The icy grip of the Arctic has finally relinquished a long-held secret: the identity of Captain James Fitzjames, a Royal Navy officer who vanished on the doomed Northwest Passage expedition led by Sir John Franklin in 1845. Over 175 years after his disappearance, a new DNA analysis has revealed his fate.
The expedition, consisting of 129 men aboard HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, set out from England with grand ambitions to navigate the treacherous waters of the Northwest Passage, a coveted route linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. However, their journey turned into a tragic nightmare as both ships became trapped in the unforgiving ice. The entire crew eventually succumbed to the harsh conditions.
Fitzjames, who assumed command of HMS Erebus after Franklin’s death, found his ship trapped at King William Island. While skeletal remains of many sailors have been discovered on the island over the years, Fitzjames is only the second individual to be conclusively identified.
The groundbreaking identification was achieved by a team of Canadian scientists who extracted DNA from a molar found in a heap of human bones and teeth, dating back to 1993. This DNA was then compared to samples from 25 living descendants of the Franklin expedition’s crew. The Y chromosome profile of the tooth matched that of a living relative, a second cousin of Fitzjames five times removed, confirming their shared paternal lineage.
The discovery of Fitzjames’ remains adds another layer of tragedy to the already harrowing story of the Franklin expedition. Previous analysis conducted by bioarchaeologist Anne Keenleyside (who sadly passed away in 2022) revealed cut marks on many recovered remains, including the newly analyzed jawbone. These marks indicated a horrifying reality – survival cannibalism. The survivors resorted to consuming the flesh of their fallen comrades, including Fitzjames, in a desperate attempt to stave off starvation.
Fitzjames’ identification marks him as the first confirmed victim of cannibalism among the expedition’s members. The study’s authors suggest that he may have been among the first to perish on King William Island.
The grim discovery sheds light on the horrific conditions faced by the expedition members. It also reinforces the oral accounts of the Inuit people who had encountered the expedition’s survivors. The Inuit witnessed 40 men hauling a ship’s boat on a sledge, and later discovered numerous corpses near the mouth of the Back River, some bearing the grim evidence of cannibalism.
The identification of Captain Fitzjames and the confirmation of cannibalism serve as a poignant reminder of the human cost of exploration and the lengths to which individuals will go in the face of adversity. The story of the Franklin expedition continues to capture our imaginations, and this latest discovery brings us closer to understanding the tragic fate of those who ventured into the unforgiving Arctic wilderness.
