The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said the bodies of British researchers who fell on an Antarctic glacier crevass 66 years ago have been recovered.
Dennis Bell, 25, disappeared into the ice on July 26, 1959, as he climbed the ecological glacier of King George Island, one of the South Shetland Islands, north of the Antarctic Peninsula. He survived the first fall – estimated at 100 feet, but attempts to save him failed and he was not seen again.
In January, a team at the Polish base on King George Island discovered that his body and hundreds of personal items were revealed among the rocks as the glacier retreated, BAS said.
The Polish team conducted a massive archaeological survey over a five-day period in February, recovering bone fragments and artificial artifacts.
The DNA samples matched Bell’s living brothers, David Bell and Valerie Kelly, who were surprised by the discovery.
“My sister Valerie and I were shocked and surprised when we were informed that our brother Dennis had been discovered 66 years later,” David Bell told BAS. He expressed his family’s gratitude to the British and Polish teams for “taking him home,” saying those found “helped us to agree to the tragic loss of our illustrious brothers.”
Bell, known by the nickname “Tink,” joined the Falkland Islands Addiction Survey (FIDS) in 1958 as a meteorologist.
“The discovery reminds us of human stories that have been closed to decades of mystery and embedded in the history of Antarctic science,” said Bass Director Dame Jane Francis.
Bell was stationed at a small British base of just half a dozen men in Admiralty Bay on King George Island.
On July 26, 1959, Bell and three other men went on a dog sleigh to climb the island’s peak glacier, carrying out research and geological work, while Bell and surveyor Jeff Stokes set off about 30 minutes before the other groups.
The snow was deep and the dogs were beginning to show signs of fatigue, so Bell moved forward to encourage them, but he was not wearing skis. Suddenly he disappeared into the ice.
According to Ice and Men’s account of Vivian Fuchs ir in Antony Nelson’s book, Stokes “was very relieved” to hear Bell’s answer.
Stokes lowered the rope into a hole almost 100 feet and told Bell to tie himself. On top of that, Fuchs said in an unfortunate attempt to attach it to the dog’s sled and lift him up.
“Bell tied the rope to the belt rather than round his body, perhaps due to the angle of lying on the crevass. When he reached the top of the lips, the belt broke and went down again,” Fuchs said.
Bell never answered his friend’s phone afterwards.
Stokes left a marker on the site and began to go down the glacier to find another team of men. 12 hours later, after the weather got worse, they finally returned to the site and decided there was no way he could be saved.
“Dennis was one of many brave FID staff who contributed to Antarctica’s early science and exploration under extremely harsh conditions,” said BAS Director Francis.
“Even though he was lost in 1959, his memory continued to live in the legacy of polar studies with his colleagues.”
After being recovered by a Polish team, his body was handed over to the coroner of the British Antarctic Territories and taken to the Falkland Islands, a bus research vessel of Isle David Attenborough, which was transported to London.
