Scientists have revealed the identities of four men who perished in Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition.
The Franklin Expedition was an attempt to discover the fabled Northwest Passage through the Arctic, which resulted in the deaths of Sir Franklin and the entire crew.
After both of the expedition’s ships became trapped in the ice off Canada’s King William Island, 105 men set out on foot – and all perished.
Now, scientists have used DNA analysis to help solve the 180–year–old mystery of their grisly fates.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo, Canada, took DNA samples from skeletal remains and compared them to the known crew members’ living descendants.
This revealed exact matches for three crew members who died on the shores of Erebus Bay, and a fourth whose body was found 80 miles (130 km) away.
The first three were all crew members of the HMS Erebus: William Orren, Able Seaman; David Young, Boy 1st Class; and John Bridgens, Subordinate Officers’ Steward.
The lone sailor was identified as Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop of HMS Terror – whose whereabouts have been one of the Franklin Expedition’s strangest puzzles.
Scientists have revealed the identities of four more men who perished in Sir John Franklin’s doomed 1845 expedition. These include David Young, Boy 1st Class aboard the HMS Erebus
Archaeologists have now identified six members of the Franklin Expedition. Five of these, including three newly identified members, came from the HMS Erebus and were found in and around two locations
The Franklin Expedition’s aim had been to find a navigable sea route between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans via the Arctic, known as the Northwest Passage.
By the time Sir Franklin’s two ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, set off from London in May 1845, multiple expeditions had already tried and failed to find the path.
The ships were stocked with seven years’ worth of food, state–of–the–art central heating systems, and even 1,000 copies of Punch magazine to keep the crew entertained.
Nevertheless, after two years out at sea, the ships became trapped in the ice near King William Island, and the crew were forced to set out on foot.
At Franklin’s orders, 105 officers and crew abandoned the ship to try to cross King William Island, but weakened by scurvy and freezing temperatures, not a single member of the crew survived.
Archaeologists have found two locations near the coast of Erebus Bay, where at least 21 crew members died after reaching the island.
However, who these men were and how they died has remained shrouded in mystery.
In a new paper, researchers identified three bodies from these sites by extracting mitochondrial and Y–chromosome DNA from the skeletal remains.
Scientists used a skull found on King William Island to reconstruct the face of David Young, who died after the expedition attempted to escape the Arctic overland
The bodies of 21 crew members have been found at two spots near Erebus Bay. Identifying these men could help explain how and why they abandoned their boats
These genes can remain exactly the same over multiple generations if passed down the male or female lineage, allowing scientists to compare ancient DNA to modern samples.
When scientists compared this DNA to living descendants, the comparison yielded matches with a genetic distance of zero – a strong proof they are related.
This confirmed that all three came from the HMS Erebus, the same as the two other men scientists have previously identified – Captain James Fitzjames and engineer John Gregory.
Lead researcher Dr Douglas Stenton told the Daily Mail that this raises the ‘intriguing possibility that the two ships’ boats at these sites might have been from HMS Erebus’.
If so, that could help researchers understand how and why the crew attempted to escape the stranded ships.
Intriguingly, Dr Stenton and his colleagues also identified the remains of another solitary crew member found 80 miles (130 km) from the others.
These remains belonged to Harry Peglar, the first member of the expedition positively identified as coming from the HMS Terror rather than the HMS Erebus.
Dr Stenton says: ‘Peglar may have been by himself as a result of wandering off, or perhaps falling behind and not being noticed, but that is a guess.’
The researchers also identified a fourth whose body was found 80 miles (130 km) away from the other crew members (shown in inset) as Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop of HMS Terror
That discovery finally solves a puzzle that has been baffling historians for the last 166 years.
The confusion dates back to 1859, when one of the very first search parties found a body carrying Peglar’s personal documents but wearing clothing that did not match his rank.
Those documents, known as the Peglar Papers, were found with a form of identification called a seaman’s certificate and included poetry and descriptions of the expedition.
Co–author Dr Robert Park says: ‘It was interesting to conclusively identify this sailor because the body was found with almost the only written documents from the expedition ever found.’
However, the question of why another crew member died holding Peglar’s personal documents remains unanswered.
Additionally, the researchers can now confirm an important detail about the deaths of these four men; none were subjected to cannibalism.
Reports of cannibalism among the Franklin Expedition crew were first given by the native Inuits who live on King William Island.
However, these were dismissed until the first hard evidence emerged in 1997, as bioarchaeologist Dr Anne Keenleyside found cut marks on many of the bones at a large burial site.
This follows the identification of the British first officer, Sir James Fitzjames (pictured), in 2024, who was captain of the HMS Erebus
Captain Fitzjames’ jawbone (pictured) showed cut marks, which archaeologists say are clear signs of cannibalism
This was strong evidence that members of the crew were butchered after their deaths for meat.
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Meet the man who was CANNIBALISED on board the doomed 1845 Franklin Expedition
In 2024, Dr Stenton used DNA analysis to identify the remains of the British first officer, Sir James Fitzjames.
They also discovered that Captain Fitzjames’ jawbone bore the telltale signs of butchery at the hands of his crewmates.
While the exact reason isn’t known, none of the newly identified crew members bears any marks that might indicate they were consumed.
Dr Stenton says he hopes this discovery ‘commemorates the men who died on the expedition and helps preserve their legacy for their families.’
THE DOOMED FRANKLIN EXPEDITION
Sir John Franklin, pictured, perished with his crew
The expedition, consisting of two ships led by British Royal Navy captain Sir John Franklin, aimed to find a sea route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
HMS Terror and HMS Erebus set sail from England in 1845 led by Franklin and a crew of 128 people.
But sometime after their departure, the ships became trapped in the thick sea ice of the Canadian Arctic.
This ultimately condemned the crew to an icy death, though no one knows the exact details of what went on during the years they were missing.
Search parties were sent out, to no avail.
The crew’s final message before they were wiped out – sent April 25, 1848 – indicated that there were survivors – but, at that point they were abandoning their ships.
The crew left the two vessels, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, north of King William Island and set out on a harsh journey south toward a mainland trading post.
None of the crew were ever heard from again, though skeletons and artifacts have since been found at the site linked to their disappearance.
Judging by the bodies found so far, none of the remaining crew made it even a fifth of the way to safety.
It wasn’t until the early 2000s that divers discovered the wreckages of the ships, which sat bafflingly far apart from one another. HMS Erebus was found in 2014 followed by HMS Terror, in 2016.
