The remains of a senior officer from Sir John Franklin’s 1845 Northwest Passage expedition have been successfully identified through DNA and genealogical research conducted by experts from the University of Waterloo and Lakehead University.
Researchers from the University of Waterloo and Lakehead University have identified the skeletal remains of a senior officer who participated in Sir John Franklin’s 1845 Northwest Passage expedition using DNA and genealogy analysis.
In April 1848, James Fitzjames of HMS Erebus led 105 survivors from their trapped ships in an effort to escape the Arctic, but sadly, none survived. Since the mid-19th century, the remains of many of these individuals have been discovered around King William Island in Nunavut.
The identification was achieved with the help of a DNA sample from a living descendant that matched DNA found at an archaeological site on King William Island, where 451 bones belonging to at least 13 sailors from Franklin’s team were located.
“We used a high-quality sample that enabled us to create a Y-chromosome profile, and we were fortunate to find a matching sample,” stated Stephen Fratpietro from Lakehead’s Paleo-DNA lab.
Fitzjames is now the second among the 105 survivors to be definitively identified, following John Gregory, an engineer from HMS Erebus, who was identified in 2021.
“Identifying Fitzjames’ remains offers new perspectives on the tragic conclusion of the expedition,” explained Dr. Douglas Stenton, an adjunct professor of anthropology at Waterloo.
In the 1850s, Inuit eyewitnesses informed search parties that they had seen signs suggesting that survivors had turned to cannibalism, which shocked many Europeans. This claim was later substantiated in 1997 by the late Dr. Anne Keenleyside, who discovered cut marks on nearly 25% of the human bones at the NgLj-2 site, confirming that at least four of the deceased had been subjected to cannibalism.
Fitzjames’ mandible shows evidence of multiple cut marks, indicating that his body was also involved in cannibalism after his death. “This suggests that he died before some of the other sailors, highlighting that neither rank nor position mattered during the desperate final days of the expedition as they fought for survival,” commented Stenton.
While 19th-century Europeans broadly viewed cannibalism as morally wrong, researchers emphasize that we now have a deeper understanding of survival or starvation cannibalism, allowing us to empathize with individuals who were compelled to resort to such acts. “This illustrates the extreme desperation that the Franklin sailors likely experienced in resorting to actions they would have deemed abhorrent,” said Dr. Robert Park, an anthropology professor at Waterloo. “Since the expedition vanished into the Arctic nearly 179 years ago, there has been considerable public fascination with its fate, resulting in numerous speculative publications and even a popular television miniseries that portrayed it as a horror story, featuring cannibalism as a central theme. Thorough archaeological research like this reveals that the genuine narrative is just as compelling, and there remains much more to uncover,” added Park.
The remains of Fitzjames and his fellow sailors who perished alongside him are now honored in a memorial cairn at the site, complete with a commemorative plaque.
Descendants of Franklin expedition members are encouraged to reach out to Stenton. “We are immensely grateful to this family for sharing their lineage with us and providing DNA samples, and we are eager to collaborate with other descendants to see if we can utilize their DNA to identify additional individuals,” he stated.
The article “Identification of a Senior Officer from Sir John Franklin’s Northwest Passage Expedition,” authored by Stenton, Fratpietro, and Park, was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. This research was supported by the Government of Nunavut and the University of Waterloo.
