In the hands of modern writers this combination of vague ancient reports and modern guesswork has sometimes evolved into a much more emphatic and colourful tale. Some writers have Hippasus making his discovery while on board a ship, as a result of which his Pythagorean shipmates toss him overboard; while one writer even has Pythagoras himself "to his eternal shame" sentencing Hippasus to death by drowning, for showing "that is an irrational number."