Arctic paleoradiology: portable radiographic examination of two frozen sailors from the Franklin expedition (1845-1848)

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Abstract
The bodies of three British sailors who died in 1846 lie buried in the permafrost of Beechey Island in the Canadian Arctic, only 900 nautical miles from the North Pole. They were members of the ill-fated Franklin expendition, which perished in an attempt to complete a Northwest Passage. In 1984 the Franklin Expedition Forensic Anthropology Project was established by coauthor Owen Beattie and his colleagues at the University of Alberta. The principal objectives of this multidisciplinary field and laboratory study were to determine the cause of death and the presence of disease in these individuals. The body of John Torrington was subjected to a limited autopsy in 1984 [1]. In 1986, we performed a more detailed study of John Hartnell and William Braine, which included a complete portable radiographic examination and formal autopsy at the graves sites. This investigation likely represents the first use of portable radiographic equipment under Arctic field conditions. Pathologic findings are discussed, but of parallel interest are the technical aspects of obtaining radiographs of diagnostic quality under adverse climatic and topographic conditions.

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