Cannibalized Franklin Expedition Captain Identified

For over a century, the skeletal remains of sailors from Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated expedition to the Northwest Passage were scattered along the rugged shores of an Arctic island. Bleached and battered by the elements, nearly a quarter of these anonymous bones bore the chilling signs of cannibalism, marking a tragic end to one of history’s most famous voyages. Now, after years of meticulous research by Canadian scientists, one of those sailors has been identified, and is Captain James Fitzjames from London, who captained HMS Erebus.

This breakthrough came after researchers isolated DNA from one of Fitzjames’s molars, which was then matched to living relatives. The identification represents a major milestone in the study of Franklin’s expedition, which departed England in 1845 in hopes of conquering the elusive Northwest Passage, and is the subject of a brilliant new study published in The Journal of Archaeological Sciences.

Daguerreotype of Captain James Fitzjames, 1845. (FabTet/CC BY-SA 4.0)

Inuit Oral Traditions: Paving the Way For Discovery

Fitzjames, a Royal Navy officer, had already sailed to destinations like Syria, Egypt, China, and the Americas before commanding HMS Erebus alongside HMS Terror on the fateful journey. However, the expedition ended in catastrophe, with all 129 crew members perishing in the unforgiving Arctic conditions.

Between 1847 and 1859, at least 36 search expeditions scoured the Arctic in hopes of locating Franklin’s lost ships, but all failed. It was only when researchers turned to Inuit oral traditions that the resting places of the Erebus and Terror were discovered within the last decade.

While the wrecks were only recently found, the remains of crew members were discovered much earlier on the southwest coast of King William Island in Nunavut. Search teams came across boats tied to large sleds, seemingly in preparation for a journey toward the Back River.

“What was the plan following the desertion of the ships? Did they travel as a single group? How do we understand the bodies of 20 sailors in this one spot? There are so many questions we still have and we’re trying to get a better understanding of what was happening. It’s challenging and it’s fascinating; no other British polar exploration suffered such a catastrophic loss as the Franklin Expedition,” said Douglas Stenton, adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and lead author on the research, in a press release.

Fitzjames, who captained the Erebus, co-authored the last known message from the expedition, a note discovered at Victory Point on King William Island. The message, dated April 25, 1848, read:

“Sir John Franklin died on the 11th of June 1847 and the total loss by deaths in the Expedition has been to this date nine officers and 15 men … [We] start on tomorrow 26th for Backs Fish River.”

The location where Fitzjames and at least a dozen others died was identified by searchers in the 1860s, who had learned through Inuit accounts that some of the surviving crew had turned to cannibalism. This revelation caused an uproar in Victorian England. It was later partially confirmed in the 1990s when anthropologist Anne Keenleyside found that nearly a quarter of the bones bore marks consistent with human-made cuts.

“The Inuit account of the site [where Fitzjames’s remains were found] had a very graphic description of cannibalistic activity: a huge pile of bones that had been broken and boiled for marrow. We’re not the first archaeologists to be at that site. We’re the last ones. And there’s no evidence of that at the site, of breaking of bones for marrow, and no bone fragments – an ‘archeological signature’. These are the kinds of things that can be challenging to try and reconcile. We’re not about trying to prove somebody’s wrong. We’re just trying to understand what happened,” explained Stenton.

End of Sir Franklin lost expedition to the Canadian Arctic in search of the Northwest sea passage, year 1847. (acrogame/Adobe Stock)

DNA Samples and Diagnostics: Accessing the Relative Gene Pool

Until recently, the identities of these remains were unknown. In 2013, researchers, including Stenton’s team, received permission to retrieve remains from the site, including eight mandibles previously unearthed by Keenleyside. Following a 2017 exhibition on the Franklin expedition in Greenwich, Stenton’s team requested DNA samples from potential relatives as part of their bio-archaeological investigation. The response was overwhelming, with many eager to assist, reports The Guardian.

However, the research required very specific genetic relationships, and so far, about 25 descendants have been profiled. Among the remains, a molar from one mandible, marked by knife cuts, matched one of these relatives: Captain James Fitzjames. Fitzjames is the second crew member to be positively identified. The first was John Gregory, an engineer on the Erebus, whose skull yielded a DNA match in 2021.

A 3D scan of James Fitzjames’ mandible, showing impressions of cut marks consistent with cannibalism. (University of Waterloo/The Journal of Archaeological Sciences)

Recent archaeological digs suggest the crew succumbed to a mix of scurvy, hypothermia, and the dire decision to resort to cannibalism after abandoning their ice-locked ships. For Stenton, these discoveries bring a new, human perspective to the grim mystery surrounding the expedition’s final days:

“They must have faced desperate conditions at that site. What led them to the point where they resorted to cannibalism? This was survival cannibalism, an act of sheer desperation that, tragically, only prolonged their suffering. The level of despair they endured was unimaginable.”

Stenton believes that a diagnostic approach to the evidence has reshaped the understanding of the expedition’s tragic conclusion. While Inuit oral history was crucial in pinpointing the wrecks’ locations—succeeding where 36 other expeditions had failed—some elements of their testimony have been harder to corroborate. Nonetheless, their accounts have proven invaluable in unraveling the mystery of Franklin’s doomed voyage.

Top image: Graves of seamen of John Franklin Expedition from 1845 on Beechey Island, Nunavut, Canada. Buried are three members of the expedition, as well as Thomas Morgan of HMS Investigator who died in 1853 during a research mission, and another unidentified grave. Source: Ansgar Walk/CC BY-SA 2.5

By Sahir Pandey