the coffin life-buoy shot lengthwise from the sea, fell over, and floated by my side. Buoyed up by that coffin, for almost one whole day and night, I floated on a soft and dirgelike main.
From Victor Hugo's "Les Misérables" (1862):
"To embark on death is sometimes the way to avoid foundering. And the coffin lid becomes a life-saver."
