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Credit: Diana Trepkov/ University of Waterloo
The identity of the skeletal remains of a member of the 1845 Franklin expedition has been confirmed using DNA and genealogical analyses by a team of researchers from the University of Waterloo, Lakehead University, and Trent University. This is the first member of the ill-fated expedition to be positively identified through DNA.
DNA extracted from tooth and bone samples recovered in 2013 were confirmed to be the remains of Warrant Officer John Gregory, engineer aboard HMS Erebus. The results matched a DNA sample obtained from a direct descendant of Gregory.
The remains of the officer were found on King William Island, Nunavut. We now know that John Gregory was one of three expedition personnel who died at this particular site, located at Erebus Bay on the southwest shore of King William Island, says Douglas Stenton, adjunct professor of anthropology at Waterloo and co-author of a new paper about the discovery.
HMS Terror: Identity of sailor on doomed 1845 Franklin expedition discovered using DNA
Skeletal samples mean researchers can put a name and a face to crewman who perished as HMS Erebus and HMS Terror sought Northwest Passage
6 May 2021 • 9:42pm
DNA analysis found the skull to be that of Warrant Officer John Gregory, an engineer aboard HMS Erebus. The discovery meant researchers were able to create a reconstruction of his face
Credit: Diana Trepkov
In 1845, Sir John Franklin gathered 129 sailors on two ships and set course for the Arctic, in an attempt to find the Northwest Passage.
After three punishing years in the freezing sea, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror ran out of food and became trapped in the ice. Despite a number of desperate escape attempts, all of the men perished.
BBC News
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image captionA facial reconstruction of the crew member researchers identified as John Gregory
A member of a doomed 1845 Arctic voyage has been identified by researchers who matched his DNA with that of a living descendant from South Africa.
Tests confirmed skeletal remains recovered from an island in northern Canada were those of John Gregory.
Gregory was an officer on British explorer Sir John Franklin s ill-fated expedition to chart the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic.
The expedition was a disaster, ending in the deaths of all 129 crew members.
When their two ships - HMS Erebus and HMS Terror - became trapped in the ice, the crew vanished into the frozen Arctic.