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Burials at sea

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David

David Report 30 Jul 2004 02:35

Having only just joined so apologies if this type of question has been asked before (although from a quick search it appears not). I am trying to trace a Grand Father who was buried at sea c 1919 whilst on voyage from the USA to Liverpool. All I have is a photograph showing the event and his coffin was draped with the stars and stripes. As he had been working in the states he may have taken up US residency - I don't know for sure. And whether he was working his passage, a crew member or a passenger I don't know either:-(( Does anyone know of what proceedures take place after such an event ie would the Captain report it to the port authorities on landing in liverpool, (or maybe back in the US) and are there separate records kept for such deaths? All efforts to trace any record have so far failed - although I do admit to being a novice having only just started in this line of research. Many thanks in advance Dave

badger

badger Report 30 Jul 2004 07:54

I would assume that the proccedings would have been entered into the ships log and would have had to have been signed by the captain ,when going into home port the ships log would have been taken to the shipping lines h/q to be logged in the company files.that help?fred.t

Researching:
Baird,Barnes,Sturgess,King,Bristow, Mead,Brooks,Lane,Bartlett, Tyneside Chesham, Bucks,London & home counties

Margaret

Margaret Report 30 Jul 2004 08:28

David, I had a great uncle that was buried at sea in 1915 the only information that i have is a letter sent from the Captain to my great grand parents about him dying and the buriel and also a memorial card he is also on the War graves site. Margaret

Researching:
Bishop,Quint,Pope, Browning, Seager,Helsdown,Feaver, Webb ,Harrington,Goldsmith, Daw, London and Kent area

Unknown

Unknown Report 30 Jul 2004 08:48

David Having the US flag draped over the coffin implies that he was a US citizen. I would think his death would be registered either in the US or in Britain though. I imagine there must be a list of ships somewhere which would state whether he was a passenger or a worker, but you don't say/know whether the ship was US or British in origin. Possibly the central library in Liverpool may be able to point you in the right direction? Helen.

David

David Report 30 Jul 2004 21:22

Many thanks to Fred, Margaret and Helen for your replies. Unfortunately the only information I have is a photograph of the burial taking place so taking this any further is a long shot. Even the date is a calculated guess! I was probably hoping that with deaths at sea being relatively rare there may be a separate register or whatever somewhere? However, on second thoughts as this was possibly during or just after WW1 when there were many lost/died and buried at sea. Thanks to you all again - I'm off to to do a little more research - who knows I may get lucky. Dave