In 1845, 129 sailors boarded the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror and departed England for the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic. Three years later, all 129 sailors were missing and presumed dead.
Nearly 200 years later, the great-great-great grandson of the HMC Erebus’s engineer provided a DNA sample that confirmed the identity of skeletal remains first discovered in 1859 as Warrant Officer John Gregory—the first member of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition to be positively identified.
The skeletal remains of Gregory and two others were recovered in 1859 during one of many expeditions to the area. The bodies were buried, but exhumed in 2013 for analysis. DNA was successfully extracted from tooth and bone samples at that point, and genealogical work was undertaken.
Ultimately, the Gregory family became of interest.
“We are extremely grateful to the Gregory family for sharing their family history with us and for providing DNA samples in support of our research,” said Douglas Stenton, adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and co-author of the new paper about the discovery.
Genealogical records indicated a direct, 5-generation paternal relationship between the living descendant, Jonathan Gregory of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and John Gregory, HMS Erebus engineer.
“It was fortunate that the samples collected contained well-preserved genetic material,” said study co-author Stephen Fratpietro, manager at Lakehead University’s Paleo-DNA laboratory.
In 1847, two years after embarking, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror became trapped in ice near the western passage of the Victoria Strait. A year or so later, the remaining 105 sailors abandoned the ship in search of a trading post, as they were presumably running out of resources. None of them would survive.
Robert Park, co-author of the study and anthropology professor at Waterloo, says the DNA identification of Gregory helps shed light on the events leading to the demise of the Franklin Expedition.
“The identification proves that Gregory survived 3 years locked in the ice onboard HMS Erebus. But he perished 75 kilometers south at Erebus Bay,” explained Park.
Gregory’s remains were initially discovered in 1859 on the southwest shore of King William Island, about 50 miles south of the site where the ships became ice-locked. While Gregory is the first crew member to be positively identified, his remains are hardly the only recovered. In fact, since the mid-19th century, skeletal remains of dozens of crew members have been found on the island, including two other men that were with Gregory at the time of their deaths.
Researchers have successfully extracted DNA from 26 other members of the Franklin Expedition whose remains have been found in nine archaeological sites along the line of the 1848 retreat. And while none have yielded additional positive identifications of decreased crew members, the researchers confirm the bones do contain valuable information.
"Analysis of these remains has yielded other important information on these individuals, including their estimated age at death, stature and health," explains Anne Keenleyside, anthropology professor at Trent University and co-author of the paper.
The team is encouraging descendants of other Franklin expedition members to provide DNA in hopes it can be used to identify the other 26 individuals.
On Sept. 9, 2014, a Canadian expedition team successfully located the wreck of the Erebus at the bottom of Wilmot and Crampton Bay, in the eastern portion of Queen Maud Gulf. Two years later, almost to the day, the Arctic Research Foundation expedition found the wreck of HMS Terror south of King William Island in Terror Bay.
Photo: Douglas Stenton excavating an as-yet unidentified sailor whose remains were found with those of John Gregory. Credit: Robert Park/University of Waterloo