Nigel Gambier, the living descendant whose DNA was used in the comparison, was identified as a paternal second cousin five times removed from Fitzjames. This level of relationship — expressed in the genealogical language of cousin degrees and removal counts — describes a specific position in the family tree. A second cousin five times removed shares a common great-great-grandparent with one’s second cousin but belongs to a generation five steps further removed, reflecting the considerable time span between Fitzjames’s generation and the present. At this level of relationship, the shared Y-chromosome profile is expected to be very close to identical if both individuals trace their paternal line back to the same ancestor without an intervening female ancestor — which is true for Y-chromosome transmission.
After Tetteroo identified Nigel Gambier as an eligible comparison subject, he provided a DNA sample. The researchers are reported to have contacted the descendants of Fitzjames more broadly, with the response described as that they were “excited and really intrigued.” The identification appears to have been welcomed by the living people who learned that their distant ancestor’s remains had been found and identified. Those descendants have not spoken publicly about the identification, according to the coverage available at the time of the September 2024 announcement.
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## The Franklin Expedition in the Context of Victorian Exploration
The Franklin expedition occupied a specific position in the history of Victorian-era exploration that explains both why it was attempted and why its disappearance produced such a prolonged and culturally resonant response.
The Northwest Passage — the sea route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Canadian Arctic — had been a goal of European exploration for three centuries by the time Franklin’s ships sailed in 1845. The commercial and strategic logic behind the goal was straightforward: a navigable Arctic sea route would dramatically shorten the distance between Europe and Asia, eliminating the need to sail around either the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn. The geographical logic was equally straightforward: the maps available by the mid-nineteenth century had filled in enough of the Arctic coastline to make clear that the passage, if navigable, would run through a series of channels and straits between the islands of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.