Bromley, Department of the Accountant General of the Navy to Charles Hartnell, John and Thomas' younger brother, John was officially declared dead, as follows: ![]() In a letter dated May 1 st, 1854, addressed from R.M. The three graves would become important and iconic landmarks in the search for the lost Franklin Expedition. He was then buried beside John Torrington and William Braine. After his death, he was autopsied aboard the Erebus, presumably by anatomist Harry D.S. John died on Beechey Island on January 4 th, 1846 at the age of 25, being the first of the Erebus crew to die. His overall cause of death may have been a combination of tuberculosis and pneumonia. At an earlier date, he had injured an ankle, had an infection in one of his feet, sustained a shoulder injury, and had a compressed cervical vertebra in his neck. He was suffering from a zinc deficiency, of which symptoms include poor wound healing, loss of appetite, fatigue, weight loss, night blindness, and increased risk of infection. He was healthy enough to be allowed to continue the journey past the last known sighting of the Erebus and Terror off the coast of Greenland in summer of 1845.īy mid-November, John Hartnell's health was in rapid decline. On this expedition, he had his pay allotted to his mother. In the spring of 1845, Hartnell and his brother signed up for the Franklin Expedition as able seamen aboard HMS Erebus. ![]() John Hartnell was paid off on February 1st, 1845 and due to his years of service, was promoted to able-bodied seaman (AB). Lieutenant John Irving was among the officers as well. The 1841-45 journey of the Volage was commanded by Captain William Dickson and participated in assignments such as the escort of the King of Prussia to England, the transport of $800,000 to Port Royal, Jamaica, and extensive patrolling of the Irish coast. Oddly, John had his pay allotted to his younger sister, Mary Ann, rather than his mother as per tradition. By the 1841 census, he was living in the Nelson Street & East Row area of Gillingham with his widowed mother, four younger siblings, and a boarder.īy September of 1841, John Hartnell had enlisted as an Ordinary Seaman in the Royal Navy aboard the HMS Volage, a Sixth-rate sailing frigate. Prior to his career in the Royal Navy, John was apprenticed as a shoemaker. Their father died on April 23 rd, 1832 when John was twelve years old. He was the older brother of fellow Erebus seaman Thomas Hartnell Jr. John was the son of Thomas and Sarah Hartnell (née Friar), and was the oldest of six children, five of whom survived past infancy. Mary Magdalene Church in Gillingham on July 16 th, 1820. ![]() The former, apparently the remains of Lieutenant John Irving, were taken home to Edinburgh – although some scholars wonder if this correct, or whether they might be the bones of a more senior member of the crew.Įach year, the work of Parks Canada’s Underwater Archaeology team, in collaboration with Inuit, reveals something new about the expedition and the men who lived on Erebus and Terror.John Hartnell was born in Gillingham, Kent in 1820 to a family of shipwrights and sailors. ![]() The latter, once thought to be Lieutenant Henry Le Vesconte, have more recently been identified as the remains of assistant surgeon Harry Goodsir. To date, only two sets of human remains have returned to Britain – one to Edinburgh, one across the road from the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, housed in the expedition memorial in the Old Royal Naval College’s Chapel. This year’s excavations offers traces of absent bodies – a fingerprint in sealing wax (Hoar’s perhaps?), hairs on a brush from which DNA may be extracted. A diver recovers a decanter from the wreck of HMS Erebus (© Parks Canada)Īnd yet, the finds also remind us about what is lost and may never be found – the bodies of the men themselves.Īlthough human remains have been found on King William Island – and may yet be found on the ships – the chances of knowing who they were remain slim, despite advances in DNA technology.
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