Greusome question but it needs asking!

Fred drift here ................... would such a situation warrant the use of an epirb ( a bit late no ?) ............... I think not ???
 
Quickly clip a Personal EPIRB to the body and dump it overboard....... and let somebody else recover the smelly remains and take it to port for you.

Alan.
 
When looking over a catamaran to buy, the salesman proudly showed the freezer and that if the worst happened "you could keep a body in there".

Not the best sales spiel from my wife's point of view.
 
Duct tape,binliners,lash 'sealed' body to outside of pushpit,maybe just at or below transom level to minimise smell,,make your own peace with the departed,write up log and change course to nearest port informing authorities via link call to passing ship or any other more direct form of electricery communication.
Arrive,sell boat and take up gardening
 
Danger to life, or the vessel. As you have gone from a planned 2 handed voyage to a singlehanded one, the change in manning is significant and could be regarded as compromising the safety of the vessel and remaining crewman. I doubt that one would be persued for illegally using an EPIRB under the circumstances.
 
Remove the forepeak cushions, put the body in a sleeping bag gaffer taped shut. tie down in forepeak. Shut the forepeak and tape the door shut. You could use sealent around the door to try and make it as air tight as possible. I would consider a pan pan or phoning the uk coastguard on the satphone to get in an early account of what happened. Someone with a big freezer might be close enough to retrieve the body.

When you hand back to sunsail base confirm that you're not worried about getting the cleaning deposit back.
 
Chop it up and pop it in the fridge.

The PM will show the real cause of death.

FFS make sure it's dead first though eh? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
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Chop it up and pop it in the fridge.

The PM will show the real cause of death.

FFS make sure it's dead first though eh? /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

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Sound advice.
 
FWIW, I have the dubious pleasure of knowing someone whose wife died on a two-handed transat. She died of an extreme asthma attack when he was about 300 miles off the US coastline. He called the USCG up and they sent out a vessel to take the body off and to shadow his journey back to port. They later told him that they shadowed him as much as a suicide watch as much as to ensure his safety.

The banter above is all good stuff but I'm sure that I wouild call up on the satphone and get professional help asap.
 
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stories of maggots dropping on deck after a while in the sun

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Where did the flies come from? Seriously, I've never done an Atlantic crossing, are there flies out there?
 
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Oh I really hate it when I inadvertently toe the official line
/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

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Shouldn't that be tow the official line?
 
"put the body in the dinghy at the end of my longest warp!"

Forget the dinghy, attach it with a large hook - you may be able to feed on the catch for at least a week /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Oh! and the body - Report MOB what else.
 
Re: Gruesome question but it needs asking!

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If you set out on a passage, out of vhf range, it would be shiftless in the extreme if you had no other means of communication (HF, sat-phone).

I could not disagree with you more.

Nicki
 
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...but I think that the psychological effects on a lone person could be worse...

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That is probably the crux of the matter. Wherever possible the authorities will attempt to remove a dead body from a small boat as soon as possible for that reason.

I think very few people would be able to endure sailing on with a dead body on board for any length of time and would most probably put it overboard before decomposition took hold - that is assuming they were physically strong enough to.
 
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