In the 1790, British naval officer Francis Beaufort nearly drowned and reported experiencing a life review.
In 1847, a letter by Beaufort recalling the incident was published in the autobiography of Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet.
The course of those thoughts I can even now in a great measure retrace... our last cruise – a former voyage, and shipwreck – my school – the progress I had made there, and the time I misspent – and even all my boyish pursuits and adventures.
Thus travelling backwards, every past incident of my life seemed to glance across my recollection in retrograde succession; not, however, in mere outline, as here stated, but the picture filled up with every minute and collateral feature.
In short, the whole period of my existence seemed to be placed before me in a kind of panoramic review, and each act of it seemed to be accompanied by some reflection on its cause, or its consequences; indeed, many trifling events which had been long forgotten then crowded into my imagination, and with the character of recent familiarity.