Thomas "Tom" Hartnell

## Thomas Hartnell

**Thomas Hartnell** is a character in AMC's *The Terror*. He was an able-bodied seaman aboard *HMS Erebus*. His older brother John Hartnell was among the expedition's first casualties and died before the series began.

## In The Show

Tom is first seen in episode 1 eating below decks and later that evening on the deck of *Terror* having a conversation with seaman Strong and Sergeant Tozer about Neptune. He climbs up the rigging to have a look at the ice and tells the two to wake Mr. Blanky.

In episode 2, he is one of the sailors in Lt. Gore's sledge party. While towing the group takes a brief rest and he is relieved by Dr. Goodsir. After the party delivers a message to a cairn Hartnell and some of the others return to camp to find it wrecked to which Hartnell questions what could have caused it. Later that evening Hartnell announces he will set up another tent but hail starts falling before he could do so. After the Netsilik Shaman is shot by Sgt. David Bryant and the shaman's daughter Lady Silence starts yelling at the British, Hartnell remarks with surprise that there is a woman out here on the ice.

In episode 3, he returns the personal effects of the Shaman to Lady Silence and apologizes for her loss. He is later seen on the deck of *Terror* when Sir John Franklin and the hunting party is being attacked by the Tuunbaq and Hartnell is part of a rescue team when Sir John is captured and ultimately killed by the creature.

In the next episode he participates in her kidnapping alongside Cornelius Hickey, Magnus Manson, and Thomas Armitage. Hartnell and Manson receive 12 lashes as punishment while Hickey gets 30 and Armitage gets none as his involvement is not revealed.

In the fifth episode he along with Manson and Hickey help put Frederick John Hornby's corpse in the dead room and afterwards help Lieutenant George Henry Hodgson use a cannon alongside Robert Golding. When the Tuunbaq attacks again later Hartnell alongside Golding help Hodgson man the cannon to take down the creature.

In episode 6 Hartnell tells Hickey how he views his lashing as an opportunity to start anew. He later attends the carnivale and survives a fire started by Dr. Stephen Samuel Stanley causing everything to burn down and he tells others Dr. John Smart Peddie was killed which is overheard by John Bridgens.

Hartnell appears in a flashback in the beginning of episode 7 discussing the steam engine onboard *Terror* with David Young. Back in the present, Hartnell begins working closely with Captain Crozier eventually earns his trust and informs him of Armitage's involvement in the earlier kidnapping and afterwards he and Manson help Hodgson bury John Morfin who died the night before. He later accompanies Crozier alongside Hickey and others to a site where Lieutenant John Irving was allegedly killed by Netsilik in episode 8. Fresh seal meat is discovered and Crozier tasks Hartnell of bringing it to the command tent.

Hickey is revealed to be behind the murders but before his execution an attack from the Tuunbaq throws the camp in disarray with some using the chance to join Hickey and his mutineers. Hartnell survives and afterwards speaks with Golding and Blanky about the remains of Thomas Honey in episode 9. After Captain James Fitzjames dies Hartnell helps prepare his body bag and later helps Bridgens carry Harry Peglar into one of the sledges after he collapses from towing. Later he is part of a small party scouting an open water source allegedly seen by Golding. However it's a trap and a small group led by Charles Frederick Des Voeux arrived to capture Crozier. Hartnell called out to Golding and noticed Manson among the group and tried to speak with him only to be shot by Des Voeux. Crozier's final words to Hartnell was he did well and to go join his brother now. Afterwards Crozier orders Lieutenant Edward Little to come back later and bury Hartnell's body.

## Trivia

* For some reason Tom Hartnell is working on *Terror* and not *Erebus*.
	+ A possible explanation is that he switched ships following the death of his older brother.
* John and Tom Hartnell are the only known siblings on the Franklin Expedition.
* Both Tom and his brother served in China during the First Opium War.
* When his brother John's grave was autopsied in the 1980's it was discovered that he was buried wearing one of his brothers shirts.