Perhaps she intended to commit suicide and thought that doing it so it looked as if she were "hopelessly lost," she and her surviving family could avoid the stigma of suicide.

They could claim, "She did not commit suicide: she just had a terrible accident."

L.W.

"Always go straight forward, and if you meet the devil, cut him in two and go between the pieces." (William Sturgis, clipper ship captain, 1830s.)