ABSTRACT
The coast off the southeastern tip of Ireland has been, over the years, the site of many ‘finds’ involving human remains in various stages of decomposition and disarticulation. There are a number of reasons for this, including the direction of the current and the convergence of two seas, the Irish Sea and the Celtic Sea, via the St. George’s Channel. There is a huge volume of shipping traffic, both commercial and passenger, and the area is well known as a graveyard for shipwrecks over the centuries. The area is also heavily fished by commercial trawlers, who themselves have been the victims of many a wreck. The most popular method of fishing is beam trawling, which involves the use of heavy gear trawling the sea floor, and this results in frequent finds by fishermen of remains: In the majority of cases, the finds are quickly excluded as animal in origin; however, on a number of occasions, human remains are recovered.
