Not sure if an aerial map has been posted yet of the area where he was found, but here is a map showing the beach near the intersection of Seawall and 7th (red balloon) where the article upthread (p.1) said he was found. You can google "694 Seawall Blvd, Galveston, TX" to see it on the map for yourself. There are off-road tracks leading to what used to be a home on the beach but which is now just a foundation alongside a neighbor's foundation. (This is a 2017 Google map, and Bing maps shows a home formerly there alongside a neighbor's foundation). The closest business is just a minute's walk up the road at 619 Seawall (a beachwear store).
Given the relatively good condition of his body, and that LE
said he'd only been dead 1-2 hours (upthread article), I wonder if he was somehow just deposited on the beach or in shallow waters there. Even though it'd be late afternoon, the beach is in a relatively unpopulated area looking at the map and appears to be obscured from the road by the elevation that used to have homes on it. There is also a sandy breach in the fence line there that people can be seen walking over on these maps (and it's in line with the intersection of Seawall and 7th street).
It sounds like a stretch, but for him to have gone overboard (dying before or after) from a ship and then be washed up on that beach in less than 2 hours seems like a stretch as well. Surely authorities would know if a passenger ship had lost a passenger by now, especially ones traveling by during that tight timeframe. Also, the article upthread about strong currents and riptides at either end of Galveston Island seems to imply that these are currents that would sweep swimmers (or bodies) *away* from the beach, not onto it. (I was once caught in a riptide; despite my attempts to swim to shore it carried me away from it.)
So if he went overboard at all, I'm thinking it was more likely from a private craft and fairly close in. (While these are apparently rough waters, it might still be less risky for a killer than simply walking onto the beach with a body to deposit).
It's a puzzle, can't be sure, yet...just musing.