Skeleton unearthed on tiny island may be 18th-century Royal Navy sailor

A skeleton that was unearthed on a tiny island is believed to be that of an 18th-century Royal Navy sailor.

The remains were laid out in best dress finery, SWNS reports, with archaeolgists also finding six buttons nearby that led them to believe the skeleton belongs to a Royal Navy sailor who perished around 1760.

According to the news service, the skeletal remains were found on the islet of Chapelle Dom Hue, which is just off of Guernsey in the English Channel.

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These skeletal remains were found on a small island in the English Channel. (SWNS)
These skeletal remains were found on a small island in the English Channel. (SWNS) (SWNS)

Archaeologist Phil de Jersey said the full skeleton, without the hands, was after an initial discovery of a tiny toe bone from the earlier excavation.

“This is a young man probably in his teens or early 20s,” de Jersey told SWNS. “He’s quite short, around 5ft 2in., and radio-carbon dating shows him to have died around 1760.”

“The buttons themselves gave us the best information from him, leather buttons that we could use for dating, and we even found a button specialist to look at them,” the archaeologist explained. “They said it fits in with the date and the idea that he was a sailor from the Royal British Navy. It even looks like the design on them is an attempt at the Union Jack flag.”