Western Morning News (Saturday)
Solution comes closer in the body-on-the-beach ‘ring of mystery’ case
Has a 40-year-old maritime mystery finally been solved? Olivier Vergnault reports on the conclusions of a cold case review into the discovery of a body on a beach on the Isles of Scilly, 40 years ago
IT was a grisly mystery on a paradise island. Scilly islanders are used to flotsam and jetsam carried on powerful Atlantic currents washing up on their beaches. But when a body was found on Porth Minich Beach on the main island of St Mary’s in 1979, a major investigation swung into action.
Inquiries may finally have concluded. Investigators from a cold cases review team believe the body of the man was probably a Greek crewman on board one of two ships involved in shipping disasters in the Seventies – and now his final resting place has also been found.
Following an original appeal, which saw thousands of people around the world make use of social media to come up with information, the team at Locate International are finally hoping to put the ‘ring of mystery’ case to bed.
The man, whose identity has remained a mystery since his body was found on Porth Minick beach on St Mary’s on February 21, 1979, is known as ‘Georgio’ for the gold wedding band he wore which bore the inscription ‘Georgio and Katrina 1956’.
He is believed to have been born between the two World Wars, and was aged between 40 and 60.
A spokesman for Locate International said: “In our last appeal, we asked members of the public for their help in solving the ‘Ring of Mystery.’ The response was fantastic and we are incredibly grateful.
“We received information that the clothes worn by ‘Georgio’ when he was found may suggest he worked on a ship.
“Through undertaking further research into this line of enquiry, we have since become aware of a number of shipping disasters that occurred in the North Atlantic Ocean in the months leading up to ‘Georgio’ being found on Porth Minick beach on 21 Feb 1979.”
German researchers sifted through records of shipping disasters in the Atlantic at the time and thought that ‘Georgio’ may have been onboard MS Munchen when he lost his life. However the spokesman for Locate International
said the German vessel had now been removed from their line of inquiry.
He said: “We are now focused on the oil tanker Andros Patria (December 31, 1978) and MV Tenorga (December 28, 1978) disasters as we believe both of these ships had Greek crews, some of whom were tragically lost at sea.
“By obtaining the names of those lost at sea, we hope to find someone called ‘Georgio’. We will then conduct further enquiries with the aim of solving the ‘Ring of Mystery’.”
He said the site where the body of ‘Georgio’ was laid to rest has now been identified. He added: “We have been making extensive enquiries as to where ‘Georgio’ was buried. 40 years is a long time and way before computers were used to keep accurate details. After many hours of painstaking work, we were able to identify a plot in a graveyard in Penzance. This means that when the ‘Ring of Mystery’ is solved, family members will have somewhere to visit which was one of our priorities.”