In the epic search for a Northwest Passage, the narratives of explorers often described the Arctic landscape as picturesque or sublime, depending on the place, the circumstances, and the seasons. Ships that carried those intrepid explorers through this new world had ominous names such as the Terror and Erebus, that dark place between Earth and Hell. As vast, uninhabitable, and repelling as these places sometimes were, the narratives left us with a legacy of bewildering images that did not conform easily to our southern perceptions.