Named after HMS Erebus, a Royal Navy polar exploration vessel, formerly a bomb vessel. In search of a vital sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the ship left England in 1845 in order to search for the North-West Passage. The expedition was commanded by Captain Sir John Franklin, a seasoned polar explorer who had already led two previous searches for the North-West Passage. However, his final journey to the Arctic would end in tragedy. A year and a half after setting off, their ships became trapped in ice near King William Island. By 1848, Franklin was dead and the surviving men abandoned their still-trapped ships. These scant details were gleaned from a note the crew left in a cairn. The exact circumstances of their deaths remain a mystery to this day.
In Greek mythology, Erebus, is the personification of darkness and one of the primordial deities.