King William Island

King William Island, also referred to as King William Land, is an island within the Arctic Circle. Located in the northern region of Canada, the island was seasonally inhabited in the 1840s by small bands of Netsilik.

In 1846, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror became trapped in ice approximately 25 miles off the western shore of the island. The following spring, a sledge party led by Lieutenant Graham Gore arrived on the island in search of leads and to place a message regarding the ships' status in a nearby cairn. While camped nearby, the party accidentally shot and mortally wounded a Netsilik shaman, after which they were attacked by Tuunbaq and fled the island.

Upon abandoning Erebus and Terror in 1848, the crews of both ships arrived on the island and gradually made their way south towards the mainland while periodically resting at a series of temporary camps. With no wildlife on the island to hunt, the crews gradually succumbed to malnutrition and cannibalism.