DNA identifies four more crew members of doomed Franklin expedition

Recent advancements in DNA analysis have enabled archaeologists to identify four additional crew members from Captain Sir John S. Franklin’s ill-fated 1846 Arctic expedition aimed at navigating the Northwest Passage. These important findings have been shared in two academic papers, one featured in the Journal of Archaeological Science and the other in Polar Record. The expedition faced tragic circumstances as Franklin's ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, became trapped in ice within the Victoria Strait, leading to the demise of all 129 crew members. This enduring mystery has fascinated historians and the public alike since the expedition departed on May 19, 1845, and was last spotted in July of that year by whaling captains in Baffin Bay. Historical accounts suggest the crew wintered on Beechey Island, where graves of three members were uncovered. As conditions improved, the expedition ventured into the Victoria Strait, only to become icebound near King William Island in September 1846. Franklin passed away on June 11, 1847, as documented in a note from Fitzjames, who took command after Franklin's death and led 105 survivors from their stranded vessels. The fate of the remaining crew members remained uncertain until 1854, when Inuit locals informed Scottish explorer John Rae of sightings of individuals dragging a boat along the southern coastline. Subsequent searches in later years uncovered numerous deceased crew members and remnants of the expedition, including a boat found mounted on a sledge. In the 1990s, rediscoveries of these sites, designated NgLj-3 and NgLj-2, further illuminated the tragic end of this infamous expedition.