DNA and genealogical evidence reveal, for the first time, the identity of cannibalised remains recovered from the Franklin expedition. In 1845, an expedition led by Sir John Franklin set out to find a navigable North-West Passage through the Arctic with 129 men

Human remains recovered from the British Royal Navy’s doomed Franklin expedition have been identified as Captain James Fitzjames using DNA and genealogical evidence. The unfortunate officer has also been confirmed as the first known victim of cannibalism among the expedition members.

In 1845, an expedition led by Sir John Franklin set out to find a navigable North-West Passage through the Arctic with 129 men aboard the ships HMS Terror and HMS Erebus. But in 1848, Captain James Fitzjames, commander of the HMS Erebus, left a report in a stone cairn recording how the survivors had decided to abandon the ships. Later, the unidentified skeletal remains of many sailors were discovered in various locations across the Canadian Arctic

[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24003766](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X24003766)