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![]() After toxicology analysis showed heightened levels of lead in Torrington's hair and fingernails, the team concluded Torrington had died from pneumonia, after suffering from various lung problems, which were aggravated by the lead poisoning. The lungs showed scarring from earlier bouts with tuberculosis as well as signs of more recent pneumonia. His brain was almost completely gone, leaving only a "yellow granular liquid". Tissue samples revealed that Torrington's body had probably been stored on board ship while his grave was being dug in almost all areas, significant cell autolysis had occurred, and cell definition was very poor. After conducting a thorough autopsy and taking some tissue samples, the team left to analyse what they had discovered. They found that Torrington had been very sick at the time of his death-he was so thin all his ribs were visible, and he only weighed about 38.5 kilograms (85 lb), at a height of 162.6 cm (5 ft 4 in). Once thawed, they undressed the body to examine it. In order to thaw the body, the team poured water on the ice, to slowly melt it away and therefore not cause any damage to the body. When the coffin was opened they saw how well preserved the outer parts of Torrington's body were, apparently not much different from the day he was buried. ![]() Torrington's coffin was 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) deep in the permafrost, which the team had to dig through. Death and autopsy īeattie and his team began their work on 17 August 1984. In the 1980s, anthropologist Owen Beattie exhumed and autopsied the bodies to try to solve the mystery. In 1976, the graves were rediscovered on Beechey Island, Nunavut, Canada and the headboards (presumed to be the originals) were transferred to the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife. Torrington had apparently died about seven months into the expedition, which led to further questions as to why crew members had died so early in the expedition. The graves contained the remains of Torrington, William Braine and John Hartnell. Many search parties were sent to look for the missing crew, but nothing significant was discovered until 1850, when the ruins of a stone hut, some food cans, and three graves were found. She received this pay for years after he died, as the crew's fate went unknown. During the expedition, half of his monthly pay (2 pounds and 16 shillings) went to his stepmother Mary, who collected it from the Manchester Excise Office. However, after late July no Europeans heard from or saw the crew again. The trip was expected to last about three years, so the ships were packed with provisions which included more than 136,000 pounds of flour, 3,684 gallons of high-proof alcohol and 33,000 pounds of tinned meat, soup and vegetables. They set off from Greenhithe, England in two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, on. Torrington was a part of Sir John Franklin's final expedition to find the Northwest Passage, a sea route to Asia, via the northern edge of North America. ![]() In May 1845, at age 19, he joined the Franklin expedition and was assigned to HMS Terror as leading stoker. John Torrington was born in Manchester, England in 1825. Photographs of his mummified remains were widely published and inspired music and literature. His remains are among the best preserved example of a corpse since the ancient Tollund Man which was found in the 1950s. His body was exhumed by forensic anthropologist Owen Beattie in 1984, to try to determine the cause of death. He was the first fatality of the expedition, of which all personnel ultimately died, mostly in and around King William Island. He was part of the 1845 Franklin Expedition to chart unexplored areas of what is now Nunavut, Canada, find the Northwest Passage, and make scientific observations. John Shaw Torrington (1825 – 1 January 1846) was a Royal Navy stoker.
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