The Franklin Expedition: What Happened to James Fitzjames? - Archaeological Science Ep 2

In 1845, two ships known as the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror took off from England to find Northwest Passage, a maritime shortcut through the Canadian Arctic connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Two years later, the ships went missing, along with the entire crew. This mysterious and tragic event has grappled the minds of succeeding generations. Books, TV shows, and documentaries have been written, filmed, and produced, speculating on what could have happened to the officers and crewmen of the ill-fated Franklin Expedition. Thanks to archaeology, we're starting to get some answers. I'm Madam Archaeologist, your go-to informant on everything archaeology, and in this episode, I'll dive into what the latest archaeological research has told us about the fate of one of the officers of this expedition, James Fitzjames. Firstly, what do we know about the Franklin Expedition? Well, throughout the early 1800s, Britain sent out several expeditions to the Canadian Arctic in the hope of finding a maritime shortcut connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This was to help facilitate trade. Two ships took off on May 19, 1845, under the command of Sir John Franklin, who had made previous trips to the Canadian Arctic. Also on board were senior officers Francis Crozier and James Fitzjames, experienced Arctic explorers. Fitzjames was Captain Franklin's second-in-command on the Erebus, while Crozier was Captain of the Terror. With this team and the information gained from previous voyages, it was thought that the Franklin Expedition would be a great success. Nobody knew what the future had in store. The ships made a stop in Greenland to gather supplies and were spotted in late July by a whaler in Baffin Bay before making their way to Lancaster Sound. That was the last time any of the 129 crewmen and officers were seen by Europeans. Two years went by without any news, and with the persuasion of John Franklin's widow, Lady Jane Franklin, the Admiralty sent out one of the largest search missions in naval history. Unfortunately, no living members were found, and it wasn't until the 1850s that the searchers began to uncover any evidence of their tragic fate. An important finding is the so-called Victory Point Note, a standard Admiralty form found on King William Island in 1859. Notes on the paper margins detailed what had happened up to the 25th of April 1848. Signed by James Fitzjames and Francis Crozier, it not only stated that John Franklin had died on the 11th of June 1847, alongside 8 other officers and 15 crewmen, but also that the remaining 105 survivors abandoned the ships because they had been stuck in ice since September of 1846. The survivors took off on foot for Baxfish River, today known simply as Back River. This note is one of the only pieces of solid evidence pertaining to the status of the expedition. What happened afterwards, we can only begin to understand by piecing together the artifacts and evidence found by the searchers. From the Victory Point Note, we also know that the men camped at Beachy Island during the winter of 1845-46 before travelling down to Peel Sound, and traces of this camp were found in 1850, along with the bodies of 3 crewmen. The survivors also spent the winters of 1846-47 and 47-48 on King William Island while the ships were trapped in ice. Artifacts and human remains have been found on that island, including two boats at Erebus Bay, where archaeologists have uncovered hundreds of human bone fragments. These have been designated archaeological sites NGLJ-2 and NGLJ-3. There are also Inuit oral accounts from 1854 claiming to have witnessed white men practicing cannibalism. DNA extracted from a tooth confirmed that a mandible belonged to Officer James Fitzjames. Let's see what archaeological science can tell us about his story. A recent paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science Reports reported on the analysis and findings of Fitzjames' remains. Researchers undertook two types of investigations, DNA and bioarchaeological analyses. Bioarchaeology is a subfield of archaeology which focuses on analysing human bones. Another word you may encounter is osteoarchaeology. So, how do we know that the mandible belonged to Fitzjames? Well, Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA were extracted from various bones and then compared to DNA sequences from living relatives of the officers and crewmen. We can use Y-chromosomal and mitochondrial DNA to trace direct paternal and maternal ancestry, respectively. It is expected that you'd share the same Y-chromosomal DNA with all your male-line relatives and the same mitochondrial DNA with all your female-line relatives. Y-chromosomal DNA taken from a tooth in the mandible was a match with James Fitzjames' second cousin five times removed. So, now we know that Fitzjames died at archaeological site NGLJ-2, where the bone was found in 1993. But that's not all. Bioarchaeologists also noticed that Fitzjames' mandible bore cut marks consistent with cannibalism. Oh my. Previous analysis of bones from NGLJ-2 showed that at least four out of the 13 men found there were unfortunately cannibalized, and now we know that Fitzjames was one of them. How did the bioarchaeologists reach this conclusion? Well, this was determined through two lines of evidence. One, the nature of the cut marks, and two, the presence of pot polish, meaning that the bones had been boiled. The researchers have interpreted this by saying that in their extreme desperation for survival, the men had no choice but to resort to cannibalism. There is enough evidence to support this interpretation, not only the pot polish and marks on the bones paired with the intimate oral accounts, but also the finding of human remains from cooking pots. In the published paper, the researchers concluded that, I quote, and acknowledge the sadness of the fact that in this case, doing so only prolonged their suffering. That's the official interpretation, and I've outlined the evidence that supports it, and if you have any thoughts, let me know in the comments. That's it for this episode, I hope you enjoyed learning a bit about how two fields of archaeological science, DNA and bioarchaeology, were able to shed light on what happened to James Fitzjames. Don't forget to give this video a like, and subscribe for more cool content where I go to informants on everything archaeology, Madam Archaeologist.