During the stormy return voyage to Lerici, his small schooner the Ariel sank and Shelley drowned with Edward Williams on July 8, 1822. The fisheaten bodies were washed ashore at Viareggio, where, in the presence of Lord Byron and Leigh Hunt, they were burned on the beach - his heart was given to his wife, who carried it with her in a silken shroud everywhere she went for the rest of her life. Shelley was later buried in Rome. There is a rumor that an old Italian seaman confessed on his deathbed that he had been a crewmember on a boat that collided intentionally with Shelley's ship in order to steal money hidden on board. The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
Nothing beside remains.
Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, bound and bare, The lone and level sands strech far away.