Human remains found on beach in Canada may be linked to 1800s shipwreck, police say

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Human remains recently discovered on a beach in Canada may be connected to a shipwreck from the 19th century, police said this week.

The exposed remains were found on a cliff in western Prince Edward Island this past weekend, according to the Royal Mounted Canadian Police. The bones were located in West Cape on Saturday in an area where human remains have been discovered before, authorities said.

"Police are investigating, and have not ruled out that the remains could be connected to a historical shipwreck burial, " RMCP said in a statement.

The coroner's office was also called to the scene and is investigating. 

Human remains were also found in West Cape in the 1950s and 1960s, RMCP Cpl. Gavin Moore said, according to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

"Those human remains were of course a separate investigation [but] very similar to this one," Moore said. "As it was reported at that time, it was believed that it was possibly connected to a shipwreck from the 1800s."

Officials did not specify which shipwreck the human remains could potentially be from.

Local resident Rodney Wood told CBC that his father found remains in the area several times over decades.

"We didn't even know it was a burial site until they first showed up, according to my father," Wood said. "He said it was about 1950."

While visiting the area with a CBC TV crew on Tuesday, Wood spotted another apparent bone exposed on the beach, which was also reported to police.

Paul Wood, who lives just yards away from where the bones were found this week, told CBC that he expects more human remains will be discovered.

"I just think there's probably more bones to be revealed yet, as erosion occurs," he said. "I'm sure there will be more bodies discovered, I guess."

Human remains from centuries-old shipwrecks have washed up on Canada's shores before. In 2019, the BBC reported that scientists confirmed that human remains of 21 individuals that were unearthed in Gaspé, Quebec were from an 1847 shipwreck. That ship left Ireland and sank off the coast of Cap-des-Rosiers in Gaspé, killing as many as 150 people, the BBC reported.

In:
• Shipwreck
• Canada

Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith is a senior editor for CBSNews.com.