We Know Their Ghastly Fate —and Now, Their Names

Researchers have identified four more victims of a notorious 19th-century polar disaster that ultimately resulted in cannibalism. University of Waterloo anthropology professor Dr. Douglas Stenton and colleagues have identified three crew members from HMS Erebus—Able Seaman William Orren, cabin boy David Young, and steward John Bridgens—using DNA from remains recovered near the wreck in northern Canada, per the BBC. The bones of a fourth man, found some 80 miles away on Nunavut's remote Gladman Point, were traced to Harry Peglar, captain of the Erebus' sister ship HMS Terror, who is the only sailor from that ship to have been identified, per the CBC.

The sister ships vanished during Sir John Franklin's 1845 quest for the Northwest Passage after becoming trapped in Arctic ice; all 129 men died, and a previous study of more than 400 bones found signs of cannibalism on some, though not on the newly identified remains. DNA was matched to living descendants: 130 families in seven countries, per the BBC. The work, which includes a forensic facial reconstruction of Young, comes as Wales' Pembroke Dock Heritage Centre prepares to open a new exhibition, marking 200 years since Erebus was launched. Several descendants, including relatives of Franklin and Young, will be on hand as unseen items from Erebus—a boot, belt buckle, bowl, plate, and ointment pot—go on display.