Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T17:14:27.377Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

DNA identification of a sailor from the 1845 Franklin northwest passage expedition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2021

Douglas R. Stenton Open the ORCID record for Douglas R. Stenton [Opens in a new window] ,
Stephen Fratpietro ,
Anne Keenleyside  and
Robert W. Park
Douglas R. Stenton*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ONN2L 3G1, Canada Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, ONK9L 0G2, Canada
Stephen Fratpietro
Affiliation:
Paleo-DNA Laboratory, Centre for Analytical Services, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ONP7B 5Z5, Canada
Anne Keenleyside
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Trent University, Peterborough, ONK9L 0G2, Canada
Robert W. Park
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ONN2L 3G1, Canada
*
Author for correspondence: Douglas R. Stenton, Email: dstenton@uwaterloo.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The 1845 British polar expedition in search of a northwest passage through the Canadian Arctic under the command of Sir John Franklin resulted in the greatest loss of life event in the history of polar exploration. The names of the 129 officers and crew who sailed and died on the catastrophic voyage are known, but the identification of their skeletons found scattered along the route of their attempted escape is problematic. Here, we report DNA analyses from skeletal remains from King William Island, where the majority of the expedition fatalities occurred, and from a paternal descendant of a member of the expedition. A match was found between an archaeological sample and a presumed descendant sample using Y-chromosome haplotyping. We conclude that DNA and genealogical evidence confirm the identity of the remains as those of Warrant Officer John Gregory, Engineer, HMS Erebus. This is the first member of the 1845 Franklin expedition whose identity has been confirmed through DNA and genealogical analyses.

Keywords

1845 Franklin expeditionDNA analysisbioarchaeology
Type
Research Article
Information
Polar Record , Volume 57 , 2021 , e14
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Battersby, W. (2010). James Fitzjames: The Mystery Man of the Franklin Expedition. Toronto: Dundurn Press,.Google Scholar
Battersby, W., & Carney, P. (2011). Equipping HM Ships Erebus and Terror 1845. The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 81(2), 192–211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beattie, O., & Geiger, J. (1987). Frozen in Time. Unlocking the Secrets of the Franklin Expedition. Saskatoon: Prairie Books.Google Scholar
Boom, R., Sol, C. J., Salimans, M. M., Jansen, C. J., Wertheim-van Dillen, P. M., & van der Noordaa, J. (1990). Rapid and simple method for purification of nucleic acids. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 28(3), 495–503.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Buckleton, J. S., Triggs, C. M., & Walsh, S. J. (Eds.) (2005). Y-STR kinship index calculation. Forensic DNA Evidence Interpretation. Boca Raton: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Cyriax, R. J. (1939). Sir John Franklin’s Last Arctic Expedition. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.Google Scholar
Cyriax, R. J., & Jones, A. G. E. (1954). The papers in the possession of Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop, H.M.S. Terror, 1845. The Mariner’s Mirror, 40, 186–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gregory, J. (1845). Gregory, correspondence, 9 July 1845. John Gregory Collection. Scott Polar Research Institute Archives. University of Cambridge. GB 15 John Gregory/Correspondence.Google Scholar
Hall, C. F. (1869). Charles Francis Hall Collection, 1858–1871. Washington, D.C.: Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.Google Scholar
Lambert, A. (2009). Franklin, Tragic Hero of Polar Navigation. London: Faber and Faber.Google Scholar
Lancashire Online Parish Clerk Project, Baptisms 1821–1823. Extract from Original Parish Register, Page 231, Entry 1842. Lan-opc.org.uk.Google Scholar
Lancashire Online Parish Clerk Project, Marriages 1821–1827. Extract from Original Parish Register, P72, entry 216. LDS film 559173. lan-opc.org.uk.Google Scholar
Lancashire Record Office, BT’s Births 1768–1810. LDS film 004006799, P408. https://www.lancashire.gov.uk.Google Scholar
Liverpool Record Office, 283-JOH-1-3. Lancashire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812. https://liverpool.gov.uk.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Jones, R. (2018). Franklin’s men and their families: new evidence from the allotment books. Polar Record, 54, 267–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, J. (1996). 1994 Franklin Search Expedition. Igloolik: Government of Nunavut, Department of Culture and Heritage.Google Scholar
Mays, S., Ogden, A., Montgomery, J., Vincent, S., Battersby, W., & Taylor, G. M. (2011). New light on the personal identification of a skeleton of a member of Sir John Franklin’s last expedition to the Arctic. Journal of Archaeological Science, 38, 1571–1582.Google Scholar
McClintock, F. (1859). The voyage of the ‘Fox’ in the Arctic Seas. A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and His Companions. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Meindl, R. S., & Lovejoy, C. O. (1985). Ectocranial suture closure: a revised method for the determination of skeletal age at death based on the lateral-anterior sutures. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 68(1), 57–66.Google ScholarPubMed
National Archives, ADM 27/90 A List of Persons Belonging to Her Majesty’s Ship Erebus Desirous of Allotting Part of their Monthly Pay or Wages. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.Google Scholar
National Archives, ADM 29 1802–1919 Certificates of Services for Warrant Officers. https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.Google Scholar
National Archives, ADM 38/0672 Admiralty Ships’ Musters. Muster Book of Her Majesty’s Ship Erebus: 3 March 1845–19 May 1845.Google Scholar
Nourse, J. (1879). Narrative of the Second Arctic Expedition Made by Charles Francis Hall: His Voyage to Repulse Bay, Sledge Journeys to the Straits of Fury and Hecla and to King William’s Land, and Residence Among the Eskimos During the Years 1864–69. Washington D. C.: U.S. Naval Observatory, Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Park, R. W., & Stenton, D. R. (2019). Use your best endeavours to discover a safe and sheltered harbour. Polar Record, 55, 361–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ranford, B. (1994). Bones of contention. Equinox, 74, 69–87.Google Scholar
Savours, A. (1999). The Search for the North West Passage. NY: St. Martin’s Press.Google Scholar
Schwatka, F. (1965). The Long Arctic Search: The Narrative of Lieutenant Schwatka, U.S.A., 1878–1880 Seeking the Records of the Lost Franklin Expedition. (Stackpole, E. A.). Mystic, CT: Maine Historical Association.Google Scholar
Stein, G. (2007). Scattered memories and frozen bones: revealing a sailor of the franklin expedition, 1845–48. Journal of the Orders and Medals Research Society, 46(4), 224–232.Google Scholar
Stenton, D. R. (2018a). Dead Men Walking: the archaeology of the last survivors of the Franklin expedition along Simpson Strait, Nunavut. Permit Report NAP 2018-07A. Igloolik: Government of Nunavut, Department of Culture and Heritage.Google Scholar
Stenton, D. R. (2018b). Finding the dead: bodies, bones and burials from the 1845 Franklin northwest passage Expedition. Polar Record, 54, 197–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stenton, D. R. (2019). Dead Men Walking: The Archaeology of the Last Survivors of the Franklin expedition along Simpson Strait, Nunavut. Permit Report NAP 2019-13A. Igloolik: Government of Nunavut, Department of Culture and Heritage.Google Scholar
Stenton, D. R, Keenleyside, A., Fratpietro, S., & Park, R. W. (2017). DNA analysis of human skeletal remains from the 1845 Franklin expedition. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 16, 409–419.Google Scholar
Stenton, D. R., & Park, R. W. (2017). History, oral history and archaeology: reinterpreting the ‘Boat Places’ of Erebus Bay. Arctic, 70(2), 203–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stenton, D. R., Keenleyside, A., & Park, R. W. (2015). The ” boat place” burial: new skeletal evidence from the 1845 Franklin expedition. Arctic, 68(1), 32–44.Google Scholar
Stenton, D. R., Keenleyside, A., Trepkov, D. P., & Park, R. W. (2016). Faces from the Franklin expedition? Craniofacial reconstructions of two members of the 1845 northwest passage expedition. Polar Record, 52(1), 76–81.Google Scholar
Walsh, P. S., Metzger, D. A., & Higuchi, R. (1991). Chelex® 100 as a medium for simple extraction of DNA for PCR-based typing from forensic material. Biotechniques, 10(4), 506–513.Google Scholar
Willuweit, S., & Roewer, L. (2015). The new Y chromosome haplotype reference database. Forensic Science International: Genetics, 15, 43–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed