Burial at sea
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Burial at sea describes the procedure of disposing of human remains in the ocean.
Two reasons for burial at sea are if the deceased died while at sea and it is impractical to return the remains to shore, or if the deceased died on land but a burial at sea is requested for private or cultural reasons.
In the latter case, the body might be cremated and an urn containing ashes is committed to the ocean, or the ashes are scattered on the water. Remains may also be dropped from aircraft. The ashes of a survivor of the USS Arizona (see Attack on Pearl Harbor) have been laid to rest with his crew mates in the ship by divers.
Deceased may also be buried in lakes or rivers, the most well known example being the Ganges River in India which has received the ashes of deceased Hindus for generations.
Burial at sea is unique in that the procedure cannot be reversed. While bodies buried on land can be exhumed for an autopsy, for a relocation, posthumous execution, or for illegal purposes (necrophilia, souvenir hunting, mutilation, or similar), this is usually not possible after a burial at sea.
Furthermore, while burial on land allows relations to return to the burial site for further services, this is also difficult for burials at sea, and no memorial can be constructed at the burial location. However, it is also possible to interpret every part of the ocean being part of the grave site, and the relations may return to any coastline or ocean for remembrance services.
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[edit] 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 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. However, local laws may differ, and in the Great South Bay, New York it is legal to drop ashes right from the dock [1].
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. One such service, the Neptune Society (a franchise with many branches) was charged in a class action lawsuit in California with causing emotional distress for co-mingling ashes, and with illegal dumping.
[edit] Anglicanism
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.
[edit] Catholic
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.
[edit] Hinduism
Traditionally, the deceased is cremated (as it is important to return the body which is composed of the five elements of fire, water, earth, air and space, back to them after death), and the bones and ashes are collected and sent for burial in the Ganges River, which in itself is a variation of a burial at sea. However, burial at sea is permitted, but needs consultation with a Hindu priest.
[edit] 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 predators. 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. It is even stated that the expenses for burial at sea are tax deductible.
[edit] Judaism
Both Orthodox Judaism and Reform Judaism allow burial at sea after consultation with a rabbi; however, Orthodox Judaism forbids cremation. Still, Jewish tradition - created during many centuries when most Jews lived land-bound lives - has a strong preference for burial on land, where families have a gravesite to visit.
Following the discovery in 1999 of the remnants of the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, lost at sea thirty years earlier and located after decades-long searches at a deep point on the Mediterranean sea bottom, the possibility was seriously discussed of recovering the remains of the crew members and giving them Jewish burial in Israel.
This idea was finally abandoned, due to the enormous cost of such an operation and in deference to the long-standing maritime tradition of letting the sea bottom be the final resting place of drowned sailors. The crew members' families had to content themselves with holding a cermony in a ship over the submarine's remnants.
[edit] Lutheranism
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.
[edit] United States Navy
The US 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.
[edit] 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 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 squad, 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 squad 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.
[edit] Wartime burial for deceased at sea
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 does usually not include a casket, but the body is sewn into a sailcloth with weights. Cremation is usually not possible on a ship.
[edit] Burial at sea without a body
A burial at sea ceremony may also be performed if no remains of the deceased are available. This applies for example to victims of air disasters or maritime disasters (e.g. RMS Titanic), where the remains of the deceased could not be retrieved and buried, but instead were lost in the ocean. In this case a memorial service may be held, and flowers may be dropped in the water, often over or near the location of their death. Although this may not be considered a burial in the strictest sense, it helps the grieving relatives to see it that way.
[edit] Animal burials at sea
While burials of animals are less common, it is possible to bury an animal at sea. Similar to a human burial, this may include burying the entire cadaver, or the cremated remains, either in an urn or scattered in the wind. This service may also be available from aircraft. Not all religions do have a special burial procedure for animals, and it is usually up to the owners to select a ceremony they think appropriate.
[edit] Cases of sea burials
[edit] People buried at sea
- The main category is at Category:Burials at sea
[edit] People whose ashes were buried at sea
- Steve McQueen 1930 - 1980
- L. Ron Hubbard 1911 - 1986
- Vincent Price 1911 - 1993
- Jerry Garcia 1942 - 1995
- Robert Mitchum 1917 - 1997
- Jean Arthur 1900 - 1991
- Ingrid Bergman 1915 - 1982
- Rock Hudson 1925 - 1985
- Janis Joplin 1943 - 1970 (cremated at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, and her ashes scattered into the Pacific ocean)
- John F. Kennedy, Jr 1960 - 1999 (by the US Navy)
- 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.
[edit] Legendary and fictional people buried at sea
- Boromir, fictional character from J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth receives a burial by letting the boat carrying his remains drift away on a river
- Sigurd Ring, a king of Sweden and Denmark from the Norse sagas
- Haki, a Swedish king from the Norse sagas. His brother Hagbard was the Viking counterpart of Romeo in the legend of Hagbard and Signy.
- Balder, a god from Scandinavian mythology
- 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 the first season of the anime series Pokémon, when the main characters were assumed lost in a shipwreck, they received a burial at sea without a body.
- In episode 5 of Zipang, helicopter copilot Mori is buried at sea after being killed by a Japanese Zero.
- Sal "Pussy" Bompensiero is buried in the last episode of the second season of The Sopranos at sea.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Scatterings-airborne release of cremated remains
- Burial at Sea by Sea Services
- Gulf Stream Burial at Sea
- Maritime Funeral Services a burial at sea provider
- Nationwide ecofriendly burial at sea provider
- Burial at sea (Ash Scattering) provider on the Pacific Coast
- Burial as artificial reef
- Ash Scattering Hawaii
- Biodegradable Urns for Sea Burial
- How to use a Biodegradable Sea Burial Urn
