Cannibalised remains from doomed 1845 British Arctic expedition finally identified

Identification was made possible thanks to DNA sample from living descendant of Captain James Fitzjames

The cannibalised skeletal remains of a member of the doomed 1845 British Arctic expedition have been identified as that of Captain James Fitzjames.

In 1845, Sir John Franklin ventured to find a navigable northwest passage through the Arctic with 129 men aboard ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus.

Three years later, after their ships were trapped in ice, Fitzjames, the commander of HMS Erebus, led 105 survivors in an attempt to escape the Arctic. None survived.

Sir John Franklin led an expedition to discover a northwest passage through the Arctic Sea (From 1895 painting by W Thomas Smith)

The ultimate fate of the expedition has remained the subject of widespread interest, sparking many speculative books, articles, and even an acclaimed horror TV miniseries.

Commemorative cairn for remains of 13 sailors from Sir John Franklin’s expedition (R Park)

Since the mid-19th century, more than 450 bones, belonging to at least a dozen of the sailors, have been found around King William Island, Nunavut.

Portraits of Sir John Franklin’s crew during an exhibition at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, London (AFP via Getty)

Now, DNA analysis has revealed that one of the skeletal remains belongs to Fitzjames. This makes the captain the second member of the expedition to be identified after HMS Erebus engineer John Gregory.

Facial reconstruction of individual identified through DNA analysis as John Gregory (Diana Trepkov/University of Waterloo)

“We conclude that DNA and genealogical evidence confirm the identity of the remains as those of Captain James Fitzjames, HMS Erebus,” scientists wrote in a new study published on Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Daguerreotype of James Fitzjames taken by Richard Beard in May 1845 (Sotheby’s)

The mandible bone, exhibiting multiple cut marks, suggests that the captain’s body was subject to cannibalism after his death, scientists said.

Mandible uncovered at the site examined for age, sex, pathology (Margaret Bertulli/Journal of Archaeological Science)

The identification was made possible thanks to a DNA sample from a living descendant of Fitzjames. The sample matched the DNA from a set of bones unearthed at the King William Island archaeological site.

Mandible showing modification consistent with cannibalism (Anne Keenleyside/Journal of Archaeological Science)

“The identification of Fitzjames’s remains provides new insights about the expedition’s sad ending,” Douglas Stenton, study co-author from the University of Waterloo, said.

The local Inuit people had told searchers in the mid-19th century they had seen evidence of the survivors resorting to cannibalism – news that shocked Europeans at the time.

In 1997, archaeologist Anne Keenleyside found cut marks on nearly a quarter of the human bones, hinting that at least four of the men who died there were subject to cannibalism.

Fitzjames’s bones join this list with his mandible remains exhibiting multiple cut marks.

Impressions of cut marks consistent with cannibalism (Impressions made by A Keenleyside in 1993)

“This shows that he predeceased at least some of the other sailors who perished and that neither rank nor status was the governing principle in the final desperate days of the expedition as they strove to save themselves,” Dr Stenton said.

“It demonstrates the level of desperation that the Franklin sailors must have felt to do something they would have considered abhorrent,” University of Waterloo anthropologist Robert Park added.