On July 26, 1959, Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell, a 25 year-old British adventurer, set off on a survey expedition off the Antarctic Peninsula.
The Londoner, a radio operator and meteorologist, was conducting survey work with a colleague at Ecology Glacier, a remote icy wilderness flowing into Admiralty Bay.
But disaster struck when Dennis suddenly plummeted around 100ft through the ice and snow, and efforts to pull him up tragically proved fruitless.
For more than 65 years after the disaster, Mr Bell’s body was sadly unaccounted for – but following a new expedition in the area, the brave researcher can now be put to rest.
Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have announced the discovery of Dennis’ remains and personal items – among rocks exposed by the now-receding glacier.
His brother David, now living in Australia, said he and his sister Valerie are ‘shocked and amazed’ following the discovery.
‘Dennis was the oldest of three siblings and was my hero as he seemed to be able to turn his hand to anything, servicing petrol engines, photography including processing his own films,’ David said. ‘He built a radio from scratch, spending hours taking down morse code.’
‘Bringing him home has helped us come to terms with the tragic loss of our brilliant brother.’
Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell (far right) during Christmas celebrations at Admiralty Bay Station in 1958. Around seven months later Mr Bell was sadly lost
The adventurer’s remains were discovered on the Ecology Glacier on 19 January 2025. Pictured, a recent photo of Ecology Glacier in summer
Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell was brought up in Harrow, northwest London, before getting a job as a meteorologist at the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS), the predecessor of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
Keen for adventure, he was stationed for a two-year assignment at Admiralty Bay, a small UK base with half a dozen men, on King George Island off the northern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Dennis was known on base for his humour and larger than life character, his love of theatre and eating, and for being an excellent, if messy, chef.
Russel Thomson, a colleague and friend who was on base with him, described his practical jokes and spoke of his ‘tremendous, tremendous character’.
That fateful Sunday, Dennis and his colleague Jeff Stokes ascended Ecology Glacier with sledges pulled by husky dogs, which were showing signs of tiredness.
To encourage them, Dennis went ahead to urge them on without his skis, and suddenly disappeared, leaving a gaping hole through which he had fallen.
Sir Vivian Fuchs, a previous director of BAS, describes the harrowing story of Bell’s death in his book ‘Of Ice and Men’ published in 1982.
He wrote: ‘Peering into the depths, Stokes called repeatedly and was greatly relieved to be answered. Lowering a rope almost a hundred feet, he told Bell to tie himself on.
Dennis died in a crevasse on a glacier at Admiralty Bay on King George Island, situated off the Antarctic Peninsula – the part of the continent that sticks out like a tail
Dennis Bell (left) with husky dogs, which accompanied explorers in the Antarctic during these expeditions and of whom he was very fond
In a humourous posed photo, ‘Tink’ and surveyor Jeff Stokes re-enact the 1950’s advert ‘Go-Shell’
Dennis Bell (left) and Jeff Stokes (right) photographed before the accident. Sadly, Jeff Stokes died five weeks ago before hearing the news that Dennis’s remains had been found
Pictured, the main hut of Admiralty Bay Station where Dennis ‘Tink’ Bell lived and worked (photo taken in 1951)
‘The dogs took the strain and began to pull. Now it was easy and everything was going well. But Bell had tied the rope through his belt instead of round his body, perhaps because of the angle at which he lay.’
Sir Vivian Fuchs continued: ‘As he reached the top his body jammed against the lip, the belt broke, and down he went again. This time there was no reply to Stoke’s calls.
‘It was a particularly tragic fatality which one really felt should never have happened, and thus doubly grievous.’
Glaciers are always moving slowly, even though this can’t usually be seen. The movement causes stress, which in turn causes cracking, making them potentially unstable.
Unfortunately, the efforts of Stokes and two other men to reach Bell, risking their own lives in ‘terrible conditions’ to do so were unsuccessful, and his remains were never found – until this year.
In January 2025, a team of researchers from the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station on King George Island happened to be surveying the area of Admiralty Bay where Dennis went missing.
They found bones in the ice and rocks, which were carried to the Falkland Islands on the BAS Royal Research Ship Sir David Attenborough and returned to London.
The human remains were then sent for DNA testing by Denise Syndercombe Court, a professor in forensic genetics at King’s College London.
Pictured, rocks at front of Ecology Glacier. Glaciers are always moving slowly, even though this can’t usually be seen. The movement causes stress, which in turn causes cracking – making them potentially unstable
The Polish research station Henryk Arctowski in Admiralty Bay on King George Island, South Shetland Islands off the coast of Antarctica
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She confirmed a match with DNA samples from his brother David Bell and his sister Valerie Kelly – which are ‘more than one billion times’ more likely to be related than not.
More than 200 personal items were also found, including the remains of radio equipment, a flashlight, ski poles, an inscribed Erguel wristwatch, a Swedish Mora knife, ski poles and an ebonite pipe stem, which BAS are confident were all Dennis’s.
Sadly, Jeff Stokes, who was with ‘Tink’ at the time of his death, died five weeks ago before hearing the news that Dennis’s remains had been found.
However, his brother David will soon visit England where he and his sister will finally put Dennis to rest, he told the BBC.
He said: ‘It’s wonderful; I’m going to meet my brother. You might say we shouldn’t be thrilled, but we are. He’s been found – he’s come home now.’
Professor Dame Jane Francis, director of BAS, said Dennis was one of the many brave FIDS personnel who contributed to the early exploration of Antarctica.
‘Even though he was lost in 1959, his memory lived on among colleagues and in the legacy of polar research,’ she said.
‘This discovery brings closure to a decades-long mystery and reminds us of the human stories embedded in the history of Antarctic science.’