DNA Analysis Uncovers Grisly Details of Doomed Arctic Expedition

[Social Media]

 

A recent DNA analysis has identified the cannibalized remains of a senior officer from a disastrous 19th-century Arctic expedition, shedding light on the tragic fate of the lost crew. The skeletal remains, identified as those of James Fitzjames, the captain of HMS *Erebus*, offer new insight into the harrowing final days of Sir John Franklin's ill-fated voyage to explore the Northwest Passage. 

 

 

The expedition, which set sail under Franklin’s command, was meant to navigate the treacherous route through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. However, by April 1848, three years after leaving England, disaster struck when the ships became trapped in ice, and Franklin, along with 23 other crew members, had perished. Fitzjames assumed a leadership role, guiding the remaining 105 survivors on a desperate retreat overland, pulling boats on sledges in the hopes of finding safety. Tragically, none survived, though the exact circumstances of their deaths remained largely a mystery—until now. 

 

 

 

“It went horribly wrong, horribly quickly,” said Doug Stenton, an archaeologist and adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo in Canada, who led the research. The new findings provide crucial context to the ill-fated expedition, which has long fascinated both British and Canadian historians.

 

Fitzjames’ remains were among 451 bones discovered in 1993 by a different team of researchers on King William Island, located in Canada’s Nunavut territory. The bones were believed to belong to at least 13 of Franklin’s sailors. Local Inuit accounts from the 1850s had suggested that some of the crew resorted to cannibalism to survive. Though these reports were initially dismissed in England, later investigations found clear evidence of cut marks on bones, revealing the desperate acts undertaken during the crew's final days. Stenton’s team confirmed the remains belonged to Fitzjames by comparing DNA extracted from the bones to that of a living relative.

 

The discovery of Fitzjames’ remains makes the tragedy more personal, according to Claire Warrior, an anthropologist and senior content curator at the National Maritime Museum in London, which houses artifacts from the Franklin expedition. “This is a person who had a life and family and whose words we have,” Warrior said, describing Fitzjames as “vivacious, enthusiastic and a joker.” She added that the discovery provides a form of closure for the families involved, bringing a human element to a catastrophe that has long gripped the public imagination.

 

Fitzjames’ remains were found in Erebus Bay, about 50 miles south of Victory Point, where the crew had first come ashore in their attempt to escape the Arctic’s unforgiving ice. The circumstances of his death suggest that Fitzjames succumbed only weeks after departing Victory Point, possibly already weakened by illness. The remains were originally returned to King William Island and buried in a memorial cairn in 1994. However, in 2013, Stenton’s team revisited the site to take DNA samples from the bones, primarily focusing on teeth, where DNA is more likely to be preserved.

 

The identification of Fitzjames, a high-ranking officer, among the cannibalized remains highlights how status became irrelevant in the crew’s desperate struggle for survival. “So we now know that it was an officer because of cut marks on his jawbone,” Warrior explained, emphasizing the severity of the circumstances. “The Navy’s a really hierarchical beast, and this shows how desperate they were.”

 

Though more questions remain about the precise details of the crew’s demise, this latest discovery brings a haunting chapter in Arctic exploration closer to resolution, offering new clarity on the grisly lengths to which the crew was forced to go in their final days.

 

Based on a report from CNN 2024-10-15

 

 

 

[Tug]

What a horrific story I wonder why the Inuit people didn’t help them,perhaps they were insane from the lead poisoning they got from their canned goods and frightened the Inuit people away.

[tandor]

8 hours ago, Tug said:

What a horrific story I wonder why the Inuit people didn’t help them,perhaps they were insane from the lead poisoning they got from their canned goods and frightened the Inuit people away.

maybe it was the Innuit and wild animals who fed on the remains of the explorers..a theory that is still strongly believed.

[bradiston]

19 minutes ago, tandor said:

maybe it was the Innuit and wild animals who fed on the remains of the explorers..a theory that is still strongly believed.

What makes you think the Inuit are cannibals? Who believes this?

 

Why were there cut marks on his jaw bone? Not much meat there, right? Tongue, anyone? Lip? Cheek? What would you eat first?

[Purdey]

There goes lunch.

[WDSmart]

I don't see cannibalism as any horrible thing unless someone is killed to eat them. If they're already dead and you have no other food, then I believe that is acceptable.

[LittleBear57]

I believe they took canned food with them and as a result possibly suffered from lead poisoning which can affect the brain. Also Hypothermia does strange things to the mind. So perhaps coupled with starvation, I guess it's quite understandable, cannibalism happened, hopefully they were not murdered to provide food.

[tandor]

4 hours ago, bradiston said:

What makes you think the Inuit are cannibals? Who believes this?

 

Why were there cut marks on his jaw bone? Not much meat there, right? Tongue, anyone? Lip? Cheek? What would you eat first?

you could ask the same of the Uruguayan AmateurRugby Team..I don't know if the Innuit turned cannibals when they found all those cadavers..i dare say they would have taken slices of flesh as they would from wild animals they hunted. Bears and wolves could easily have fought over the remnants. (I'm being serious and you're not..big difference here).

[bradiston]

14 minutes ago, tandor said:

you could ask the same of the Uruguayan AmateurRugby Team..I don't know if the Innuit turned cannibals when they found all those cadavers..i dare say they would have taken slices of flesh as they would from wild animals they hunted. Bears and wolves could easily have fought over the remnants. (I'm being serious and you're not..big difference here).

I don't take your comments seriously. You have no evidence the Innuit are or were cannibals. Or that they even discovered the bodies. The Uruguayans had to turn to cannibalism to survive high in the Andes. They later on got a special papal dispensation as they were Catholics. It obviously troubled them deeply what they did, but found forgiveness.

 

Bears and wolves don't use knives to cut up their prey. Somebody did. And the cut marks were found on a jaw bone. So, what's your theory? Just groundlessly accuse the native people who lived on a healthy diet of seal and fish, and we're adept at surviving in that environment without eating each other? Rather than desperate Europeans who were completely unable to fend for themselves in such a harsh environment?

[tandor]

12 hours ago, bradiston said:

I don't take your comments seriously. You have no evidence the Innuit are or were cannibals. Or that they even discovered the bodies. The Uruguayans had to turn to cannibalism to survive high in the Andes. They later on got a special papal dispensation as they were Catholics. It obviously troubled them deeply what they did, but found forgiveness.

 

Bears and wolves don't use knives to cut up their prey. Somebody did. And the cut marks were found on a jaw bone. So, what's your theory? Just groundlessly accuse the native people who lived on a healthy diet of seal and fish, and we're adept at surviving in that environment without eating each other? Rather than desperate Europeans who were completely unable to fend for themselves in such a harsh environment?

my initial reply to your article was 'maybe the Innuit...', but i will try to find the original article and study it. If you have a link handy that would be helpful.

[degrub]

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/dna-reveals-identity-of-officer-on-the-lost-franklin-expedition-and-his-remains-show-signs-of-cannibalism-180985154/
 

here is one link

[Yagoda]

Ive read all the books there are on this expedition, especially the recent ones and there has been no mention of Inuit cannibalism. If you want to dispute that, well, read the books.

[thaibeachlovers]

19 hours ago, tandor said:

maybe it was the Innuit and wild animals who fed on the remains of the explorers..a theory that is still strongly believed.

Wild animals don't make cut marks on bones, and the Inuit were able to live without being cannibals. There is nothing to suggest they were.

The best theory I have read about it suggests that they refused to accept help from the Inuit as they had white man's arrogance, and died for it.

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, tandor said:

my initial reply to your article was 'maybe the Innuit...', but i will try to find the original article and study it. If you have a link handy that would be helpful.

There is plenty of information available from google without expecting anyone else to do it for you.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 hours ago, LittleBear57 said:

I believe they took canned food with them and as a result possibly suffered from lead poisoning which can affect the brain. Also Hypothermia does strange things to the mind. So perhaps coupled with starvation, I guess it's quite understandable, cannibalism happened, hopefully they were not murdered to provide food.

That's a common theory, but I suspect it is put forward as an excuse to explain why the great white explorers failed.

If canned food of that era was dangerous there would be loads of examples of such.

 

The most likely reason for murder would be to eat them, IMO. It's not unknown in such situations.

[Yagoda]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

That's a common theory, but I suspect it is put forward as an excuse to explain why the great white explorers failed.

If canned food of that era was dangerous there would be loads of examples of such.

 

The most likely reason for murder would be to eat them, IMO. It's not unknown in such situations.

Dont let your hatred of the white man make you ignore the documented levels of lead found in the remains, the documented levels of lead in some artifacts, and the fact that these rations  were produced by a single contractor.

 

Please pick up a book. Very interesting story

[tandor]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

There is plenty of information available from google without expecting anyone else to do it for you.

friendly bunch. 

[Yagoda]

3 hours ago, tandor said:

friendly bunch. 

Cannibals

[kwonitoy]

It's not uncommon for  cannibalism to occur in remote areas.

I'd go with his fellow crewmen as the cannibals

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marten_Hartwell

 

I was a in high school when the Marten Hartwell saga ended, he was lauded as a great man for surviving 33 days with his injuries, above the tree line in absolutely brutal weather.

When the bodies were picked up it was found that Marten had survived by eating a part of the dead nurses leg, (nurse died in the crash)

He was hounded for the rest of his life