The Terror (2018) s01e06 Episode Script

As such, we can expect to finish our full supply of coal by November next, unless we begin stepping down the ships' heating plans now.
And that's without any future days making way under steam factored in.
Of salt beef we have a combined total of 750lbs.
Of salt pork, 210.
Flour, 902.
Cheese, 87.
Dried fruits, 9lbs.
Only after making the men Lady Jane's Christmas pudding last week.
Hear, hear.
Of lemon juice not quite 200 gallons remain.
Although Dr.
MacDonald suspects it's lost most of its anti-scurvy properties by now.
As for the tins, we've now inspected every one and tossed out the putrid.
It's clear now why the Stephan Goldner Tinned Foods Company was the low bidder.
I'd like to run that man through.
What's left number 1,402 tins preserved meats, 1,163 preserved vegetables, 911 preserved soup, 1,182 potatoes.
And when is the point of no return? If we reduce to three-quarter rations, we'll reach the end of our provisions mid-winter next year if we're stuck in again with no game.
That, with our current roster of 116 men.
Why mention the number of men, Lieutenant? We've not seen hide nor even a hair of Mr.
Teeth-and-Claws.
We can be confident that Mr.
Blanky along with Mr.
Hodgson killed it, or ran it off for good.
No, the men will notice that large a reduction in what they eat, so begin with four-fifth rations, and we will discuss how to reduce further in a month's time.
And finally, advise Mr.
Wall and Mr.
Diggle that they should emphasize salt meats in their menus now, not the tins.
We must We must start to preserve all things portable now.
And not a word of this yet to anyone who is not around this table, excepting the captain, of course.
I pray he is with us again soon.
Thank you, gentlemen.
That completes our business for today.
Mr.
Blanky, a word in private.
The rest of you, you Terrors, can suit up.
We won't be long.
Gentlemen.
We always feel worse in the darker months, don't we? First sunrise is just a week away now.
Try to encourage the men with that.
Please, sit down.
You make that contraption work like a ballet.
If this is about Captain Crozier, sir, Jopson's a regular mongoose, keeps us all out most of the day.
No, it's not that.
You said to Francis, the night of your attack, what happened to John Ross at Fury Beach could happen to him, too.
I've had a chance to read Ross's memoir and I found nothing self-critical there.
Do you refute the truth of his account? Someone's going to have to think of a new kind of memoir, sir, if truth is what you're after.
I'm interested in what actually happened, Mr.
Blanky.
In In your words.
You read the book so you know we spent three winters on the Victory.
Yes.
Nearly the same as we.
Captain would have tried for a fourth if we hadn't run out of food.
We shouldn't have waited to start walking.
By the time we got to it, scurvy was in us.
And Captain Ross, he had no sympathy for illness.
What do you mean? We sledged the boats with us.
We were carrying half a load a day's march, then doubling back for the other half.
I finally begged Ross to drop the boats altogether, but he replied he'd rather leave our sick to die.
This from his position riding atop one of the sledges.
It was 300 miles to Fury Beach.
We were barely standing.
What little love we had amongst us the only thing keeping us civil.
We had one day's provisions left.
One.
Were it not for the cache of stores left there from the wreck of the Fury we would still be on that beach, bleaching in the wind.
We tried to row out to the whaling channels, but the ice kept us back.
This is where you built Somerset House? Aye.
Somerset House.
Even there, Ross kept rank.
The officers kept their stewards and their wolf blankets, and what salmon we could catch.
The rest of us just slept in ice ditches and fought over year-old biscuits.
And once it's past all hope, the mind goes unnatural with thoughts.
What kind of thoughts? Like splitting open Sir John Ross's head with a boat axe.
You said you wanted the truth, sir, in my own words.
I trust you won't court martial me for them now.
Would you have done it? Leads opened up in the August.
We got picked up by the Isabella.
We'd been taken for dead for two years.
Mr.
Blanky most of the men survived.
If that's the point you want me to get to, sir, then, yes, we survived.
But if we're going to walk out of here ourselves, and almost three times as far, you need to understand it wasn't sickness or hunger that most mattered to our chances.
It's what went on up here.
Notions.
A darkness with no firm hand to stem it.
I know many were thinking what I was.
Sir John Ross, he never knew how close he came.
This kind of darkness do you see it among us here? I don't need to see it to know it's here.
You have time enough to vent it.
How? First, if you're going to keep things from the men, give them something in return.
Now.
Something to keep their minds on other than what lies ahead.
There will be a tally for it later when things get hard.
There always is.
Leave it to you, Sir John.
Why are you doing that? Dr.
MacDonald will be here soon.
Dr.
MacDonald won't mind if I have hair astray.
Turmoil on the inside needn't show on the out, sir.
You forget, I've gotten turmoil all over you, and the bed, in the last hour alone.
Just let me lie in it.
It will teach me.
It is you, sir, who is teaching the rest of us.
Jopson yours is the only company that I don't completely hate right now.
Now, don't push it.
How do you feel? Like Christ, but with more nails.
Sir.
Here.
Only sips, sir.
- More.
- No.
The doctor is the captain in this matter, sir.
Full stop.
You've done this before.
Who was it? Every word I say hurts.
Don't get mysterious, Jopson.
It was my mother, sir.
Your mother? Yeah.
She She took my brother to a circus in Marylebone.
The crowd was seated up on risers.
You know how they pack them in to sell more seats.
My brother dropped his shoe beneath him.
But they were low enough that my mother could reach and get it.
And that's when the whole contraption collapsed.
Her hand was smashed.
She kept it, but it was too maimed to ever use again.
And the only thing that would take away the pain was laudanum.
You were a boy? No.
No, this was just before we set sail to the Antarctic in '39.
She wanted me to go.
She didn't want me to miss the opportunity.
But she was a different woman by the time we got back.
Pardon me, sir.
No, go on.
Well, the problem was it made her happy.
She would stop breathing in the night.
She would soil herself.
She would get mesmerized to the point where she would forget to feed my brother or herself for days.
But it took away her pain and it made her laugh.
I don't like to hear a woman laughing now, sir.
Our neighbor was a nursemaid from the workhouse, and she helped me taper mother off it for three weeks.
How did she fair when she was through it? Hello.
Shooting the cuff, eh, sir? You look ready to dance a polonaise.
Thomas.
I got you, Captain.
You can count on that, sir.
Lieutenant Irving seems busy since he got back.
With the purser.
The usual accounting, I'd imagine.
Aye, they've done that.
Now they're moving the canned food to the back of the storeroom.
Why? I've not heard a reason.
But I did see an odd list on Lieutenant Hodgson's desk.
An inventory to be filled out.
An inventory of what? Empty things: trunks, crates.
Gather round, everyone.
Men, up.
Lieutenant Le Vesconte has a message from Captain Fitzjames that will put a beam in your steps.
Christ.
They're counting luggage, Billy.
Luggage for what? Luggage for what, Cornelius? We've got a bit of a benjo planned for first sunrise.
Captain Fitzjames has proposed a Carnivale.
A worse case of gastritis surely there never was.
Mr.
Armitage.
He always wanted to be a Marine, that one, but for his dumb ear.
He longs for it.
What about you, Mr.
Hickey? Did you always want to be a caulker? That man owes you one, too, you know.
Who, Armitage? Yeah? How's that? For not pointing him out as being part of grabbing that Esqui girl.
You'd have been in your rights to.
I didn't see the point in it.
Even still? After getting flogged? That sort of thing can change your sense of what the point is.
It did.
I'm grateful is the point.
- Reformed you, did it? - I shouldn't have listened to you.
And I deserved to be flogged.
Yeah, and by ordering it, the captain, he's given me a chance to clean my record and start anew.
Do you think Crozier sees it like that? A new Mr.
Hartnell? I do, yeah.
And I intend to use that charter well.
What about you, Mr.
Hickey? Why didn't you turn Armitage in? That's it, lads.
There it is.
We've not heard that sound in far too long.
We're using a lot of supplies, sir.
We can't possibly carry all this come spring.
So it's settled, then? We're walking? Well, Francis will decide.
Yes, it does seem inescapable now.
He was right all along and we were deaf to him.
Listen, Lieutenant.
We need to give the men a last hurrah before well, before we open their ears.
Have you chosen a disguise? We gave our trunk to the men.
Most of the officers are making their own.
Don't wait to choose until all the best ideas are snapped up.
I was looking for Dr.
Goodsir.
Mr.
Goodsir is I know not where.
Helping with construction, perhaps.
As I thought you would be, Mr.
Collins.
Are you ill? Been in a bad way, yes.
Are you with fever? No, it isn't that.
It's my thoughts, sir.
They're flurried, somehow.
"Flurried thoughts"? I do not know what that means.
Do you ever feel like your mind is against you? I sign up for all the extra work I can.
I holystone the deck like a ship's boy.
- I can't really stand to be alone.
- No man is alone on a ship.
I know it.
But I do feel alone.
All the time now.
Every day it's like a a trap door, sir.
Like something's about to open up and pull me into a space I won't get back from.
What is that, Doctor? All the men's spirits are low.
It is winter.
We expect that.
I don't believe the others feel as I do, sir.
You do not know how the others feel.
Mr.
Collins, does your gut hurt you? - My gut, sir? - Are you dyspeptic? With blisters? Dropsical about the knee? Do you require camphor or a Dover's powder? No, sir.
I am a doctor of medicine, Mr.
Collins.
Do you understand that? But I think what you need to do is keep busy.
To keep putting your energy to positive use.
Which is exactly why Captain Fitzjames has ordered a party made.
It is a prescription I support for all the men.
Look forward to the party, Mr.
Collins.
A little fun is what is needed.
- Fun? - Yes.
A sense of fun.
Is that your daughter, sir? Yes.
Good night, Mr.
Collins.
Does she love birds? Think of the Carnivale.
It will sort us all out.
I have no doubt.
Mr.
Goodsir, there's trouble in the orlop you need to see.
Immediately.
Move, lads.
Out the way.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Mr.
Hoar said you were looking for me.
I've gotten used to being on the same ship together.
It reminds me of our seasons on the Gannet.
I didn't volunteer to berth here because I'm afraid of the ice hassling Terror.
Glad to hear that.
For more reasons than one.
- But I haven't finished Voltaire.
- Put that aside.
Has something happened? This is Xenophon.
In Greek the title is Anabasis, which translates to "The March of the Ten Thousand.
" - Do you know the story? - No.
When Cyrus the Younger wanted to seize the throne of Persia from his brother, he hired an army of hoplite to accompany him.
They won the battle, but during the fighting Cyrus was killed, which rendered the expedition obsolete.
His army found themselves in hostile country.
Most of their officers were dead.
They had to choose.
They could either stay and fight against clearly unwinnable odds, or they could walk out.
They walked for hundreds and hundreds of miles through desert and snow, with no food, and attacked on their flanks.
But they made it, Henry.
Read it.
Begin to imagine how you would prepare for such a journey.
As my father's child, accept me in his place.
You cannot be without a shaman so long.
That is not the way.
Jopson.
Are you there? - Where's the fire, Mr.
Goodsir? - We need to talk.
Now, please.
I didn't hear the bell, sir.
Sounds as though there's no one on board.
No one is, sir.
It's Captain Fitzjames' Carnivale.
We've just a single watch tonight.
- Everyone else is attending.
- Tonight? Yes, sir.
All night, until the sunrise.
See if you can borrow a shotgun off somebody on watch.
I want to see it.
Well, it's a half-mile from the ship, sir.
I'm going to eat whatever that is on your tray make sure it stays put, and then you're going to help me get into my slops.
Yes, sir.
We've been fishing bits of it out of our food, out of our mouths, this entire journey.
It's a constant ingestion of lead, over years.
This could explain David Young's passing, the men on Beechey why we're seeing so many men come to us with these odd complaints.
This is going to get worse and worse.
We need to let command know immediately.
I will think it through and decide on a plan.
What is there to think through? Your energy is full of panic, Mr.
Goodsir, and that will not help anyone here.
- I cannot stand by while I - It is not yours to decide.
I will do.
You will not.
Worse and worse, Doctor.
Leave it with me.
Welcome home, boys! Now, let's get our hair good and powdered before that damn sun finds us again.
How did they manage all this? Captain.
What do you mean? To where? Francis, you're back with us! Thomas.
He won! - Hey, are we going, then? - Sir.
- The men are saying it's up to - Step back, Mr.
Reid.
Let me take you back, sir.
Sir.
Is that the captain? Come out of that pot.
- Get dressed.
I'm ending this now.
- Francis.
This was my idea, all of it.
To get the men ready.
I see now I should have been more vigilant.
Ready? To walk out.
Gather the men, James.
They deserve to know.
Men! The captain wishes to speak.
- Men, gather round! - Men, gather! Gather round! Men, silence! The captain wishes to speak! The captain, he's here! Silence, men! The captain wishes to speak.
Mr.
Hickey, you're not in a stable.
Take it outside.
Unless you want that ripped off.
Remove your masks.
Let us look one another in the face as men.
Frozen ships are good shelters but they are not our homes.
We've got homes we need to find our way back to.
Yes.
That is what you men are feeling the call about here tonight.
Not in daydreams, but in this temple that you've built to honor all that we miss.
Out of nothing and in little time with only vision and good work.
I marvel at what you men have made.
All this is more important than you know for what lies ahead.
Let us speak plainly.
In a few hours, we welcome the first sunrise of the year.
It will mark the end of the worst of a long and strange winter.
Strange in ways we will find impossible to recount when we are safe and home.
To get there, we can hope for a thaw come summer, but we no longer have the luxury to wait for one.
So as soon as there are enough hours of light in the day for safe travel, if there are no signs of a break-up, we will be abandoning both ships and walking out of here.
To where? South, to the mainland, and up Back's Fish River to the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Resolution.
This will take us overland across the length of King William Island.
It's not inhabited year-round, but we will be crossing it during hunting months and stand a good chance of running into Netsilik people.
They are a good people, who we can greet as friends.
Despite our shortfalls with them they will help us, I am certain.
It is an 800-mile journey.
But by then, Lieutenant Fairholme and the party we sent out last year will be on their way back from Fort Resolution with help and supplies.
And we have several veterans of overland expeditions upon whose expertise we can rely.
- Dr.
MacDonald.
- That's right.
Mr.
Blanky.
- Captain Fitz - What the? - What's happening? - Make way! Make way! What happened? Did you do this? Let a man in.
Doctor.
Stop him.
Hold him! Hold him! Watch out! Stay down! Stay down! Put him out! - Put him out! - Put him out! Help him! Help him! Quickly! Fire, men! Men, fire! There's a fire! - Get back! - This way! Make way! Ship's company to the ice right now! Ship's company to the ice.
Calmly, men! To the ice, men! To the ice! Go! For God's sake! Go! Go that way.
Le Vesconte, sort that out.
Go round there and sort that out.
Go round there.
This way! Through the kitchen! Go through the kitchen! We're stuck! We can't get through this way! - We need a lever: a spar, an oar.
- Bring an oar! We're coming! No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! No! No! No! Get back or I'll drop the bloody thing! - No! Get off! - Get back! Help on its way.
On my count.
Three, two, one.
You're crushing him! - You'll crush him! - Stand back! I'm cutting through! Stand back! Give me room! Stand back! Come on! Get to safety! James go back.
Others can do this.
Come on, they need you on Erebus.
These men need names yet.
The tally later.
Sir, I've been sending half to Erebus, half to Terror, so we can be sure of having enough supplies.
Lady Silence I've sent to you.
- She should be there by now.
- Thank you, Dr.
Goodsir.
I should be going, too, only I don't know if Dr.
Peddie has gone to Terror or Erebus.
I didn't see him to ask.
Captain.
I heard Tom Hartnell say we lost Dr.
Peddie as well.
I can help Mr.
Goodsir, if he'll have me.