A curious corpse

Francesco Caracciolo- the buoyant.

Immersed in Robert Southey's all-encompassing "The Life of Horatio Lord Nelson" through Audible, I stumbled upon a rather eerie tale - the true story of the lifeless body of Admiral Francesco Caracciolo, an Italian revolutionary. Who once condemned to death, was hanged at the yard-arm of the Minerva and thrown into the sea at sundown. Miraculously, it was later spotted defying the depths of the sea, supposedly swimming towards the shore. The rising hysteria among superstitious locals led Nelson to personally investigate this spectral swimmer. 

"Nelson, to please the king, stood out to sea; but the ship had not proceeded far before a body was distinctly seen, upright in the water, and approaching them. It was soon recognized to be, indeed, the corpse of Caracciolo, which had risen and floated, while the great weights attached to the legs kept the body in a position like that of a living man. A fact so extraordinary astonished the king, and perhaps excited some feeling of superstitious fear akin to regret. He gave permission for the body to be taken on shore and receive Christian burial."