Skeletal remains found on different beaches along the Jersey Shore belong to the captain of a 19th century ship that sank off the coast of Atlantic County, investigators announced this week.

A skull first washed ashore in Longport in 1995 and more bones were found in Margate in 1999. In 2013, additional remains were found in Ocean City.

For decades, the set of remains was dubbed Scattered Man John Doe until State Police teamed up with Ramapo College of New Jersey’s Investigative Genetic Genealogy Center to identify the person.

In early 2024, a forensics lab ran samples through a number of DNA databases and Ramapo students found family history dating to the 1600s, with relatives linked to Litchfield and Fairfield counties in Connecticut.

They also began researching shipwrecks off the co

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