A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848
ABSTRACT The ‘Franklin expedition’ of 1845 set out to establish a ‘northwest passage’ between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but ended with the deaths of all 129 crewmen in the grimmest of circumstances. The hypothesis that lead poisoning may have contributed to the disaster is examined by re-analy...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000867 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000867 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/s0032247413000867 2024-04-28T08:32:47+00:00 A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 Millar, Keith Bowman, Adrian W. Battersby, William 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000867 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000867 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms Polar Record volume 51, issue 3, page 224-238 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2014 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000867 2024-04-02T06:55:07Z ABSTRACT The ‘Franklin expedition’ of 1845 set out to establish a ‘northwest passage’ between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but ended with the deaths of all 129 crewmen in the grimmest of circumstances. The hypothesis that lead poisoning may have contributed to the disaster is examined by re-analysis of the bone-lead content of seven skeletons in order to model statistically the likely variation in lead burden across the whole crew. Comparison of the estimated lead burdens with present-day data that associates lead with cognitive and physical morbidity suggests that a proportion of the crew may have experienced few or no adverse effects whilst those with higher burdens may have suffered some significant debility. It is unclear whether such debility would have been incapacitating or exceptional for the lead-contaminated environment of nineteenth-century Britain. Whilst lead alone may not have caused the disaster, it is proposed that high levels of lead may have interacted with other factors including dietary insufficiencies and individual constitutional differences to render some, but not all, of the crew more vulnerable to debility in the final throes of the expedition. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northwest passage Polar Record Cambridge University Press Polar Record 51 3 224 238 |
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Open Polar |
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Cambridge University Press |
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crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development Millar, Keith Bowman, Adrian W. Battersby, William A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Ecology Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
ABSTRACT The ‘Franklin expedition’ of 1845 set out to establish a ‘northwest passage’ between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans but ended with the deaths of all 129 crewmen in the grimmest of circumstances. The hypothesis that lead poisoning may have contributed to the disaster is examined by re-analysis of the bone-lead content of seven skeletons in order to model statistically the likely variation in lead burden across the whole crew. Comparison of the estimated lead burdens with present-day data that associates lead with cognitive and physical morbidity suggests that a proportion of the crew may have experienced few or no adverse effects whilst those with higher burdens may have suffered some significant debility. It is unclear whether such debility would have been incapacitating or exceptional for the lead-contaminated environment of nineteenth-century Britain. Whilst lead alone may not have caused the disaster, it is proposed that high levels of lead may have interacted with other factors including dietary insufficiencies and individual constitutional differences to render some, but not all, of the crew more vulnerable to debility in the final throes of the expedition. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Millar, Keith Bowman, Adrian W. Battersby, William |
author_facet |
Millar, Keith Bowman, Adrian W. Battersby, William |
author_sort |
Millar, Keith |
title |
A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
title_short |
A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
title_full |
A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
title_fullStr |
A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
title_full_unstemmed |
A re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in Sir John Franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
title_sort |
re-analysis of the supposed role of lead poisoning in sir john franklin's last expedition, 1845–1848 |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000867 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247413000867 |
genre |
Northwest passage Polar Record |
genre_facet |
Northwest passage Polar Record |
op_source |
Polar Record volume 51, issue 3, page 224-238 ISSN 0032-2474 1475-3057 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/s0032247413000867 |
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Polar Record |
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51 |
container_issue |
3 |
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224 |
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238 |
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