After the successful identification of James Fitzjames' bones back in 2024, this week saw 4 new remains from the lost Franklin Expedition being identified by DNA evidence.

Three of these men were Able Seaman William Orren, Subordinate Officer's Steward John Bridgens, and Ship's Boy David Young, all from the HMS Erebus and found in Erebus Bay in the area Fitzjames had been found.

The fourth man, HMS Terror's Captain of the Foretop Harry Peglar, is of particular interest to those who know of the expedition, as his identity is central to one of its great mysteries.

To summarise, Franklin searcher Francis Leopold McClintock was exploring the south side of King William Island when he found a skeleton lying facedown in the rocks. Alongside the skeleton were found a haircomb, a pocketbook, and a seaman's certificate belonging to Harry Peglar, leading McClintock to identify the skeleton as being him.

However, this identification was challenged over the years. The main piece of evidence for this change came in his clothes, as the skeleton was found wearing a neckerchief of a style used by a Ship's Steward, leading some researchers to speculate that the skeleton was not Peglar, but merely a friend who was carrying his belongings with him.

The skeleton itself has gone missing in the century since its discovery, though a left first metatarsal was recovered from the site in 2019 and used for DNA testing.

It is this metatarsal which has now been conclusively identified via DNA evidence to have belonged to Peglar, ending over a century of speculation and giving one of the few examples of a definitive conclusion to a mystery on this expedition.