The remains of a British man who died in an accident in Antarctica 66 years ago have been discovered in a melting glacier alongside ski poles, a pipe and a watch.
Dennis “Tink” Bell fell into a crevasse in 1959 while working for the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (Fids), now the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), a few weeks after his 25th birthday. His body was not discovered until January, when a Polish team found bones near their base.
More than 200 personal effects were also found nearby, including radio equipment, a torch, ski poles, an inscribed Erguel wristwatch, a Swedish Mora knife and an ebonite pipe stem.
The human remains were shipped to the Falkland Islands before being brought to London by the RAF.
DNA testing at King’s College London identified a match with samples from Bell’s siblings. His brother David, who lives in Australia, said: “When my sister Valerie and I were notified that our brother Dennis had been found after 66 years we were shocked and amazed. The British Antarctic Survey and British Antarctic Monument Trust have been a tremendous support and together with the sensitivity of the Polish team in bringing him home have helped us come to terms with the tragic loss of our brilliant brother.”
The family are still to decide how to mark their brother’s memory.
Bell was conducting a survey and geological work in 1959 as part of a two-year assignment, alongside three other researchers who were stationed at Admiralty Bay, a small UK base on King George Island.
Ascending the Ecology glacier, Bell and a surveyor, Jeff Stokes, negotiated a crevassed area then believed that they were in the clear. But the deep soft snow made the going difficult and the dogs with them showed signs of tiredness.
To encourage them, Bell went ahead and urged them on without his skis. Suddenly, he disappeared, leaving a gaping hole in the crevasse bridge as he fell 100ft (30m).
Stokes called down to the crevasse and heard a reply. He tried to rescue Bell by lowering a rope, which the stranded man tied to his belt. But as he reached the top, the belt broke and he fell again. This time there was no reply to Stokes’s calls.
Stokes went back down the glacier and met meteorologist Ken Gibson and geologist Colin Barton coming up.
They tried to return to the crevasse but the weather deteriorated before they could get there.
Gibson said: “It was probably 12 hours before we found the site. There was no way he could have survived.”
Bell had joined Fids as a meteorologist in 1958 after working as a radio operator for the Royal Air Force. He was brought up in Harrow, north-west London.
His brother said: “Dennis was the oldest of three siblings and was my hero” because of his ability to “turn his hand to anything”.
“He built a radio from scratch, spending hours taking down morse code,” he said. “Other interests included scouting, theatre and eating. Dennis loathed organised sport, he just could not see the point. He would rather have a social drink with his family and friends with plenty of laughter.”
The director of the BAS, Prof Jane Francis, said: “The confirmation of the remains found on Ecology glacier as those of Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell is both a poignant and profound moment. Dennis was one of the many brave Fids personnel who contributed to the early science and exploration of Antarctica under extraordinarily harsh conditions.”
The chair of the British Antarctic Monument Trust, Rod Rhys Jones, said: “The discovery of Dennis Bell brings sharply into focus the cost of scientific endeavour in Antarctica in the years before improved transportation and communication. Many of those lost were never found which makes this discovery the more remarkable.”
