Henry Le Vesconte is a character is AMC's The Terror. He was Lieutenant on HMS Erebus and one of the higher ranked officers in the Franklin expedition.
In The Series[]
He is first seen in episode 1 when Mr. Collins is getting ready to go underwater in his diving suit and afterwards when he's successful in dislodging an iceberg from Erebus's propeller. Le Vesconte is seen later when Sir John Franklin and other officers from both ships were discussing what to do since Erebus had been damaged. He appears at the end of the episode after both ships get ice-locked when Sir John orders him and some of the other officers to begin preparations for winter.
In the next episode, he leads one of the sledge parties to scout for open water leads. Commander Fitzjames tells Sir John and Mr. Gregory that he believes Le Vesconte's team will be successful, but they returned empty handed. In the beginning of episode 3 Le Vesconte is mentioned by Sgt. David Bryant when he is speaking with George Chambers about the Tuunbaq and how Bryant plans to ask Le Vesconte for duty in the hunting blind once it's built. Le Vesconte later appears alongside Fitzjames having overheard Sir John berating Captain Crozier. After Sir John is killed, Le Vesconte is present when Crozier gives the order to send out a rescue party. In the beginning of episode 5 he and Mr. Des Voeux are recording the weather conditions outside and he is later seen inside Erebus getting two of his toes cut off by Dr. Stanley due to frostbite. Fitzjames also mentions to Edward Little that Le Vesconte will brief him how the combined crew of Terror and Erebus are faring.
He appears at the start of episode 6 when Lieutenant Irving is giving a report of the remaining provisions and later Le Vesconte makes the announcement that Fitzjames is planning a carnivale to celebrate the first sunrise of the new year and attends the festivities himself. In episode 7 Le Vesconte is seen during the command meeting where Crozier announces the starting of hunting parties and how he will stay in camp with Crozier and Fitzjames to begin planning the fresh water parties. Le Vesconte appears briefly in the next episode watching over Sergeant Solomon Tozer during the trial of Cornelius Hickey. In episode 9 he is seen just after Crozier’s group is moving south, but when Fitzjames falls due to exhaustion he is seen helping him. Later Le Vesconte meets with the other officers regarding the best option to move forward. His last appearance is in episode 10 in which he informs Lieutenant Little that he and the other men voted to keep moving south instead of rescuing Crozier. He and the others depart leaving many men behind but eventually dies due to disease, starvation, and exposure.
In The Novel[]
Trivia[]
- Like a few other characters in the series, Le Vesconte fought in China during the First Opium War.
- A skeleton presumed to belong to Le Vesconte was buried at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. In 2009 the skeleton was identified as belonging to Harry Goodsir.
- Four table forks and a table spoon belonging to Le Vesconte were recovered from Repulse Bay in 1854 and Erebus Bay in 1859.