HMS Terror and HMS Erebus were specialized and newly developed bomb vessels constructed by the Royal Navy in the first decades of the 19th Century. Terror participated in several battles of the War of 1812, including the Battle of Baltimore with the bombardment of Fort McHenry. HMS Erebus was a Hecla-class bomb vessel constructed by the Royal Navy in Pembroke dockyard, Wales, in 1826. The vessel was the second in the Royal Navy named after Erebus, the dark region of Hades in Greek mythology.

Both ships were converted into a polar exploration ships two decades later, and participated in George Back's Arctic expedition of 1836–1837, the Ross expedition of 1839 to 1843, and Sir John Franklin's ill-fated attempt to force the Northwest Passage in 1845, during which both Terror and Erebus were lost with all hands.