Francis Crozier
Background
Francis Crozier is the captain on the HMS Terror in the Discovery Service for the British Royal Navy.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 1 Go for Broke played by Jared Harris
Crozier complains to Thomas Jopson about having to have dinner with John Franklin and Crozier and predicts James Fitzjames will once again talk about his time in Namibia or the time he was shot while in China. At the officer's dinner, Fitzjames tells the diners consisting of Franklin, Crozier, Lt. Edward Little, Dr. MacDonald, Lt. John Irving, and Lt. George Hodgson about the time he was shot in China. Crozier sarcastically asks Fitzjames to recount the time he was assigned to guard bird guano. Franklin mentions that Reid noticed a patch of ice that doesn't appear to be summer break-up ice, but isn't concerned. Crozier has a meeting with Franklin and Fitzjames about David Young, who started coughing up blood, and Dr. MacDonald tells them Young has dark blood in his stool and he may have tuberculosis. Franklin suggests Dr. Stanley have a look at young and decides to have Young brought to his ship.
A large piece of ice hits the Erebus. Crozier remembers the time when he attended a play about the Algonquin massacre by the Mohawk, which he attended with Lady Jane Franklin, Sir Ross and Lady Ann Ross. During the play, the Presenter announces to the theater goers that Crozier and Sir Ross are in the theater and they are given ovations. Thomas Blanky and Crozier look at the icebergs in front of them and realize it is pack ice due to the snow on top. Franklin calls a meeting of the officers, including Lt. H.T.D. Le Vesconte, and [John Gregory]] tells them about the damage to the Erebus and Crozier warns Franklin that they will be dealing with pack ice ahead. He asks Lt. Graham Gore how many sun dogs he has seen and suggests they explore King William Land to see if it is an island and Blanky agrees. Franklin decides against his advice and Fitzjames considers Crozier's warning, melodrama. Crozier then angrily points out that only four people at the table are veterans of the arctic, but Franklin again decides to continue on.
Six days later, both ships are stuck in the ice. The next morning they wake up to be surrounded by continuous ice, and Franklin sees Crozier staring at him from across the Terror.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 2 Gore played by Jared Harris
Spring, 1847, Franklin visits the Terror to try and mend his relationship with Crozier. He suggests that the coming summer will improve their situation, but Crozier thinks things will not improve, based on the weather and his experience. Before leaving, Franklin tells Crozier his toilet has a draft. During the night Blanky finds Crozier out on the deck and Crozier recalls Tad, Parry's boat hauling reindeer, that was brought from Norway, but in the end slaughtered due to their uselessness on the ice. Crozier tells Blanky, he is worried they are like the reindeer and may be out of their depth. Blanky tells Crozier if the ice grows too much. the boats may be crushed by the ice.
Neptune leaves a poop on the floor. Cornelius Hickey hears Crozier walking nearby and hurriedly picks up the poop, which endears him to Crozier. Crozier and Hickey bond over being Irish and Crozier offers him a drink. Irving walks in and tells Crozier, Gore's party has returned. The Shaman is brought onto the Erebus where Dr. Stanley refuses to operate on him. Henry Goodsir offers to continue working on the Shaman and Franklin agrees to it. Lady Silence tries to stop Goodsir until Crozier explains to her what is happening. Goodsir tells Crozier that he can't safely remove the bullet and Crozier tells Lady Silence what Goodsir told him. She walks over to Shaman who asks her to try and control Tuunbaq and then dies. Franklin walks in and orders Lady Silence off the ship and after Crozier asks if she can board the Terror, tells him he is to stay on the Erebus until they figure out what happened to Gore. Goodsir is questioned about what happened to Gore and he tells them that it seemed Tuunbaq had tracked them back to the ship. Crozier asks if they found any leads and is told by Goodsir, Gore thought the ice seemed thicker and then tells Franklin, the Shaman had no tongue. Crozier returns to his ship and Dr. MacDonald tells him Lady Silence is in good shape. Crozier apologizes to her and tells her in Igloolik, his name was Aglooka. He tells her he wants to help and she tells him to take the ships away or they will disappear.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 3 The Ladder played by Jared Harris
June, 1847, Little asks Crozier if he has any experience with Eskimo holding grudges when their loved ones are wronged. Crozier tells him, he wouldn't know as he has never wronged an Eskimo and Blanky tells Little that the Eskimo are too concerned with surviving to start a war. While Franklin is writing a eulogy for Gore, Crozier visits him and asks permission to send a party out to the Hudson Bay Company outpost on Great Slave Lake so that they may be rescued. Franklin refuses the request and says he will not lose another man and tells Crozier that Crozier blames the world for his problems and tells him, he will never be fit for command. Crozier tells Blanky to come up with a list of the eight most ablest men which he will then lead to find aid. Crozier writes a resignation letter to Franklin.
While Franklin is visiting the hunting blind the men in the blind start shooting and Franklin starts to stumble away in shock. Crozier uses a spyglass to check on the situation and orders his men to send out the marines. Franklin starts calling out for the Erebus and as Fitzjames and Charles Des Voeux go out to save him, Franklin is grabbed by the Tuunbaq Crozier goes to the Erebus and tells Blanky to start a search party with Lieutenant Fairholme in charge. Fitzjames asks him not to send out the party as Franklin forbade it and Fitzjames asks for one day for the men to grieve. Crozier gives the speech written by Franklin for Gore's eulogy. Crozier finishes the speech and Sgt. Solomon Tozer initiates the 21 gun salute.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 4 Punishment, as a Boy played by Jared Harris
November, 1847, Crozier is sitting in his cabin when Jopson tells him Little asked if he wants to postpone the officer's meeting. Jopson tells him, Little is worried about the state of the effects of the ice on the ships and Irving will report about finding out some of the canned food has spoiled. They hear gunshots and Crozier runs to the deck of the Terror. He asks Thomas Armitage what is going on and Armitage tells him about the Tuunbaq attack on Pvt. William Heather. Crozier looks down and sees Heather missing the top of his skull, but still alive. Crozier orders Heather be brought below decks and Armitage orders Private Hammond to take watch. Crozier tells Little the Tuunbaq has made it onto the ship and Robert Golding reports that the Tuunbaq has dragged William Strong away. Jopson wonders if the Tuunbaq wants them to follow it and Thomas Evans offers to help search for Strong with Crozier. Multiple search parties are sent out and Evans is also killed by the Tuunbaq.
Crozier returns to the ship and the sun sets for the last time of the year. He tells Fitzjames, the Tuunbaq laid a trap and Fitzjames notices how much Crozier is drinking. Crozier then admits he only joined the mission in order to use it as leverage when asking Sophia to marry him once more. After another encounter with the Tuunbaq, Dr. MacDonald tells Crozier that the body Hickey found actually consisted of the top half of Strong and the lower half of Evans. Fitzjames thinks a man did it, but Dr. MacDonald tells him it was an animal claw. Little tells them the only tracks they found belonged to the Tuunbaq.
Crozier remembers back to when he asked Sophia to marry him, but she refuses to due the nature of his job. As they are taking, Lady Jane Franklin interrupts them and tells Crozier, he will never marry Sophia. A fight breaks out when Lady Silence is brought on board and Crozier walks into the deck and fires his gun into the air and orders everyone on their knees. He demands to know who is responsible for bringing Lady Silence on board and Hickey takes the blame, as do Thomas Hartnell and Magnus Manson. Lady Silence is transferred to the Erebus while the three perpetrators are questioned by Crozier and Fitzjames. Crozier orders that they each receive 12 lashes by Johnson. Hickey continues to argue that what he did saved the others and Crozier angrily has him punished as a boy. Hickey is lashed in front of the crew with his pants down. Irving tells Crozier that all but ten men want to move ships to the Erebus and Crozier takes a drink.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 5 First Shot a Winner, Lads played by Jared Harris
Blanky is telling Crozier about the shifting pressure of the ice on the ship when Little walks in and tells him Hornby died. He tells him Lady Silence has also come aboard along with Goodsir. When Crozier finds out the Erebus didn't have any whiskey, only rum and gin, he tells Little to go back and get whiskey from Fitzhames' own supply. Crozier tells Jopson to collect Hornby's things and when he finds out he only has two bottles of whiskey, tells Little to have whiskey by the time the two bottles run out. Goodsir goes into Crozier's cabin and Crozier becomes upset when he finds out that Goodsir has made no progress in finding out about the Tuunbaq from Lady Silence, but only in learning words. Lady Silence is brought into the cabin by Little and is questioned about the Tuunbaq by Crozier. Blanky recognizes the word Tuunbaq to mean a spirit that dresses like an animal. Crozier tells Goodsir to ask Lady Silence how to kill it, but Goodsir refuses to ask her. When she refuses to speak with Crozier anymore, he orders her off the ship. She asks Crozier why he wants to die and Fitzjames walks in and tells Crozier he needs to step up to his responsibility and Crozier punches at Fitzjames, who pushes him away. Crozier orders everyone out but Fitzjames and the two begin to argue about Crozier's sobriety. Blanky goes to the deck and is attacked by the Tuunbaq, but survives. Crozier has Fitzjames, Little, Dr. MacDonald and Jopson come into his cabin and asks them for help getting him sober and puts Fitzjames in charge for the time being.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 6 A Mercy played by Jared Harris
January, 1848, Jopson combs Crozier's hair as Crozier lays in bed. Jopson tells Crozier of the time he helped his mother through her addiction after she became an addict when her hand was crushed by bleachers during a circus performance in Marylebone. Later, Jopson finds Crozier sitting next to Neptune and Crozier notices the ship seems quiet. Jopson tells him about carnival and Crozier says he wants to see it. Carnival starts and Crozier and Jopson arrive later and find the crew drunk. Crozier holds a speech and tells the crew that they need to return to their homes. Crozier tells them that they will be walking to safety. He continues that they should find help from the Netsilik people on their way and should eventually meet up with Lt. Fairholme and his group. Lady Silence stumbles into the crowd and shortly after, Dr. Stanley starts himself and the carnival camp on fire. The fire spreads through carnival and some of the crew are burned to death. Hickey uses a knife to cut open the canvas and kills Dr. MacDonald in the process. The remaining crew stumble out of the area and the dead are lined up and Crozier is told that Dr. Peddie also died in the fire and the sun fails to rise.
During the events of The Terror: Season 1 Episode 7 Horrible from Supper played by Jared Harris
April 22, 1848, Fitzjames complains to Crozier that some of the things the men are bringing are impractical. Crozier tells a group that is staying behind that they are leaving supplies that should last them through the winter. He tells the group, that if the ice thaws, to head towards King William island and hug the shore. He tells them to sail on if they don't see any sign of the land expedition by September 1st. John Lane tells Crozier that he and the others would rather die under English blankets than in the foreign void. Crozier dismisses them and tells Jopson to find his assigned sledge. Crozier writes one last item in the log book, he and Blanky do one last walk through the ship and Blanky relates the history of the ship and they then leave.
Irving gives the word, and the group starts their march through the Arctic. Hartnell tells Crozier that they are definitely following Little's group's tracks. The boats used to carry the supplies continue to get stuck in the snow. In the evening, Goodsir talks with Crozier about not eating the canned meat, but Crozier says they must until they can hunt. Tozer and John Morfin are scouting ahead when they find something. They take Crozier and Fitzjames to see what they found, the remains of Fairholme's sledge party, killed by the Tuunbaq. The crew meet up with Little's group, who have already set up camp. Tozer walks up to Crozier and Little and suggests arming additional personnel including Armitage, Samuel Crispe, Manson, Teeley, Coombs and Hickey. Crozier rejects the idea and when Tozer leaves, Crozier tells Little he rejected Tozer's request based on some of the names he listed.
Morfin collapses and asks Goodsir to kill him. The rest of the camp wakes up and Morfin takes the rifle from Pvt. William Pilkington and points it at Crozier. Fitzjames orders Morfin to lower his weapon and Morfin shoots towards him before being shot dead by Tozer. The next morning, Crozier questions Hartnell about the night Lady Silence was abducted and Hartnell tells him, Armitage was also involved. Jopson tells Crozier that Neptune is missing. Crozier tells the other officers that the cans are tainted with lead and Morfin is buried. He promotes Jopson to a lieutenant and he is congratulated by the others.