DNA identifies four more crew members of doomed Franklin expedition

The actual shipwrecks of the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror were not found until 2014 and 2016, respectively. Thanks to the cold water temperature, lack of natural light, and the layers of silt covering many of the artifacts, the ship and its contents were in remarkably good condition. Even some of the windowpanes were still intact. The first underwater images and footage showing the ships’ exteriors and interiors were released in 2019. Meanwhile, the Polar Reports paper focused on identifying an unburied skeleton found in 1859 on the south shore of King William Island. The skeleton was found with a seaman’s certificate and other papers in a leather pocketbook belonging to Petty Officer Harry Peglar of the HMS Terror. However, the clothing found scattered around the remains was not of the sort usually worn by seamen or officers. The items included a double-breasted waistcoat and a black silk neckerchief tied in a bowknot, more indicative of what would be worn by a steward or officer’s servant, as well as a clothes brush. For a long time, the consensus was that the remains were most likely those of a steward. There were four on each of the two ships in the Franklin expedition, with the best candidates being Thomas Armitage, gunroom steward, or William Gibson, subordinate officers’ steward, both of whom served on the HMS Terror. The authors estimated the skeleton’s height via osteological analysis and compared DNA samples taken from the skeleton to those of descendants of six of the eight stewards and Harry Peglar. The DNA revealed that the skeleton was, in fact, Peglar. DOI: Journal of Archaeological Science, 2026. 10.1016/j.jasrep.2026.105739 (About DOIs). DOI: Polar Reports, 2026. 10.1017/S003224742610031X (About DOIs).