As scurvy claimed one life after another, burials at sea became commonplace. Sailors, many of them suffering from the early stages of scurvy themselves and seeing their own deaths foretold, wrapped the body in a remnant of an old, tattered sail, secured it with rope, and tied cannonballs to the feet. A priest, and on occasion the captain, uttered a brief prayer; two sailors lifted the corpse onto a plank, tilted it, and committed their crewmate’s mortal remains to the hungry sea.
