The ship swung to her moorings, and the light from the port, diffused and golden, swung across the gloom, reaching to the girl. Poor child, even in life she had never belonged down there in that dreadful place, among that crowd of older women who huddled from her, suspicious, almost animal-like, watching not her but us. She should never have been in that frightful travelling prison, delivering her to a harem in Zanzibar, to a husband she had never seen, in an island far from her home.

The body needs to be properly prepared for burial at sea. It is appropriate for the body to be sewn into a shroud made of a very strong, biodegradable material that does not contain plastic fibres or has been chemically treated (e.g., Calico). The shroud should be  adequately weighted (all plastics must be removed) to ensure rapid descent and permanent submersion of the body and include slits or openings to minimise flotation.