DNA identifies four more sailors from Franklin's 1845 Arctic expedition

September 10, 2026 at 05:46 PM2 min

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Researchers have identified four additional sailors from Sir John Franklin's ill-fated 1845 Arctic expedition, bringing the total identified through DNA to six. The findings resolve a 166-year-old mystery surrounding the identity of Harry Peglar, whose body was found in 1859 carrying documents that became known as the Peglar Papers.

Key Facts

The four new identifications raise the number of Franklin expedition sailors identified through DNA to six.
Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop on HMS Terror, was found 130 kilometers from the other identified sailors.
The body found in 1859 carried Peglar's personal documents, including his seaman's certificate and papers containing poetry and descriptions of expedition events.
The three other identified sailors—William Orren, David Young, and John Bridgens—all served on HMS Erebus and died at Erebus Bay.
In 2021, DNA identified John Gregory, Engineer of HMS Erebus, and in 2024, James Fitzjames, Captain of Erebus.

The Franklin Expedition

By April 1848, Franklin's two ships, Erebus and Terror, had been trapped in Arctic ice for nearly two years. The 105 surviving crew members abandoned the vessels and began a desperate attempt to reach safety, traveling along the west coast of King William Island, Nunavut, while hauling boats on sleds. None survived the journey. Since the mid-19th century, remains belonging to members of the expedition have been discovered on King William Island and the Adelaide Peninsula.

DNA Identification Breakthrough

Anthropologists from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Waterloo led the research, using DNA recovered from skeletal remains and comparing it with samples provided by living descendants. Three of the sailors identified are from HMS Erebus, and they all died at Erebus Bay. The fourth, the only sailor from the HMS Terror to be definitively identified by DNA analysis, was found 130 kilometers away. Dr. Douglas Stenton, Adjunct Professor of anthropology at Waterloo, stated that the three Erebus sailors died at Erebus Bay, while the Terror sailor was found 130 kilometers away.

The Peglar Papers Mystery

The sailor found far from the others has now been identified as Harry Peglar, Captain of the Foretop on HMS Terror. His identity had been uncertain since 1859, when a body was discovered carrying Peglar's personal documents. The clothing found with the remains did not correspond to Peglar's rank, creating a mystery that persisted for generations. Dr. Robert Park, Professor of anthropology at Waterloo and co-researcher with Stenton, said it was interesting to conclusively identify this sailor because the body was found with almost the only written documents from the expedition ever found. Those documents became known as the 'Peglar Papers' and contain poetry as well as what appear to be descriptions of events that unfolded during the expedition.