Remains of shipwrecked sailor found in Cornwall to be buried 

The remains were exposed by a storm in November 2022. Credit: Cornwall Council

The remains of an 18th-century shipwrecked sailor are set to be buried in Cornwall. 

The remains were exposed by a storm and spotted on a coastal footpath near Trevone, overlooking Newtrain Bay, near Padstow, by a member of the public in November 2022. 

Detectives and forensic officers attended the scene and determined the remains were historic and therefore the area was not considered a crime scene. 

Following careful analysis of the bones by the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, it was concluded that the remains may have belonged to a shipwrecked sailor and could date back more than 200 years.

Analysis of the remains has revealed: 

  • They were somewhere between 25-40 at the time of death

  • They had done a lot of very heavy manual labour, like pulling and hauling

  • Wear to the teeth may also be consistent with a sailing lifestyle as there is a suggestion of repeated holding of cord/rope in their mouth

  • They also had a probable healed soft tissue injury to their left shoulder and a possible healed injury to the nasal region, suggesting a broken nose

  • There is evidence of an active or healing infection indicative of sinusitis at time of death

  • They had been buried in a tightly wrapped shroud

  • The body had been lost below the knees, probably from the building of the adjacent Cornish Hedge

Radiocarbon dating indicated that the remains most likely date from the 18th century. Credit: Cornwall Council

Speaking at the time of the discovery, Ann Reynolds, senior officer for the Rural Historic Environment at Cornwall Council, said: “Initial investigation has shown that the remains were of an adult, cut off just above the knees, potentially by the construction of an adjacent hedge.

"There was an awful lot of wear on his teeth that would come from holding rope and cord, and of course, a mariner of the day would be doing a lot of rope work and using his teeth as a third hand. So that gives us pretty good assurance that [he was] indeed a mariner."

They are set to be laid to rest as Padstow Town Council has agreed to bury the remains in the town's cemetery in Spring 2025 - complete with a specially commissioned headstone.

Councillor Martyn Alvey, portfolio holder for Environment and Climate Change at Cornwall Council, said: “I am really pleased that we will be able to give this individual a proper burial and lay him to rest.

"In Cornwall we are all too familiar with tragedies off our coast and this is an opportunity for us to show our respects to all those lost at sea.”

Chairman of Padstow Town Council Councillor O’Keefe said: “This individual was sadly a life lost at sea, whilst unknown he lived and for that, we pay our respects.

"Padstow Cemetery has a sad history as the final resting place of a number of unknown men and women from the early 1900s, two of whom we know were also sailors.”

The plot will also be reused in the future for other storm-washed remains, the council said.

The money for the headstone will be raised from local events and donations. Any additional funds will be donated to the RNLI.