A MAN is looking to find the long-lost descendants of a smuggler who died almost 200 years ago after being shot in Weymouth Bay.

William Lewis was shot on April 21 1822 by a bullet from the Royal Navy’s Pygmy schooner and was later buried at Wyke Regis Church.

Roger Gill, who lived in Weymouth as a child, used to pass the gravestone every day but is now looking to track possible descendants of the smuggler and preserve a piece of Weymouth history.

Dr Gill said: “That headstone was beautifully intact a hundred years ago. Fifty years ago it was still easily readable, but the last few decades of exposure to acidified rain and the fumes of all too nearby traffic have etched away much of what was left.

"The churchyard was closed to new interments in Victorian times and responsibility for maintenance has been passed to the local authority. The national policy for such a graveyard is managed decline.

“What is left of the headstone itself cannot be removed or replaced but in order to to take the matter forward it would be useful to know if anyone is aware of living descendants of what happened to his family.”

Dr Gill will be at Wyke Regis graveyard tomorrow, Thursday April 21, at 2.30pm to see what remains of the headstone and meet with anyone who may have information about the smuggler and his family.