DNA Identifies 3 HMS Erebus Sailors as 1845 Arctic Wreck Artifacts Go on Display

3 articles · Updated · BBC.com · May 26

University of Waterloo researchers used DNA to identify three HMS Erebus crew members—William Orren, David Young and John Bridgens—and contacted living descendants across seven countries.
The matches came from remains recovered from the doomed 1845 Franklin expedition, whose 128 men all died after Erebus and HMS Terror were trapped in Arctic ice and 105 survivors later tried to flee on foot.
Researchers also confirmed HMS Terror officer Harry Peglar and said the newly identified remains showed no evidence of cannibalism, unlike some of the more than 400 bones examined in earlier studies.
Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre will open a new exhibition on June 8, displaying previously unseen wreck artifacts including a bowl, dinner plate, officer's boot, belt buckle and ointment pot in sealed cases.
The exhibition coincides with the 200th anniversary of Erebus's 1826 launch at Pembroke Dock, linking the Welsh dockyard to a mystery partly resolved after the wreck was found in northern Canada in 2014.

DNA identified a captain in a steward's clothes. What other secrets will the Franklin expedition's lost sailors finally reveal?

After 180 years, DNA is naming the Franklin crew. Can it also prove what combination of factors ultimately killed them all?