The skull of a man who sailed to the Canadian Arctic along with Sir John Franklin in 1845 has been identified by a team of researchers, according to a paper published last month by University of Cambridge Press.

The skull, previously known only as “Cranium 80” was about 175 years old.

Authors Douglas Stenton, Anne Keenleyside, Stephen Fratpietro and Robert W. Park, working out of a few different Canadian universities, were able to put a man, a name, a life, to Cranium 80. Now you can call also him Warrant Officer John Gregory.

This Franklin skull was found on the western shore of King William Island, near what is now known as the Nunavut community of Gjoa Haven in the Canadian Arctic in 1993. That shore is called Erebus Bay and the specific grave site Gregory was found, along with the skeletal remains of two others, is called NgLj-2.

Keenleyside began to study the skull just a year after the discovery. Since then, and with a variety of research partners, the skeletal remains of 27 Franklin men have been found on King William Island.

Now, researchers have DNA profiles for all of them.

DNA profiling in general

In 2021, the advances in DNA testing approaches and capacity have made this task easier than ever.

Stephen Fratpietro, technical manager at Lakehead University's Paleo-DNA Laboratory was responsible for processing the DNA tests and was the person who matched the Gregory skull with a living descendent in South Africa. He did this successfully by using Y-chromosome haplotyping.

First, a haplotype is, simply put, just another way of saying a 'specific DNA profile', Fratpietro says.

“A Y-chromosome haplotype is a way of grouping male members of the same paternal lineage together, since they all have the same Y-chromosome DNA or 'haplotype',” Fratpietro said.

“Different male lineages have different haplotypes. That allows us to distinguish who shares a common paternal lineage. Since Y-chromosome DNA does not change much over many generations, it can be used to establish direct relationships through the male lineage.”

What changed in the nearly 30 years since the skull was found?

Since the cranium was found in the early 90s, there were a few advancements since then on how DNA is extracted from degraded material for a higher success rate.

But there were also advancements in the production and availability of commercial Y-DNA typing kits which allows laboratories to produce Y-chromosome profiles with more ease.

Fratpietro attributes both of these advancements to his research team's success at identifying Cranium 80.

When the researchers put out an international call for any living descendants of Franklin crew members, they received responses from nearly 100 people all across the world. After the respondents drew their family tree to more directly “prove” their genealogical link, they were mailed DNA cheek swab testing kits to perform at home.

These sorts of at-home DNA test kits were only accessible in recent years.

What exactly was the DNA testing process when it comes to Cranium 80?

First, the samples get decontaminated, then the DNA is extracted, according to Fratpietro.

After that, a feasibility test was performed on the DNA extract to determine the quality of DNA available for analysis.

Then, a sex-identification test determined that the sample was male. This was then followed by a Y-chromosome analysis which produced a profile or haplotype that can be compared to other profiles or haplotypes from possible living descendants.

Other scientific challenges overcome over the years

When it comes to Cranium 80 and the other Franklin skeletal remains, the main challenge has been the level of preservation of the found samples. Out of the 129 crew members known to have sailed aboard the HMS Terror or the HMS Erebus on that historical voyage, the bones of 27 other crew members have been found and DNA profiled.

“Not all remains are well preserved so that means that not all remains have DNA that can be successfully profiled,” Fratpietro said.

“Some remains did not yield Y-chromosome DNA. Some only gave us another type of DNA called mitochondrial DNA which is maternally inherited. Some remains gave us no DNA to work with at all.”

He adds that there is also the challenge of finding living descendants who could provide a genealogical link to a Franklin member and make a good candidate for comparison.

“There is still much to learn about what happened but the fact we were able to identify one individual gives us a little hope that in the future we can identify all remains that have been found,” Fratpietro said.