DNA identifies four more crew members of doomed Franklin expedition
DNA identifies four more crew members of doomed Franklin expedition
DNA 技术确认了富兰克林探险队四名遇难船员的身份
Archaeologists continue to use DNA analysis to identify the recovered remains of the doomed crew members of Captain Sir John S. Franklin’s 1846 Arctic expedition to cross the Northwest Passage. They can now add four more names to the list of previously identified crew members. The findings were reported in two papers, one published in the Journal of Archaeological Science and the other in the Polar Record.
考古学家们持续利用 DNA 分析技术，对约翰·富兰克林爵士（Captain Sir John S. Franklin）1846 年北极探险队（旨在穿越西北航道）遇难船员的遗骸进行身份鉴定。目前，他们又确认了四名船员的身份。这些研究成果分别发表在《考古科学杂志》（Journal of Archaeological Science）和《极地记录》（Polar Record）两份期刊上。
As we’ve reported previously, Franklin’s two ships, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, became icebound in the Victoria Strait, and all 129 crew members ultimately died. It has been an enduring mystery that has captured imaginations ever since. The expedition set sail on May 19, 1845, and was last seen in July 1845 in Baffin Bay by the captains of two whaling ships.
正如我们之前报道的那样，富兰克林的“幽冥号”（HMS Erebus）和“惊恐号”（HMS Terror）两艘船在维多利亚海峡被冰封，最终 129 名船员全部遇难。这一事件自发生以来一直是一个引人入胜的未解之谜。该探险队于 1845 年 5 月 19 日启航，最后一次被目击是在 1845 年 7 月，当时两艘捕鲸船的船长在巴芬湾见到了他们。
Historians have compiled a reasonably credible account of what happened: The crew spent the winter of 1845–1846 on Beechey Island, where the graves of three crew members were found. When the weather cleared, the expedition sailed into the Victoria Strait before getting trapped in the ice off King William Island in September 1846. Franklin died on June 11, 1847, per a surviving note signed by Fitzjames dated the following April.
历史学家们已经整理出了一份相当可信的事件经过：船员们在比奇岛（Beechey Island）度过了 1845 年至 1846 年的冬天，那里发现了三名船员的坟墓。天气转好后，探险队驶入维多利亚海峡，随后于 1846 年 9 月在威廉王岛（King William Island）附近被冰困住。根据菲茨詹姆斯（Fitzjames）签署于次年 4 月的一份幸存笔记显示，富兰克林于 1847 年 6 月 11 日去世。
HMS Erebus Captain James Fitzjames had assumed overall command after Franklin’s death, leading 105 survivors from their ice-trapped ships. It’s believed that everyone else died while encamped for the winter or while attempting to walk back to civilization. There was no concrete news about the expedition’s fate until 1854, when local Inuits told 19th-century Scottish explorer John Rae that they had seen about 40 people dragging a ship’s boat on a sledge along the south coast.
富兰克林去世后，“幽冥号”船长詹姆斯·菲茨詹姆斯接管了指挥权，带领 105 名幸存者离开了被冰困住的船只。据信，其余所有人在冬季露营或试图徒步返回文明世界的途中死亡。直到 1854 年，探险队的命运才有了确切消息：当地因纽特人告诉 19 世纪的苏格兰探险家约翰·雷（John Rae），他们曾看到约 40 人在南海岸用雪橇拖着一艘船。
The following year, several bodies were found near the mouth of the Back River. A second search in 1859 led to the discovery of a location some 80 kilometers to the south of that site, dubbed Erebus Bay, as well as several more bodies and one of the ships’ boats still mounted on a sledge. In 1861, yet another site was found just 2 kilometers away with even more bodies. When those two sites were rediscovered in the 1990s, archaeologists designated them NgLj-3 and NgLj-2, respectively.
次年，在后河（Back River）河口附近发现了多具尸体。1859 年的第二次搜寻在南面约 80 公里处发现了一个地点，被称为“幽冥湾”（Erebus Bay），那里还有更多尸体以及一艘仍安装在雪橇上的救生艇。1861 年，在仅 2 公里外又发现了另一个地点，里面有更多的尸体。20 世纪 90 年代重新发现这两个地点时，考古学家分别将其命名为 NgLj-3 和 NgLj-2。
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.
“幽冥号”和“惊恐号”的沉船残骸直到 2014 年和 2016 年才分别被发现。得益于寒冷的水温、缺乏自然光以及覆盖在许多文物上的淤泥层，船体及其内部物品保存得异常完好。甚至连一些窗玻璃都完好无损。2019 年，首批展示船只外部和内部的水下图像及视频被公布。
For several years, scientists have been conducting DNA research to identify the remains found at these sites by comparing DNA profiles of the remains with samples taken from descendants of the expedition members. Some 46 archaeological samples (bone, tooth, or hair) from Franklin expedition-related sites on King William Island have been genetically profiled and compared to cheek swab samples from 25 descendant donors.
多年来，科学家们一直在进行 DNA 研究，通过将遗骸的 DNA 图谱与探险队成员后代的样本进行比对，以确定在这些地点发现的遗骸身份。来自威廉王岛富兰克林探险相关地点的约 46 个考古样本（骨骼、牙齿或毛发）已完成了基因测序，并与 25 名后代捐赠者的口腔拭子样本进行了比对。
Most did not match, but in 2021, they identified one of those bodies as chief engineer John Gregory, who worked on the Erebus. By 2024, the team had added four more descendant donors—one related to Fitzjames (technically a second cousin five times removed through the captain’s great-grandfather). That same year, DNA analysis revealed that a tooth recovered from a mandible at one of the relevant archaeological sites was that of Captain James Fitzjames of the HMS Erebus. His remains showed clear signs of cannibalism, confirming early Inuit reports of desperate crew members resorting to eating their dead.
大多数样本未能匹配，但在 2021 年，他们确认其中一具遗骸属于曾在“幽冥号”上工作的总工程师约翰·格雷戈里（John Gregory）。到 2024 年，研究团队又增加了四名后代捐赠者，其中一人与菲茨詹姆斯有亲缘关系（按辈分算，是船长曾祖父那一支的五代远房表亲）。同年，DNA 分析显示，在相关考古地点的一块下颌骨中提取的牙齿属于“幽冥号”船长詹姆斯·菲茨詹姆斯。他的遗骸显示出明显的同类相食迹象，证实了早期因纽特人的报告，即绝望的船员曾被迫食用同伴的遗体。
We can now add three more crew members identified through their DNA. As before, to make the identifications, the team extracted DNA from archaeological samples and compared it with mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA from descendants. These included a molar and humerus shaft from NgLj-3; two molars, a premolar, and a temporal cranium bone from NgLj-2; and a sample taken from a left humerus found in 2018 at NgLj-1.
现在，我们可以再增加三名通过 DNA 确认身份的船员。与之前一样，研究团队从考古样本中提取 DNA，并将其与后代的线粒体 DNA 和 Y 染色体 DNA 进行比对。这些样本包括来自 NgLj-3 的一颗臼齿和肱骨干；来自 NgLj-2 的两颗臼齿、一颗前臼齿和一块颞骨；以及 2018 年在 NgLj-1 发现的一块左肱骨样本。
The researchers were able to identify three individuals: William Orren, able seaman; David Young, boy 1st class; and John Bridgens, subordinate officers’ steward. All served on the HMS Erebus, and they all died at Erebus Bay.
研究人员成功确认了三人的身份：水手威廉·奥伦（William Orren）、一等见习水手大卫·杨（David Young）以及下级军官管事约翰·布里登斯（John Bridgens）。他们都曾在“幽冥号”上服役，并全部死于“幽冥湾”。
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.
与此同时，《极地记录》的论文重点鉴定了一具 1859 年在威廉王岛南岸发现的未掩埋骨架。这具骨架被发现时，身边有一个皮质钱夹，里面装有“惊恐号”军士长哈里·佩格拉（Harry Peglar）的海员证书和其他文件。然而，散落在遗骸周围的衣物并非海员或军官通常穿着的款式。这些物品包括一件双排扣背心、一条系成蝴蝶结的黑色丝绸领巾（这更像是管事或军官仆人的装束），以及一把衣刷。
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.
长期以来，人们普遍认为这具遗骸很可能属于一名管事。富兰克林探险队的两艘船上各有四名管事，最可能的候选人是“惊恐号”上的炮房管事托马斯·阿米蒂奇（Thomas Armitage）或下级军官管事威廉·吉布森（William Gibson）。作者通过骨骼分析估算了骨架的身高，并将从骨架中提取的 DNA 样本与八名管事中的六人以及哈里·佩格拉的后代进行了比对。DNA 结果显示，这具骨架实际上就是佩格拉本人。