By Canadian Press

Pride, sorrow mix for Franklin expedition descendant after DNA match with sailor

Sep 26, 2024 | 2:03 AM

Nigel Gambier has always been proud of his ancestor, who captained one of the ill-starred ships on Sir John Franklin’s disastrous expedition in search of the Northwest Passage.

Now, after DNA analysis has identified the remains of Gambier’s predecessor and confirmed his relationship with James Fitzjames, there’s sorrow mixed in with the pride.

“He’s a kinsman and I’m very proud of him,” said Gambier, a retired furniture importer from Bury St. Edmunds, England, and Fitzjames’ paternal second cousin five times removed. “I’m sorry he met such a tough ending.”

Fitzjames was the captain of HMS Erebus, one of two ships led by Franklin that disappeared in the Arctic nearly 180 years ago. That vessel and its sister ship HMS Terror left England in 1845 with 129 men and high hopes aboard.

None returned. Graves, scattered bones, a pair of shipwrecks, ghastly tales and more than a century’s worth of lore and legend are all that remain.

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Recently, Canadian scientists concluded that DNA from a single molar among hundreds of bone fragments found on a beach on King William Island in Nunavut belonged to Fitzjames, making him only the second Franklin sailor to be so identified.

The molar was taken from a jawbone found along the cobbly shore among 451 bones from at least 13 Franklin sailors, scattered over several hundred square metres. The marks on that jawbone, indicative of cannibalism among the starving men, offer mute testimony to their desperation.

“We now have a sense of how extraordinarily tough his final days must have been,” Gambier said. “I’m just sorry that the life of such a capable man was brought to such a premature end.

“It’s good to know where his final resting place is.”

Fitzjames’ bones are now interred in a cairn on the island where he died.

The finding wasn’t exactly news to the Gambiers. The family keeps a “blue book” of its ancestry and Fitzjames has an honoured place in it.

Scientific confirmation came after Gambier was contacted by a researcher writing a biography of Fitzjames.

She told him the Canadians were trying to find contemporary descendants of Franklin’s sailors. The Gambiers got in touch, submitted a DNA sample and got the news last week.

“It’s good that there’s confirmation of that.”

The Gambiers have an eight-generation history of service with the Royal Navy dating to 1740 and Fitzjames was not the least of their sailors.

He joined the Royal Navy at the age of 12 and voyaged to Central and North America, Malta, Syria, Egypt and China before the Arctic. He was known for his bravery and rose through the ranks to the point where he was considered a candidate to lead the expedition on which he died.

“(Fitzjames) was always used to hardship and adventure,” Gambier said.

Gambier, who has heli-skied in Canada’s Bugaboo Mountains and loves to drive his 1934 Lagonda automobile, may have a little of Fitzjames’ adventurous spirit himself.

“I have a friend who’s been trying to persuade me for some time now to sail the Northwest Passage,” he said. “I certainly might attempt to go to King William Island and have a look for myself.

“It’s exactly the sort of thing I would love to do.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 26, 2024.

Bob Weber, The Canadian Press