DNA reveals 4 lost men from the doomed Franklin polar expedition

What happened to the men of the lost Franklin expedition of 1847, one of the most notorious disasters in the history of polar exploration? Researchers have searched for the answer to that question since two ships of British explorers seemingly disappeared without a trace in the icy Canadian Arctic. 

But the expedition’s desperate participants left traces behind as they attempted to walk to mainland Canada. Though many of the specifics of the disaster are still shrouded in mystery, those clues have slowly allowed modern researchers to understand more about the expedition and its victims. 

Now, researchers using ancient DNA analysis have successfully identified four of the members of the doomed expedition, bringing the total number of conclusively identified individuals to six men out of 129, and solved a longstanding question about one of the Franklin party’s participants.

The search for a Northwest Passage 

The four men were part of an ambitious attempt to locate the Northwest Passage. At the time, the potential sea route connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through the treacherous Arctic Ocean at the northernmost part of North America was just theoretical. But it fascinated would-be explorers and traders alike, inspiring various quests to shorten the voyage between Europe and Asia. The search for a viable route was hindered for centuries due to the dangerous icepack, and multiple expeditions to complete the passage failed. 

The most notorious of those attempts began in 1845, when British naval officer John Franklin attempted to traverse the passage with two ships, the H.M.S. Erebus and H.M.S. Terror. Their ambitious search ended in disaster after the ships got stuck in ice in the Victoria Strait, an icebound portion of the Arctic Ocean in Nunavut, Canada. Despite attempting to walk along the Arctic ice to the mainland, the entire crew perished, seemingly vanishing without a trace. 

“It was a completely unexpected catastrophe when it happened,” Robert W. Park, an anthropologist at the University of Waterloo and senior author of the new research, wrote in an email to National Geographic. “To the general public, it was the 19^th-century equivalent to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.” 

Mysterious evidence, open questions

For more than a century, a long string of search efforts yielded few answers about the Franklin expedition’s fate. With the help of local Inuits, however, some skeletal remains and artifacts were eventually located, and the wrecks of both ships were finally found in 2014 and 2016. 

Modern analyses of the remains, along with Inuit oral testimonies passed down through generations, showed the crew was suffering from lead poisoning due to canned food or the ships’ water purification systems, though lead poisoning is not thought to have played a major role in the crew’s fate. 

Researchers have also confirmed Inuit oral histories that suggested at least some of the desperate men resorted to cannibalism in their final days. Yet the specifics of who participated in the desperate escape and what happened during the attempt remained a mystery. 

(Retracing the final days of a doomed Arctic expedition)

Two new analyses by a group of Canadian researchers offer some answers. The first analysis, published in May in the Journal of Archaeological Science, used modern DNA from descendants of the crew and 49 samples of genetic material from ten archaeological sites on King William Island to identify three sailors: John Bridgens, David Young, and William Orren. All three worked on the H.M.S. Erebus, and all three were apparently part of the escape effort on King William Island.

“The expedition started out with 129 sailors equally divided between the ships Erebus and Terror, so it is surprising that everyone identified…came from the Erebus,” Park writes. The modern DNA samples, on the other hand, were split almost equally between descendants of members of both ships’ crews.

The mystery of Harry Peglar 

The men of the H.M.S. Erebus likely died together. But one member of the expedition seemed to have perished alone about 80 miles away from the bay where Bridgens, Young, Orren, and other crew members died. His identity has long been a particularly vexing mystery.

The clothing found on the body when it was discovered in 1859 suggested the lone crew member was a servant or steward to high-ranking officers during the expedition. But papers found with the body belonged to Harry Peglar, a high-ranking petty officer who served as captain of the foretop on the H.M.S. Terror. 

With the help of descendant DNA, the researchers confirmed that despite his lowly garb, the skeleton was that of the higher-ranking Peglar. Their analysis was published in the Polar Record on May 7.

Past researchers have speculated Peglar wore someone else’s clothing while setting out on the retreat or gave his personal papers to a steward friend. However, the researchers behind the latest study argue that the fact that the sailors left “heaps” of clothing behind as they set out on their dangerous retreat makes it unlikely Peglar was dressed in another crew member’s clothing. Besides, the clothes brush and necktie found with Peglar—signs of a working steward—imply he actually held that role on the Terror. 

Why else would Peglar have been dressed like a steward if he was in fact a high-ranking officer? The new analysis finds answers in Peglar’s checkered career record, which shows multiple instances of “unacceptable conduct” and demotion. “A pattern of unsatisfactory behaviour may have continued” and Peglar was likely demoted to steward while serving on the H.M.S. Terror, the researchers conclude. 

Though it isn’t certain Peglar behaved badly on the expedition, they write, Peglar “is the only sailor from H.M.S. Terror whose remains have been identified thus far…and the only one thought to have died alone.” 

Continuing research

The four identifications bring the total number of identified crew members to six. (The same group of researchers identified warrant officer John Gregory and H.M.S. Erebus captain James Fitzjames in 2021 and 2024, respectively.) But research into the doomed Franklin expedition continues.

“We know that all 129 sailors died, but we need to learn more about who died where, which may give us insights into differences, if any, between the two crews,” Park writes. “We have DNA from at least 14 more Franklin sailors, still unidentified, so if we can find more descendants willing to provide DNA samples, we may be able to identify them.” 

(Seeking to solve the Arctic's biggest mystery, they ended up trapped in ice at the top of the world)

It’s unclear whether modern technology will yield further details about the men’s ordeal. But researchers won’t stop trying to learn what really happened to the men of the Franklin expedition—and the sheer number of unanswered questions that remain could mean more discoveries to come.