G'day Bob,
I saw probably the same documentary and remember the same inference about the lead in the hair and the utterly stupid behaviour. My archaeological interests had already exposed me to the excavation reports but the documentary put it into a better perspective. Pity they didn't use the song. There was also some indication that Franklin's expedition was an extremely early user of meteorological balloons and that a similar one of these was later used by someone to try and con Lady Franklin that there were survivors from her husband's expedition. The fact that the tag had "Long." & "Lat." given in that idiosyncratic order (rather than the naval "Lat. & Long.") put the kybosh on the attempted con.

Cheers, Rowan.