 In those days it was customary to bury drowned seamen unceremoniously, without shroud or coffin in unconsecrated ground, with bodies remaining unburied for long periods of time.This controversy led to a local solicitor, Thomas Grylls, drafting a new law to provide drowned seamen more decent treatment.John Hearle Tremayne, Member of Parliament for Cornwall, introduced the bill which was enacted as the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808.