 , which resulted in the loss of " Fury " off Somerset Island . Crozier was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1826 and in 1827 joined Parry ' s failed attempt to reach the North Pole . During his voyages Crozier became a close friend and confidante of the explorer James Clark Ross . He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1827 after conducting valuable astronomical and magnetic studies on his three expeditions with Parry . He was appointed to the frigate HMS " Stag " in 1831 and served off the coast of Portugal during that country ' s civil war . Crozier joined James Clark Ross as second - in - command of " Cove " in 1835 to help search for 12 British whaleships lost in the Arctic . Crozier was appointed to the rank of commander in 1837 . Antarctic exploration . In 1839 , Crozier again joined James Clark Ross , as second - in - command of a four - year voyage to explore the Antarctic continent in the ships HMS " Erebus " and HMS " Terror " . Crozier commanded " Terror " , and in 1841 was appointed to the rank of captain . " Erebus " and " Terror " returned in 1843 , having made the most significant penetration of the Antarctic pack ice and discovered large parts of the continent which became synonymous with the 20th century ' s Heroic Age of Exploration under Roald Amundsen , Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton – including the Ross Sea and Ross Island , Mount Erebus and the Ross Ice Shelf . Crozier was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843 in recognition of his outstanding work on magnetism . Northwest Passage expedition . In 1845 , he joined Sir John Franklin on the Northwest Passage expedition as captain of HMS " Terror " . After Franklin ' s death in June 1847 , he took command of the expedition , and his fate and that of the other expedition members remained a mystery until a note from him and James Fitzjames , captain of " Erebus " , the other ship on the expedition , was discovered on King William Island in 1859 during an expedition led by Captain F . L . McClintock . Dated 25 April 1848 , the note said that the ships , stuck in ice , had been abandoned . Nine officers , including John Franklin , and 15 crewmen had died , and the survivors were setting out on 26 April for Back ' s Fish River on the Canadian mainland . There were later , unverified Inuit reports that between 1852 and 1858 Crozier and one other expedition member were seen in the Baker Lake area , about to the south , where in 1948 Farley Mowat found " a very ancient cairn , not of normal Eskimo construction " inside which were shreds of a hardwood box with dovetail joint s . McClintock and later searchers found relics , graves , and human remains of the Franklin crew on Beechey Island , King William Island , and the northern coast of the Canadian mainland , but none found any of the men alive . Crozier is the main protagonist in the historical novel " The Terror " by Dan Simmons ( 2007 ) . The book concerns the Franklin expedition , adding a fantastical element to the proceedings . Tributes . Geographical features named after Crozier include : In the media . Francis Crozier is the main protagonist of the 2007 novel " The Terror " by Dan Simmons and the narrator of the 2008 novel " Du bon usage des étoiles " by Dominique Fortier , a finalist for the 2009 Governor General ' s Awards . In the comic book Alpha Flight , Crozier became the villain Pestilence . In the novel The Year of the Flood , the three main youths are called Crozier , Shackleton and Oates .