Another member of Sir John Franklin’s Northwest Passage expedition has been identified.
DNA and genealogical data have helped researchers from the University of Waterloo and Lakehead University in Thunder Bay identify James Fitzjames, captain of HMS Erebus.
The Erebus helped lead sailors from their ice-trapped ships in April 1848, however, none would survive.
Stephen Fratpietro, Technical Manager of Lakehead’s Paleo-DNA lab says the research can help determine what happened.
“This is one of the biggest mysteries of what happened to these individuals,” says Fratpietro.
“So, if we can, first of all, identify the individuals to make sure that they have been found and then maybe figure out where the remains were found, we kind of would know the migration pattern of the crew once they got stuck in the ice.”
Fitzjames is just the second member of the Franklin expedition to be positively identified.
John Gregory, an engineer aboard HMS Erebus, was identified in 2021.
Researchers are still hoping to identify the remains of 12 others.
“We have a library of DNA samples from those, but we’re always looking for people, living descendants, who may have a link to a Franklin expedition member. We’re always asking them to contact us. We’ll see if they are candidates for doing DNA analysis, and then we can try to use their DNA to identify some of the other remains that we have.”
Fitzjame’s remains were discovered on King William Island in Nunavut, not far from where his sunken ship was found a decade ago.
His remains and those of the others who perished now rest in a memorial on the island.
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