#david young

[pineapple-coffee]

the saddest part about the new Erebus IDs to me? the observations made about David Young’s skeletal remains

he was visibly smaller than the rest. presumably a smaller stature and less robust bones. and the saddest thing to me was that his wisdom teeth hadn’t even erupted yet. he is the only mandible found so far to not have his wisdom teeth. he was so, so young, and yet he managed to survive for years and walk all the way to Erebus Bay. most importantly, he wasn’t alone when he died :(

[callowestyouthintown]

With the new IDs combined with previous information, is anyone else starting to see evidence of a significant shakeup of the naval hierarchy in the Franklin Expedition's final year? Officers' silverware redistributed to the men, a captain of the foretop wearing a steward's uniform, Fitzjames' *jaw* filed away at with a knife, certainly eaten or at least his face stripped from its skull...

Also the bigger picture: that almost everyone they’ve identified has been from Erebus. Peglar is the FIRST positively ID’d Terror sailor. Dead facedown and alone, 130 km away from anything else, dressed in someone else's clothes and bearing a missive that says (amongst other things) "you are Peglar". Is it a reminder for a man losing his grip on himself? Or in fact a message from a captain to another camp, since that's found in the “Terror camp clear” roundel? Was he literally disguised? Did they all stop recognizing each other? Did it become unsafe to rank higher than a steward?

There are other notes in the papers in which Peglar seems to be writing about people around him in the present tense, but that's been a source of confusion, as he writes about thinking someone *might* be an officer, another maybe a marine. With only 129 people to choose from and everyone uniformed, he should have known the rank of everyone around him.

It's set me off down so many different new paths. They'd lost 9 officers and 15 men by the final victory point note in April 1848. Even if they'd been rescued at this point, it would've still been the deadliest polar expedition in history. 9 officers. That's like 35% of your total authorities. How could they have possibly maintained naval hierarchy under those conditions?

[psilocervidae]

Something very funny about the two earliest deaths in The Terror tv show (Orren and Young) being identified at the same time AND they both made it just as far as Fitzjames before dying. Sometimes you pick two random guys to die first and you pick wrong. Woops.

[wandererseas]

trespassers

[alongblank]

Identifications; 6 May 2026

A response to the DNA identification of John Bridgens, William Orren, David Young, and Harry Peglar of the Franklin expedition.

My write-up and response to the identifications of several members of the Franklin expedition is now live on my website!

I was involved in writing the biographical sections of the papers, and was the genealogist who traced the families of the sailors, and reached out to living collateral descendants to inform them of the study and invite them to participate.

[aeriann]

I cannot stop thinking about Peglar, Bridgens, Orren and Young. What a time to be alive. We have 9 confirmed identities, a possible Goodsir, a very uncertain Irving and two boats.

It's crazy to just be here with the facts we found them. We know. It was you. You can finally rest because we found you.

[adamnagaitis]

[falling-through-a-trapdoor]