Burial at Sea

[Don Burke]

There is quite a bit of space inside the reefball.

I suppose you could put a wetnotes book in a stainless steel clone of a pelican box to keep the critters from taking the pages away.

Either that or have people place concrete mementos inside the ball.

 

[cobaltbabe]

My youngest told me that when I pass he is going to have an Irish wake and then take me out the the big blue deep and blow me up so the fish can have me. Yes he is healthy, and other then the blowing up part, I, as a diver think it is a good idea. Just part of the circle of life.

 

[PhotoTJ]

Not sure I'm down with the blowing up thing!

 

[RICHinNC]

There was a Navy ships captain that was detailed to take his ship out and do an at sea burial for some dignitary.

They held the ceremony and over the body went...in a sealed casket....that no one had thought to drill holes in so it would sink.

So there is the casket bobbing about in the waves and the captain had no divers or dive equip on board. Being a resourceful guy that he was....he ordered that a 50 cal machine gun be brought to the deck. It was....they shot the h*** out of the casket with the mourners standing there all aghast.

they finally blew it...and the deceased...apart so badly it all finally sunk. the captain was later relieved of duty and became a civilian rather quickly.

This is not one of those 'legends' because the video that was taken and used in the captains court martial still exists.

Some days it pays to second think a situation.

 

[Don Burke]

RICHinNC once bubbled...
There was a Navy ships captain that was detailed to take his ship out and do an at sea burial for some dignitary.

They held the ceremony and over the body went...in a sealed casket....that no one had thought to drill holes in so it would sink.

So there is the casket bobbing about in the waves and the captain had no divers or dive equip on board. Being a resourceful guy that he was....he ordered that a 50 cal machine gun be brought to the deck. It was....they shot the h*** out of the casket with the mourners standing there all aghast.

they finally blew it...and the deceased...apart so badly it all finally sunk. the captain was later relieved of duty and became a civilian rather quickly.

This is not one of those 'legends' because the video that was taken and used in the captains court martial still exists.

Some days it pays to second think a situation.

I've heard this about many ships, most often USS Farragut.

No one seems to be able to produce the film/video.

I doubt it actually happened.

 

[Green Mountain]

This story does sound unbelieveable. Reading the EPA regulations that I posted up above, sounds like there is no coffin involved in burial at sea.

You have to weight the body down and dump it in 600 feet of water 3 miles form the coast.

In all those old war movies you never see a coffin. They just wrap the bodies in bed sheets and slide them down the plank.

 

[Charlie99]

I know this one is true, because I was there. USS California, 1974 or '75

An urn with some deceased Admiral's ashes is delivered, unexpectedly, to our quarterdeck the night before we sail out of Norfolk. We leave it sitting on the XO's desk with a note. After some discussion the following day, the XO and Captain realize it isn't a prank the overnight watch section played.

XO reviews the regs and customs, and figures out a ceremony. I happen to be the OOD (officer of the deck / watch officer) when we hold the ceremony. I get a telephone call from the Gunnery Officer. It turns out that he doesn't have any blank bullets for the M1 carbines we will be using for the rifle salute. So we make a guess on max range, check the radar, and I pick a ships heading that gives a good clear range with no inadvertant targets off the starboard side. We forgot just one detail.

I hear the ceremony was brief, but very appropriate,with the Captain reading a couple of bible passages before the XO poured the admiral over the side as we fired a rifle salute.

Cremated ashes are very light. In picking a direction safe direction for firing the rifles, we forgot to check the wind. Very light, but still enough that the XO's shoes and pants legs were covered with ashes. Everyone was very formal and completed the ceremony as if nothing had happened. Later after I got of watch, I saw the bosun's mates sweeping and hosing down the fantail to put the rest of the admiral over the side.

The other humorous moment was after the ceremony when the XO asked the Gunnery Officer "How many blanks rounds do we carry onboard for things like this?" and only then told that we used live ammo instead.

 

[cobaltbabe]

My friends father dies and his last wish was to be cremated and his ashes tossed off the back of a BC ferry. This is illegal, so the boys did it anyway. Standing at the back of the ferry, they opened the urn and proceeded to dump dad into the water. Half way through the wind picked up and blew dad right back in their faces and all over the deck of the ferry. They freaked out and then had a good laugh. Their father was quite a jokester and this was just his last haha. Sometimes you just have to do it.

 

[Don Burke]

All that happens quite often.

I was on a submarine tender out of Norfolk in the 90s and we seemed to have at least ten containers every time we got underway.

With something as light as cremains, the law of averages takes over.

 

[diverjed]

benncool once bubbled...
We got into a discussion about being cremated instead of being buried. Then the conversation turned to burial at sea. An arguement started that this is not legal unless you are cremated first. It appears that you still can be buried at sea.
http://www.funeralplan.com/funeralplan/cremation/sea.html

You can also have your ashes become part of a reef. Look that one up. That would be cool.

It's gotta be legal!!

They do it on the Sopranos all the time!!