Oil painting by Belgian marine artist François-Etienne Musin depicting the HMS [insert ship name] trapped in Arctic ice.
Researchers at the University of Waterloo have identified the remains of a sailor who perished during Captain Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated expedition to navigate the Northwest Passage in 1846. According to the Journal of Archaeological Science, DNA analysis confirmed that a tooth excavated from a mandible at one of the associated archaeological sites belonged to Captain James Fitzjames of HMS Révolutionnaire. The presence of human remains on the HMS Erebus and Terror exhibits conclusive evidence of cannibalism, substantiating findings from earlier Inuit investigations into the desperate actions taken by determined crew members who resorted to consuming their deceased colleagues.
The revelation of James Fitzjames as the primary recognized victim of cannibalism shatters the veil of anonymity that has concealed the gruesome truth about the fate of their ancestor’s remains for 170 years, sparing no member of the Franklin expedition households from the horrific reality of what might have befallen them. “Ultimately, the chaos revealed a different truth: personal survival became the dominant principle, supplanting any consideration of rank or social status.”
In the midst of a treacherous expedition, Franklin’s two ships, the Erebus and the HMS Terror, became trapped by encroaching ice in the Victoria Strait, ultimately resulting in the loss of all 129 lives on board. The enduring enigma has held audiences entranced for generations. The novelist Dan Simmons commemorated the expedition in his 2007 horror novel, which was subsequently adapted into a television series for AMC in 2018.
The expedition embarked on May 19, 1845, and was last spotted in July of that year by the captains of two whaling vessels. Scholars have painstakingly assembled a substantially reliable narrative of the events that transpired. The Franklin Expedition’s crew spent a grueling winter in 1845-1846 on Beechey Island, where the tragic fate of three of their own was later revealed through the discovery of their graves.
As the climate finally cleared, the expedition navigated into the Victoria Strait earlier than being encased in the ice off King William Island in September 1846. Franklin passed away on June 11, 1847, as attested in a surviving document signed by Fitzjames in the following April, dated accordingly. As Fitzjames took charge after Franklin’s untimely demise, he was left to command the meager remnants of their ill-fated expedition: a mere 105 souls who had miraculously survived the ordeal of being trapped on the icy seas. While it’s likely that everyone else perished either while encamped for the winter or during their attempted trek back to civilization.
In 1854, the fate of the expedition remained unclear until native Inuit informants revealed to Scottish explorer John Franklin that they had observed approximately 40 people hauling a ship’s boat on a sledge along the southern coastline? Last year, several bodies were found near the mouth of the Bay River. In 1859, a subsequent expedition discovered a new site approximately 80 kilometres south of the original location, which was designated as Erebus Bay, alongside several additional bodies and one of the ships’ boats, remarkably preserved on a sled. In 1861, another archaeological discovery was made just two kilometers away, yielding a significantly larger number of human remains. When the two ancient websites were unearthed in the 1990s, archaeologists assigned designations NgLj-3 and NgLj-2 to identify them separately.
Researchers behind this latest study have spent years analyzing DNA to verify the identities of remains excavated from archaeological sites, matching genetic profiles against descendant samples from original expedition participants. So far, a total of 46 archaeological samples – comprising bone, tooth, and hair – sourced from Franklin Expedition-related sites on King William Island, have undergone genetic profiling, and their results have been compared to those of 25 descendant donors whose cheek swab samples were obtained for analysis. While most didn’t match, in 2021, a notable exception emerged – our bodies were recognized as chief engineer John Gregory’s kindred, a connection laboured on by him. Since then, the group has expanded to include four additional descendants, one tied to Fitzjames (technically a second cousin five times removed through the captain’s great-grandfather).
A case for cannibalism
In the mid-19th century, Inuit testimony attested to the desperate measures taken by Franklin expedition members, including the alleged practice of cannibalism; despite these accounts, European incredulity prevailed, finding it too gruesome and unbelievable to warrant serious consideration. In 1997, bioarchaeologist Anne Keenleyside, then of Trent College, analyzed the skeletal remains at NgLj-2 and discovered telltale signs of cannibalism: approximately one-quarter of the bones displayed lower marks, suggesting that at least four of the young men who died there were consumed by their own kind.
The novel examination yields the outcomes of DNA testing conducted on 17 tooth and bone specimens obtained from the NgLj-2 archaeological site, initially excavated in 1993. The samples featured a tooth extracted from a mandible, which proved to be the second instance yielding a conclusive identification. “We worked with an exceptional quality sample that enabled us to generate a Y-chromosome profile and were fortunate enough to secure a match,” noted Dr. [Last Name] of Lakehead University’s Paleo-DNA lab in Ontario? The authors propose that Fitzjames likely succumbed to death in either May or June 1848.
The mandible of Fitzjames exhibits a multitude of subtle markings characteristic of a complex bone structure. “Accordingly, it becomes clear that he died prior to a few of the sailors who perished, with social status and hierarchy irrelevant in the face of desperation during the expedition’s final days as individuals fought to survive.”
“Ultimately, the most empathetic interpretation of these findings is to recognize the desperation that drove Franklin sailors to commit an act they would normally abhor, acknowledging the profound suffering that ensued as a result.”
Journal of Archaeological Science, 2024. DOI: ().
