Burial at sea

[igenlode]

I've been wondering what on earth Raoul is going to do with those bodies (given my earlier description of the wreck, there had to be some left on board, even if the majority of crew managed to get out on deck and were lost in the chaos that followed).
I was somewhat dismayed to learn that burial at sea is apparently specifically prohibited under current French law, and is so obscure that people actually debate over what is an appropriate term for it - apparently if someone dies on board ship, you're supposed to seal the coffin and take them back to land for disposal. (I cannot imagine why; hygiene concerns?)
However, I did find confirmation that "jadis lors", people who died on board ship were allowed to drop the bodies overboard, given the lack of preservative facilities at the time.
As for the date of this law: the actual CGCT referred to appears to date only from 1996, but presumably amalgamated previous legal requirements... Anyway, Raoul definitely doesn't have any facilities for preserving corpses, so whatever the state of the law circa 1883 he would be justified in taking emergency measures for the sake of the survivors' welfare. I was originally wondering more along the lines of what, if any, religious rites would be observed, in the absence of a priest (in "Gone With the Wind", Ashley officiates at the Catholic burial of Gerald O'Hara despite not even being Catholic...)

Edit: https://troisponts.net/2016/10/08/funerailles-dun-officier-de-marine-sous-louis-xvi/ (pre-Revolutionary)

Code Napoléon, IV.10

In case of death during a sea-voyage, an act shall be drawn up within 24 hours, in presence of two witnesses selected from the officers of the vessel, or in defect of them, from among the ship's crew. This act shall be engrossed, in manner following, on board government ships, by the officer for the adiministration of the marine, and on board vessels belonging to a merchant or privateers, by the captain, master, or commander of the vessel. The act of death shall be inserted at the end of the roll of the ship's crew.

Les marins et la mort (p9)

Alors que les craintes liées à la mer semblaient avoir reculé, la réforme post-
tridentine accroît les craintes qui entourent la perspective de la mort en mer. Tandis
que la mort devient le sujet principal de la pastorale chrétienne, que la mort et son
rituel deviennent le dernier acte social du croyant, périr en mer condamne à n’obtenir
ni le repos du corps ni celui de l’âme, sans recevoir le soutien spirituel d’un prêtre, éloi-
gné des derniers sacrements. Les familles ne peuvent accompagner leur deuil d’aucun
lieu d’inhumation ou de recueillement. Il n’est pas non plus de service funèbre pos-
sible. C’est la raison pour laquelle on pratiquait jusqu’au milieu du xxe siècle sur l’île
d’Ouessant les proëllas, cérémonies religieuses destinées à célébrer un service funèbre
symbolique pour les corps privés de sépulture que la mer n’avait pas rendus.