Burials at sea

[Gulliver]

I wionder what would happen if I type in Scunthorpe in Lincolnshire.

Nothing, that is amazing.

I have typed M****illes a couple of times and that was censored.

Spellchecker/Censor says there’s only one **** in S****horpe…but I’ve sailed with at least two from there…..
No offence meant to anybody from that town.
　
It’s quite near to Grimsby,which I believe is twin-towned with The Moon (no atmosphere !).
My home town of Bewdley has so much interbreeding going on that it’s twinned with……itself!

[j.sabourn]

Rob reading your account of the babys death, brings to mind a course I did in Liverpool in the 60"s. Ship Captains Medical 3 day course. Was on Drugs, Venereal disease, and childbirth, and was run by 3 sister tutors. On the childbirth, the tutor went through the whole sequence of events on film and describing, about 3 of the class made excuses to leave the room. Apparently there was a certain drug carried on ships then used to delay the birth, I cant remember the name however. Anyhow this sister was a bit of a comedian, as she said, off the record if you find yourself in this situation my advice would be to tie the patients legs together and make for the nearest port. Her father was a seaman also, so she must have known we were not budding medical practitioners. Cheers J Sabourn.

[Captain Kong]

Rob reading your account of the babys death, brings to mind a course I did in Liverpool in the 60"s. Ship Captains Medical 3 day course. Was on Drugs, Venereal disease, and childbirth, and was run by 3 sister tutors. On the childbirth, the tutor went through the whole sequence of events on film and describing, about 3 of the class made excuses to leave the room. Apparently there was a certain drug carried on ships then used to delay the birth, I cant remember the name however. Anyhow this sister was a bit of a comedian, as she said, off the record if you find yourself in this situation my advice would be to tie the patients legs together and make for the nearest port. Her father was a seaman also, so she must have known we were not budding medical practitioners. Cheers J Sabourn.

If the pregnant lady had tied her legs together a little earlier, she would not have got pregnant.

Cheers
Brian

[Roger Dyer]

Hello Gulliver.....Re your #11.

Cruel, vaguely self-effacing, but brilliant as always. In 1998, I travelled on the Severn Valley Railway, and whilst passing through Bewdley did notice that the porter had seven fingers on his left hand, so can vouch for the veracity of your statement................cheers, Roger.

[Gulliver]

"In 1998, I travelled on the Severn Valley Railway, and whilst passing through Bewdley did notice that the porter had seven fingers on his left hand, so can vouch for the veracity of your statement ................cheers, Roger. "



Roger,I know the very chap you mean,although (to those of us 'in the know')he's more commonly known as Donald Two Dongs........

[Captain Kong]

I joined the Georgic in August 1955 with a couple of thousand £10 Poms for a trip to OZ , We sailed via Cape Town to keep the ship cooler.
The previous voyage, I think sailed to OZ in May 1955, with £10 Poms, went via the Red Sea and five young children died from the heat in the Red Sea and were buried at sea.
She was built for the Western Ocean run, then rebuilt as a troopship, and not designed for the tropics. A very hot ship. the passengers had ten to a cabin.No A/C, So these poor children who were being taken to OZ for a better life never got there.. There were no fridges to preserve them, so they went over the wall.
I believe the rest of the children were kept in the cool rooms for the Veg etc. during the day. with a few activities to keep them entertained.

I have been on a few ships where we have scattered the Ashes of dead and cremated Chief Engineers, some with disasterous results. One was scattered and the ashes went up in the air and around the ship. meanwhile the cook had a large kit of soup on his stove under the galley skylight. Some of the sailors thought the soup was a lttle crunchy, The Cook admited that there was some ash on top, he thought the engineers had blown tubes so he just stirred it up hoping no one would notice.

Another one was at Fawley. An old Chief had died and his wife came to the ship with a vicar and we made arrngments to sail to the Needles, scatter the ashes, and then bring them back.
I was Mate and told the Captain about the soup. I suggested that we keep him in the box with weights and then drop him in the oggin. Good idea said the Master.
Give the box to the engineers and get tham to fit enough bolts to sink him.
I got a phone call on the bridge, it was the second eng.The cardboard box had been placed in the Dhobi sink while they tried to fit come bolts to it, the bottom of the box fell out and the ashes were now on the bottom of the Dhobi sink. The 2nd thought if he pulled out the plug he could scrape up the ashes and fix it up with another box. He pulled out the plug and all the ashes went down the plug hole and the old Chief ended up under the jetty.
I whispered all this to the Captain, the widow and Vicar sat there waiting for us to sail.
We had to make another cardboard box of a similar size with bolts in and filled it with saw dust.
We wrapped it in a small Red Ensign and took it to the bridge.
We then sailed to the Needles got clear and slowly made a turn, and then stopped engines, we all assembled on the poop,. the Vicar said his words, and the weighted box was then dropped over the side. Problem solved.
The widow was very happy the old Chief had got what he wished for. We sailed back tto the Fawley jetty and landed them.

[John Downs]

In early December 1951,I was an Apprentice on MV British Baron when a Chief Steward who had joined us at Ellesmere Port, died on board just before we reached Gib. We received instructions form Head Office that we were to do a burial at sea, presumably this was with agreement from his near family. The Bosun was given the task of sewing the body up in canvas and given a bottle of rum to help him! I reminded the Bosun of the old Naval tradition of putting the last stitch through the nose. He also sewed some heavy metal in the canvas as well to make the corpse sink. The stitch through the nose was a custom on the old ships of Nelsons Navy to make sure that the corpse was in fact dead. After we had passed through the Gib Straights, we held a formal burial service after stopping the ship. The ships crew assembled on the maind deck and the body was placed on a wooden shute lashed to the deck railings. The other Apprentice and I were the ones elected to lift up the inboard end of the shute at the appropriate time in the Service being read out by the Ship's Master. When it was time for the actual committal, the other Apprentice and I raided our arms up as far as we could go, but nothing happened! The Master then read out the Commital again and we both raised our arms as high as we could however the corpse in its canvas shroud under the red ensign failed to move, until the Bosun, standing near by came over and gave it a shove. We then sounded 6 blasts on the siren and went on our way. Obvioulsy the event was entered into the ships log but the death was not witnessed by any Official body!
John Downs

[Jim Brady]

A bit strange but maybe a bit informative.I know a Chippie and a Bosun,they were in Lamport & Holt when a crew member died who happened tobe Chinese.I dont know if the Company had been in touch with his family but he was tobe buried at sea.Instructions were given that all apertures in the body had to be sealed,these two guys washed the body down(they were in the hostpital with a bottle of rum)stuffed cotton wool in his ears nose mouth,and yes you know where.He was wrapped in a sheet,canvass bag and committed to the sea.I believe this is to stop the soul leaving the body or somrthing of that nature.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Captain Kong]

Hi Jim,
This is normal proceedure for any one who dies.
The body is inspected for any type of injury or bruising and also any scars , tattoos, etc and noted, then the body is washed. [ in most cases I have seen, the body usually has a small crap oozing out of the rectum, and also it starts to urinate and all the muscles that hold it in when alive relax and it comes out.] Wipe away the crap away, and give it a good wash.
The rectum is then stuffed with a good plug of cotton wool well up into the rectum with forceps .
Then pass a catheter tube into the bladder and empty it completely, if this is not possible then a tight knot of ribbon or rope yarn around the root of the penis.
A plug of cotton wool is pushed right up each nostril and down into the throat to seal it.
[ When I helped out in the Undertakers next door to our flower shop, the lips were sewn on the inside or super glued together, stops the mouth from falling open.A touch of that on each eye lid to stop the eyes from opening. ]
Once each orrifice is sealed then the body can be placed either in the fridge if going ashore or then be sewn up in canvas if being buried at sea. It is supposed to be standard proceedure, but not always carried out if it is going into the sea depending who is doing it, some short cuts have been known to happen. Not a pleasant job, especialy if it is a close friend.
That is when a litre bottle of Four Bells Rum comes in handy. Difficult to do the job without it.

[happy daze john in oz]

Saw five funerals at sea while with UCL. Four passengers and one crew member. There was no where for bodies to be stowed so a burial at sea was in order. I am speaking of the perion 1961/4.
The normal procedure was for the bosun to enshroud the body, the galley gash shutes had to be locked and the burial took place about 1700 hours from the gun port door just outside the second stewards office. On most voyages there would be some one from the cloth, Catholic, Angliacn, Jewish it did not matter any one of them could be called to conduct a short service. Family members if on board would attend along with the chief officer bosun and two AB. The ship would slow to about five knots while the service was conducted then the two AB would lift the wooden plank and the body slide into the ocean.