[annieokie]

How does the Navy do this, anyone know? I had always thought they just bound them and slid them in.

Interesting.

[Domangart]

They add a shell.

[naturalman1975]

In a wartime burial at sea, the body is sewn into sackcloth along with heavy weights (normally scrap metal of some sort). Back when sailors still slept in hammocks, they were often sewn into their hammock.

Most wartime burials at sea occur a long way from land in very deep water.

[USNBandit]

In the good old days you were sewn up in your hammock with two good sized round shot at your feet. Arrgghh.

[Thrownatbirth]

How does the Navy do this, anyone know?

I remember it requires an honor guard stationed on the fantail, possibly to fire a few rounds into the casket if it becomes a floater.

[stuartcr]

Maybe 100yrs ago. You don’t really think they still do that, do you?

[JimRed]

It probably hasn’t been done in a long time, but they used to sew them into a weighted canvas body bag, and the lack of embalming allowed decomposition to occur naturally. By the time the bag degraded the corpse was in no condition to float.

The corpse in question was probably embalmed.