Skeletal remains that washed up on several South Jersey beaches starting in 1995 have been identified as a 19th-century ship captain who was commanding a schooner bound for Philadelphia at the time of his death, bringing an end to a three-decade mystery.

According to the paper’s account, the ship left Bridgeport, Connecticut for Philadelphia with around 60 tons of marble intended for Girard College. While cautioning that it was “possible that the crew had taken off, and that the vessel had been abandoned. Four days later, however, newspapers across the northeast confirmed the worst case outcome.

A group of New Jersey college students helped identify skeletal remains that began washing ashore at a series of local beaches 30 years ago.