Would a lead lined coffin float?

G

Gordon Booth

Nori Brick
Tackler
I only start a new thread on this in the hope that some younger(or older) brain more agile than mine will see it and check it out.
I loved the story(Heritage and History,John Kelly's album,post 193) about the coffin which floated its occupant 3,500 miles home.Tealeaf didn't think a leadlined coffin would float, I wasn't sure.So-
6ft man, say 10 stone=140 lb(he'd been ill)
Coffin 7ftx2ft 6"x1ft 6"(to leave room for his pillow, shoes and some breathing space!)
Coffin volume=26.25cu ft. If it just floated it would displace this amount of water,which weighs 1641lb(62.5lb/cu ft,salt water would weigh more!).
Lead lining for coffin requires 63.5 sq/ft of lead,1/16 inch thick=0.34 cu/ft lead.SG of lead =11.35 so lead weighs 240lb.
Man+lead= 380lb(ignore wood coffin,it floats anyway).
Water displaced can be up to 1641lb so the coffin would EASILY float and the soldered seams on the lead would make it watertight.
Three questions-1.Am I right?
2. Does anyone care?
3.Am I a boring old fart who should go back to sleep?
I hope I'm right, I love the story. Any more,Busman747?
 
Yep your correct, got a similar answer , remeber being taught this stuff (floatation and displacement) as a second or third year apprentice by Bill Cain (think he came from Ossy) up at the Sandy Lane tech in the 60s.

If you were really a boring old fart , you would also have told us the depth at which the coffin would have floated at (amount above and below the waterline ) ;)
 
Is that 3 yes's to my questions? I didn't really want a TOTALLY honest answer!
380 lb displaces 6.08cu ft water-i.e a quarter of the coffin volume.So the coffin floats with 4.2" in the water,1ft 1.8" out. It hardly gets wet-I'm surprised.
You're right, 3 yes's to my questions.
 
I imagine the porosity of the wood and any brass ornamentation would come into the equation, cant see it having a major effect on the outcome tho...3 by the way :)
 
Yeah all this clever talk.. but I'd like to know if I shoved Bagpuss in a lead coffin would it sink?.. or a even in a black bin liner?
 
Gordon Booth said:
Is that 3 yes's to my questions? I didn't really want a TOTALLY honest answer!
380 lb displaces 6.08cu ft water-i.e a quarter of the coffin volume.So the coffin floats with 4.2" in the water,1ft 1.8" out. It hardly gets wet-I'm surprised.
You're right, 3 yes's to my questions.
Click to expand...
Great Gordon - or will be when I find he Aspirin;):D
 
Gordon Booth said:
6ft man, say 10 stone=140 lb(he'd been ill)
Coffin 7ftx2ft 6"x1ft 6"(to leave room for his pillow, shoes and some breathing space!)
Click to expand...
Another question for you Gordon er whats the point in leaving breathing space in a lead lined coffin?:confused::D
 
steeljack said:
Yep your correct, got a similar answer , remember being taught this stuff (floatation and displacement) as a second or third year apprentice by Bill Cain (think he came from Ossy) up at the Sandy Lane tech in the 60s.

If you were really a boring old fart , you would also have told us the depth at which the coffin would have floated at (amount above and below the waterline ) ;)
Click to expand...
Bill Cain certainly did come from Ossy, lived on Fielding Lane, his Daughter Barbara was a friend of mine, sadly he died about 2 years ago
 
mick said:
Another question for you Gordon er whats the point in leaving breathing space in a lead lined coffin?:confused::D
Click to expand...
1. They might have got it wrong,if he came round it would give him time to shout.
2. It helped my calculations by giving me more volume! Why should't I tweek it a little, politicians do it all the time?
I thought it was a kind thought, would you like to be squeezed in a small box, just because you're dead?
 
My apologies, Gordon in getting you to do this simple mathematical exercise. The problem was that I read the original exert and made the assumption that because the coffin would have been bashed around as it's granite mausoleum was destroyed it would no longer have been waterproof; in fact, I have made the assumption throughout that no coffin is 100% waterproof whatever the circumstances.

I accept that a partially lead lined coffin may well be capable of floating in the short term (depending upon volume displacement) but there is also a secondary problem arising from the effect of seawater salinity on lead - but anyway, I won't go into that now.

I really don't know 'owt about the techniques and procedures in lining a coffin with lead; I assume the objective is to slow the decomposition of the body, in which case it makes far more sense to wrap the corpse itself in lead sheeting rather than line the coffin itself and then solder the surrounds.

I’ve attached a little sketch comprising 2 end views, feet up from a body in a coffin, one with the body wrapped in lead sheet and the second one with the coffin lined with lead, soldered and with a lead lid as well – I just can’t see how the coffin can be waterproof and as such will, after time, invariably sink.
 

Attachments

  • lead coffin.jpg
    lead coffin.jpg
    429.9 KB · Views: 16
It might but i would recommend a boat of some description for sailing or floating anywhere, everytime.:D Vikings used them in death and life so good enough for them good enough for anyone:D
 
Tealeaf said:
My apologies, Gordon in getting you to do this simple mathematical exercise. The problem was that I read the original exert and made the assumption that because the coffin would have been bashed around as it's granite mausoleum was destroyed it would no longer have been waterproof; in fact, I have made the assumption throughout that no coffin is 100% waterproof whatever the circumstances.

I accept that a partially lead lined coffin may well be capable of floating in the short term (depending upon volume displacement) but there is also a secondary problem arising from the effect of seawater salinity on lead - but anyway, I won't go into that now.

I really don't know 'owt about the techniques and procedures in lining a coffin with lead; I assume the objective is to slow the decomposition of the body, in which case it makes far more sense to wrap the corpse itself in lead sheeting rather than line the coffin itself and then solder the surrounds.

I’ve attached a little sketch comprising 2 end views, feet up from a body in a coffin, one with the body wrapped in lead sheet and the second one with the coffin lined with lead, soldered and with a lead lid as well – I just can’t see how the coffin can be waterproof and as such will, after time, invariably sink.
Click to expand...
Is that less in those coffins?:D
 
If the coffin was actually air-tight, the body would surely become much, much lighter and the longer it decays and the various gasses given off from the corpse may have more boyancy than the original air that was in the coffin at the time of sealing the lid on..........?:confused:
 
Busman747 said:
If the coffin was actually air-tight, the body would surely become much, much lighter and the longer it decays and the various gasses given off from the corpse may have more boyancy than the original air that was in the coffin at the time of sealing the lid on..........?:confused:
Click to expand...

Think the whole idea of having a sealed lead coffin is to prevent decay , seem to remember reading something during the last swine flu 'epidemic' that the scientific boffins wanted to open a lead lined coffin from the 1918 flu epidemic that killed millions to check the DNA of the chap inside (who was listed as having died from the flu) to see if it was the same/similar virus
 
Very hypothetical, Busman. You could also argue that if various gases were given off then the internal pressure would have been such so as to explode the coffin. Is there anyone here who does have knowledge of the rates of various gas discharges from a decomposing male body?
 
steeljack said:
Think the whole idea of having a sealed lead coffin is to prevent decay , seem to remember reading something during the last swine flu 'epidemic' that the scientific boffins wanted to open a lead lined coffin from the 1918 flu epidemic that killed millions to check the DNA of the chap inside (who was listed as having died from the flu) to see if it was the same/similar virus
Click to expand...

There is a guy in Church Kirk graveyard who is a defo on the 1918/19 Spanish Flu outbreak; however, I'm pretty sure he's never been dug up. I think the characters you are referring to are soldiers who died in the White Russian war of 1919 and were buried in permafrost up by Archangel. But I dunno if they were in a lead coffin or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top