Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Acknowledgements -- Prologue: Erebus - the Gates of Hell -- BOOK ONE: THE PURSUIT OF SCIENCE -- 1 The North West Passage - Designs and Delusions -- 2 John Franklin - Navigator -- 3 Another Career -- 4 Scientific Empires -- BOOK TWO: PUBLIC VISIONS -- 5 From Van Diemen's Land to Tasmania, 1836-43 -- 6 Science, Culture and Civilisation -- 7 'The nucleus of an iceberg' -- 8 Magnetic Empires -- BOOK THREE: THE POLITICS OF TRAGEDY -- 9 'Till our provisions get short' -- 10 Defeated, Deceived and Defrauded -- 11 Belcher -- 12 Martyrs of Science -- 13 Arctic Fox -- BOOK FOUR: THE COST OF THE PAST -- 14 Big Art, Brazen Lies and the 'Great Explorer' -- 15 Terror: What Really Happened? -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Y -- Z.