Burial at sea

Burial at Sea for two victims of a Japanese submarine attack on the US aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay, November 1943

Burial at sea describes the procedure of disposing of human remains in the ocean, normally from a ship or boat.

Modern burial at sea procedures

Burial at sea services are available at many different locations and with many different customs, either by ship or by aircraft. Usually, either the captain (or commanding officer) of the ship or aircraft or a representative of the religion performs the ceremony. Legally, a captain can bury remains at sea, provided that environmental regulations are satisfied. In the United States, ashes have to be scattered at least 3 miles (4.8 km) from shore, and bodies can be given to the sea if the location is at least 600 feet (200 m) deep. Special regulations may also apply to the urns and coffins. ^[1] However, local laws may differ, and in the Great South Bay, New York it is legal to drop ashes right from the dock.

The ceremony may include burial in a casket, burial sewn in sailcloth, burial in an urn, or scattering of the cremated remains by ship. Burial at sea by aircraft is usually done only with cremated remains. Other types of burial at sea include the mixing of the ashes with concrete and dropping the concrete block to form an artificial reef such as the Atlantis Reef. Below is a list of religions in alphabetical order that allow burial at sea, with some details of the burial. However, there are always many different beliefs even within the same religion, and views may differ according to those beliefs.

Because of the particular logistics of scattering ashes at sea, there are commercial services that do so for a fee such as New England Burials At Sea who is recommended by the US Navy and many funeral homes in the USA.

Buddhism

There are very few traditional Buddhist burials at sea. Traditionally, as in Hinduism, the deceased are cremated and the ashes are placed in a grave or columbarium. Particularly in East Asian or Mahayana Buddhism, a physical gravesite is considered important for the conduct of memorial and ancestor rites. The Buddhist Churches of America, the North American branch of Japanese Jodo Shinshu Buddhism, has created a service for Buddhist burials at sea, primarily for military service members.

Christianity

Catholicism

Officially, the Roman Catholic Church prefers normal casket burials over cremations, but does allow for cremation subject to the condition that the ashes are entombed or buried. The Church is against the scattering of cremated remains on the ground, in the air, or at sea; the Church is also against forgoing proper disposal and keeping the ashes in private possession, such as for display on a mantle. Burial at sea in a casket or in an urn is approved for cases where the deceased expired in the sea. The committal prayer number 406§4 is used in this case.

Reformed/Protestantism

The Anglican Communion has detailed procedures for burial at sea. The ship has to be stopped, and the body has to be sewn in sailcloth, together with two cannon balls for weight.^{[citation needed]} Anglican (and other) chaplains of the Royal Navy bury cremated remains of ex-Naval personnel at sea. Scattering of cremated remains is discouraged, not least for practical reasons.

Many Lutheran naval veterans and seamen prefer to be buried at sea. In those cases either the casket or urn is set to sea, or ashes scattered. The procedure is similar as that with Anglican. Some parishes have specific consecrated sea areas, where ashes can be sprinkled.

Hinduism

Traditionally, the deceased is cremated, and the bones and ashes are collected placed in the Ganges River, however, burial at sea is permitted after consultation with a Hindu priest.

Islam

Islam prefers burial on land, so deep that its smell does not come out and the beasts of prey do not dig it out. However, if a person dies at sea and it is not possible to bring the body back to land in time before decay, a sea burial is allowed. A weight is tied to the feet of the body, and the body lowered into the water, preferably at a spot where it is not eaten immediately by scavengers. Also, if an enemy may dig up the grave to mutilate the body, it is also allowed to bury the deceased at sea to avoid mutilation.^[2]

Judaism

Traditional Orthodox Judaism has always prohibited burial at sea.^{[citation needed]} Reform Judaism, on the other hand, allows burial at sea after consultation with a rabbi but has a strong preference for burial on land, where families have a gravesite to visit.^{[citation needed]}

Odinism

Traditionally Odinists prefer to be disposed in a funeral pyre built upon the shoreline of their native county. This pyre is generally built in the same shape as the sailing vessel known as longship. The flame is built at dusk and the commemorators will stand present until the coals soften, with the tide carrying away the ashes. Alternatively, a functioning ship is pushed out to open water with the remains on board, and lit on fire, being allowed to burn up until sinking. If the construction of the ship is suitable, the shape of the hull will be flat and will be completely destroyed in the fire, without creating flotsam. See also the examples of Odinist funerals.

United States Navy

The United States Navy has done many burials at sea in its history, with wartime burials as recently as World War II, and peacetime burials still common nowadays. Most other armed forces also have burials at sea, as for example the British Royal Navy and the Canadian Navy.

Peacetime burial

If the deceased died on land or has been returned to shore after death, the remains may be brought aboard either in a coffin or in an urn after cremation. The ceremony is performed while the ship is deployed, and consequently civilians are not allowed to be present. In the USA, eligible for a free Navy burial at sea are:

• Active duty members of the uniformed services
• Honorably discharged retirees and veterans
• Military Sealift Command U.S. civilian marine personnel
• Family members of the above

In preparation, the officer of the deck calls All hands bury the dead, the ship is stopped if possible, with flags on half mast, and the crew is assembled, including a firing party, casket bearers and bugler. The crew stands at parade rest at the beginning of the ceremony. The coffin is covered with a flag, and carried feet first on deck by the casket bearers and placed on a stand, with the feet overboard. In case of cremated remains, the urn is brought on deck and put on a stand.

The ceremony is divided into a military part and a religious part, of equal importance. The religious part is specific to the religion of the deceased, and may be performed by a chaplain, or by the commanding officer if no chaplain of the appropriate faith is available. A scripture is read and prayers are said.

After the religious ceremony, the firing party is ordered Firing party, Present Arms. The casket bearers tilt the platform with the casket, so that the casket slides off the platform into the ocean. The flag is retained on board. In case of cremated remains, there is the option to bury the remains including the urn similar to the procedure used for caskets. Alternatively, the urn can be opened, and the remains scattered in the wind. In this case, the wind direction has to be taken under consideration before burial to ensure a smooth procedure.

The firing party fires three volleys, the bugler plays Taps, and flowers may also be dropped into the ocean. After the flag is folded, the ceremony ends. The relatives will be informed of the time and location of the burial, and given photos and video recordings if available.

Wartime burial for deceased at sea

Burial at sea for the victims of the USS Intrepid, hit by Japanese bombs during operations in the Philippines, November 26, 1944

In wartime, attempts are made for burial at sea to follow the same procedure as in the peacetime burial at sea, although a ship on a combat mission may not have all the necessary resources available. Nowadays, it is usually possible to airlift the remains back to shore, and prepare a burial ceremony. However, as recently as World War II, deceased were buried at sea without returning to land. Due to the limited facilities of military ships, this procedure usually does not include a casket, but the body is sewn into a sailcloth with weights. Cremation is usually not possible on a ship. During the Pacific campaign there were some instances where deceased aircrews were buried at sea in the remains of their damaged aircraft, which was ceremonially pushed overboard from their aircraft carrier.

Burial at sea in the United States

A funeral director is not required for the burial of cremated remains at sea however full body burials require specific preparation to ensure that the body or coffin sinks quickly. California is the only U.S. State that does not permit full body burials. The Environmental Protection Agency regulations for full body burials at sea in the United States require that the site of internment be three (3) nautical miles (3.5 mi / 5.6 km) from land and at a depth of at least 600 feet (180 m). In the northeastern United States this may require travel in excess of 30 miles (48 km) for a suitable site. ^[3]

Memorial services at sea

If no remains of the deceased are available a memorial service may be held, and flowers may be dropped in the water, often over or near the location of the death.

Cases of sea burials

People buried at sea

Burial at sea on the USS Enterprise, May 19, 2004.

The main category is at Category:Burials at sea

• Francis Drake

People whose ashes were buried at sea

• Jean Arthur (1900-1991)
• Adriana Caselotti (1916-1997) (cremated, and ashes scattered in Newport Beach, California)
• Leyla Gencer (1928-2008) (cremated, and her ashes scattered in the Bosphorus)
• Robert A. Heinlein (1907-1988) (cremated, and ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean) ^[4]
• Edmund Hillary (1919-2008) (cremated, and ashes scattered in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf) ^[5]
• L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) ^[6]
• Rock Hudson (1925-1985)
• Janis Joplin (1943-1970) (cremated at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, and her ashes scattered into the Pacific ocean.
• Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (1959-1997) (his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean at Mākua Beach)
• John F. Kennedy, Jr (1960-1999) (by the U. S. Navy)
• Meredith MacRae (1944-2000)
• Steve McQueen (1930-1980)
• Robert Mitchum (1917-1997) ^[7]
• Vincent Price (1911-1993) ^[8]
• Dana Plato (1964-1999) (Her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean)
• Ann Dunham (1942-1995) (her ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean on the south side of Oahu island.)
• Following the 1962 execution in Israel of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi responsible for overseeing the extermination of millions of Jews during the Holocaust, his body was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea over the Mediterranean, in international waters. This was a unique procedure, never enacted before or since - followed in this special case since Israel obviously did not want such a person buried in its soil, and also did not want him to have anywhere else a grave that might have become a place of pilgrimage to other Nazis.

Legendary and fictional people buried at sea

• The dragon that slays Beowulf is buried at sea at the end of the poem.
• Emmeline and Richard Lestrange, the main characters of The Blue Lagoon, were buried at sea at the beginning of Return to the Blue Lagoon.
• James Bond received a traditional Anglican burial at sea when his death was faked in You Only Live Twice.
• In episode 5 of Zipang, helicopter copilot Mori is buried at sea after being killed by a Japanese Zero.
• Big Pussy Bonpensiero is killed then buried at sea in the last episode of the second season of The Sopranos.
• The body of Luca Brasi, a character from The Godfather, is thrown into the sea. A Sicilian message is later sent - a fish wrapped in Brasi's bulletproof vest - implying that "Luca Brasi is sleeping with the fishes."

Footnotes

See also

• List of drowning victims
• Viking funeral
• Illegal disposal of bodies in the water