Burial at sea

[John Wallace]

Hi! all can any one help please ?.
While at sea and you have a Burial, is the spot recorded on a chart. And kept on record i hope some on could help thanks.

[Doc Vernon]

Hello JW
As far as i know , all Burials at sea, have to be recorder by the Captain of the Ship, thus there should be a place Recorded. These Records are then at the time the Ship Docks sent to Registry of Deaths at Sea, of which i am not sure where ?
So in all i would say Yes! There should be Records with Locations
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

A ships position on an ocean passage is always recorded at noon , be it a sun sight or if not a sun sight then an estimated position or a dead reckoning position . Whenever possible any ship in the era you are talking about will enter the ships position on the chart in use and record it in the deck log book . The engine room log book will also record the ships position at noon in line with the ships position from the bridge.The official log has a designated place for Births deaths and marriages and any burials at sea will have at least the estimated position of where the actual service took place. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the word marriage means the Captain can marry you , he acts as the Registrar by entering it in the official log book , unless of course he is a licenced marriage celebrant . Today with modern aids such as satellite navigators one has a continuous position of the vessel. JS.
PS A common name for Births ,Deaths , and Marriages was known as Hatch, Match and Dispatch. JS

[James Curry]

I would think burial at sea would only take place as a last resort. During my time on three occassions we had a death at sea. Both bodies were put in a chilled fridge room and on arrival in port the corpse was landed. Sadly one of those deaths was a young first trip cadet. He died of a heat exhaustion related health problem. We were at anchor in the Gulf awaiting orders. It was Ausgust and the Air Con was not working. He had only been onboard 2 days. The master advised the company NOT to send the cadets out as we were more or less all sleeping on deck. Company ignored the masters request. When this kid died and the office were informed well run for the hills is what appeared to happen. They tried to blame the ship, why was the air con not working? The Chief Engineer sent the order request asking for spares to be sent to the vessel. He sent as well the reply from the Engineering Superintendent clearly showing the redline through the spares order which was dated 3 months before this happened. Guess what spares arrived within 48 hours and the Air Con was working within 12 hours of there arrival.
Anyway the body was landed in Jubial. It was over 3 months before the young mans body was repatriated. Shall we say the Saudis had not treated the body with any respect.
Another occassion was the Master died what appeared to be a heart attack. We were on passage to Hong Kong he was landed there.
Another was a suicide and he was landed in Gibraltar.
I would imagine there would be several deaths a year in the Cruise ships. On modern cruise ships would they have a dedicated mortuary?

[John Arton]

My father died when his ship was departing Durban. He was buried at sea and I have photos of his burial and the position of the burial.
Rgds
J.A

[Julian Norman]

I took part in a burial at sea in the Channel while on the ACT3. A company cadet had died in a car crash and his family came on board for the burial together with priest. Our Chippy built a platform on the stern for the coffin. As fellow Cadets we were delegated to tip the coffin over the stern at the appropriate time. Unfortunately the lead lined coffins weight was more than a couple of cadets could handle and a several others were required.
Not a pleasant occasion and something that seemed to be foisted on the ship without much prior discussion. Our Captain refused to have anything to do with it and withdrew to the bridge.

[Doc Vernon]

My father died when his ship was departing Durban. He was buried at sea and I have photos of his burial and the position of the burial.
Rgds
J.A

Hi JA
Was that per chance on the Australia Star ?
Just asking
Cheers

[j.sabourn]

Further to my #3 I should have said re engineers it is entered in the Ch. Engineers fair copy of engine room log. Noon to noon is where the official distance steamed in a day average speed , general average speed ,total distance steamed , distance to go. Propellor slip , adverse and estimated current experienced, bunkers used and any stoppages etc. the ship would be stopped for a burial which would also be logged . It doesn’t take an Einstein to calculate the Estimated position. Cheers JS.

[happy daze john in oz]

On voyages with UCL I think there were about 10 in my time with them.
All were carried out from the gun port door on the second stewards flat at 1700 hours.
If no member of the clergy on board the Chief officer spoke the words of burial.

But not all goes well at times.

The galley gash chutes were supposed to be locked at the time of burial.
On one occasion some one forgot.
The galley boy turned to at 1700 hours and did what he always did then, emptied the gash chutes,
The chute was about one or two seconds from the gun port door, just enough time for the body going over the side to land in the middle of floating gash.

Of course there was a reli there as well, not impressed.

[John Arton]

Hi JA
Was that per chance on the Australia Star ?
Just asking
Cheers

Yes, it was the Australia star, it was reported in the Durban papers at the time and one of the officers on board sent me some pictures of the ceremony.
Rgds
J.A