06/02/2026
The announcement has travelled fast. News that Lottery funding has been secured for a major new exhibition on the Pembroke Dock–built HMS Erebus has sparked interest well beyond west Wales. Among those marking the moment is Michael Palin, whose connection to the ship runs deeper than most.
Palin, author of Erebus: The Story of a Ship, has sent a personal message of congratulations to the museum team, welcoming the decision to commemorate the vessel at the very place where her story began.
Writing from London in February 2026, he reflected on the extraordinary achievement of the Pembroke Dock shipwrights who, two centuries ago, produced what would become one of the most resilient ships ever to serve the Royal Navy. Built at Pembroke Dockyard, Erebus was engineered to endure extremes and proved it by surviving years of relentless seas, crushing ice and violent storms, pushing human exploration further south than had ever been reached.
That reputation for toughness later led to her selection as flagship for Sir John Franklin’s expedition in search of the North-West Passage. The mission ended in catastrophe after two merciless Arctic winters claimed every life aboard. The ship herself, however, endured. When Erebus was located beneath the ice nearly 180 years later, much of her hull remained astonishingly intact, a silent witness to one of exploration’s darkest chapters.
Palin described Erebus as a vessel with few equals in terms of bravery and legacy, expressing his delight that the Pembroke Heritage Centre, supported by National Lottery funding, will honour both the ship and the people who built and sailed her. He also paid warm tribute to John Evans and Ted Goddard, recalling their generosity during his first visit to the dockyard while researching what he called one of the proudest undertakings of his career.
The forthcoming exhibition, titled HMS Erebus: From Dockyard to Discovery, will coincide with the bicentenary of the ship’s launch on 7 June 1826. It will celebrate the skill of 19th-century Pembrokeshire shipbuilders and the wider tradition of Welsh maritime craftsmanship that shaped a vessel destined for history.
Erebus went on to feature in landmark voyages, including the Ross Antarctic Expedition, before her loss during the Franklin expedition. Her rediscovery beneath the Canadian Arctic in 2014 reignited global fascination with the era of polar exploration and its unresolved mysteries.
Visitors to the exhibition can expect newly recovered artefacts displayed publicly for the first time, alongside immersive digital installations and original video material that bring the ship’s long journey to life.
HMS Erebus: From Dockyard to Discovery opens to the public on Monday 8 June 2026. If ships could talk, this one would not stop for breath.
