Two Filipino fishermen came across a half-submerged yacht off the coast of the Philippines, and after getting aboard the yacht, they discovered a mummified body, reported Independent daily.

It had been more than a year since anyone had heard from this yacht’s 59-year-old German skipper, Manfred Fritz Bajorat.

His identity had been established using documentation.

The Filipino fisherman found Bajorat’s body sat next to the vessel’s bank of radio transmitters. Such had been the dry, salty conditions since the unexplained death of the German sailor that his corpse had been mummified in its final position, slumped over a table used for charts with the transmitter handset just inches away.

It is believed Bajorat had died of natural causes, possibly from a heart attack, according to RIA Novosti news agency of Russia.

Police are investigating whether Manfred Fritz Bajorat may have been trying to send a mayday message at the time that he died.