The death of Franklin's party is generally attributed to a combination of causes including; hypothermia, exposure, starvation, scurvy, tuberculosis, zinc deficiency and lead poisoning - possibly caused either by the ships' water supplies or their tinned food in badly soldered tins.

Taichman and colleagues now believe that tuberculosis resulting in adrenal insufficiency, or Addison's disease, also contributed to the demise of the crew. Their findings were published in the journal Arctic in 2017.