The undertakers involved in this will have made sure the deceased has arrived for the burial in good time and not have the usual concern for that trip from the mortuary to the customary place of cremation or burial. This will have happened long before the ceremony and it could be that all the deceased for that day could be taken together well in advance and at a time convenient against traffic jams, again an efficiency that could be significant.
Also the ceremonial travail, slowly as might happen from the mortuary or the relatives abode to the cemetery will be a thing of the past and will be replaced in effect by the slow transit of the vessel from the place of the ceremony to the open sea for delivery there.
I have seen a documentary from the USA where the value of convenient land or space in existing cemeteries is such that the coffins are interred standing up. This situation will, must only get worse and how poorly this compares with the image the freedom of the seas will provide.
Monday, December 26, 2016
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Where to start having funerals and burying at sea
This is a difficult one. As already said, to start with one really needs a largish population density on the coast and that means big towns at least. In England the south coast is solid with ageing people, those there naturally and then those who drift from the north to the south to find the warmer weather and the relaxed atmosphere that seaside places offer.
Brighton, Bournemouth and Eastbourne might be good starters and then they could serve the towns in between.
Of course their citing and subsequent establishment will be a hurdle. Permissions etc from relevant authorities might only come when there is a ground swell movement in favour of them. Also the investment in appropriately equipped cemeteries is another hurdle.
The dignity that comes from the 'giving back to nature' and the 'establishment of fish nurseries' could in these days find quite a following. Better even than that of a sailing friend whose ashes were delivered from a yacht with his buddies on board to one of his favoured spots on the Solent, a marvellous stretch of sailing water that separates the central south coast from the Isle of Wight.
But his ashes added little more than nothing to this favoured haunt and consumed much fuel in the process.
There is too the fact that this would come eventually under the auspices of established funeral enterprises. In England I believe such companies do well on the stock market so presumably they have the market cap for new start ups.
I would be grateful for such of you reading this, who like what I propose, for ideas as to how to propagate this in the first instance.
Brighton, Bournemouth and Eastbourne might be good starters and then they could serve the towns in between.
Of course their citing and subsequent establishment will be a hurdle. Permissions etc from relevant authorities might only come when there is a ground swell movement in favour of them. Also the investment in appropriately equipped cemeteries is another hurdle.
The dignity that comes from the 'giving back to nature' and the 'establishment of fish nurseries' could in these days find quite a following. Better even than that of a sailing friend whose ashes were delivered from a yacht with his buddies on board to one of his favoured spots on the Solent, a marvellous stretch of sailing water that separates the central south coast from the Isle of Wight.
But his ashes added little more than nothing to this favoured haunt and consumed much fuel in the process.
There is too the fact that this would come eventually under the auspices of established funeral enterprises. In England I believe such companies do well on the stock market so presumably they have the market cap for new start ups.
I would be grateful for such of you reading this, who like what I propose, for ideas as to how to propagate this in the first instance.
Thursday, September 3, 2015
What a burial at sea, steel clad, will do for nature.
There seems great dignity about our once-self joining the totality of the sea. It will be akin to the joining the earth as some who wish for a woodland burial must feel - so much better than going up in smoke. There is something so great about the sea and the thought of being with it forever in one way or another is quite a beautiful thing; akin too to being thrust into space.
The handing back of the 4 million metric tonnes of the worlds human dead to the sea each year doesn't look great compared to the 78 million metric tonnes of fish and shellfish we remove from the sea each year but it will help.
The presence of steel bonbon containing the corpse will really help build fish nurseries and generally aid the flora of the sea . The soft human parts will seep gently through the rusting mesh, enhance the growth of vegetation and local sea life especially small fish. The corps will create reefs and with planning these can be shaped as best to protect young fish.
The paraphernalia associated with burial and the fuel spent with cremation will be dispensed with. No coffin other than the bio-destructible brown paper envelope and steel chain mail will save on timber,
timber composites and metal fitting.
The millions of tons of fuel becoming smoke will stop.
Granted getting people to the seaside cemetery will have its own price in energy but where public transport can be invoked this will reduce this. In the first instance of course this is for people on the coast, especially those born and bred there and then as it catches on people from inland will want this type of funeral.
Because the boat that delivers to the sea is not manned this type of funeral can happen in all sea conditions.
This truly seaside cemetery will have all the amenities and reverence of any ordinary cemetery and protection from any weather state.
The handing back of the 4 million metric tonnes of the worlds human dead to the sea each year doesn't look great compared to the 78 million metric tonnes of fish and shellfish we remove from the sea each year but it will help.
The presence of steel bonbon containing the corpse will really help build fish nurseries and generally aid the flora of the sea . The soft human parts will seep gently through the rusting mesh, enhance the growth of vegetation and local sea life especially small fish. The corps will create reefs and with planning these can be shaped as best to protect young fish.
The paraphernalia associated with burial and the fuel spent with cremation will be dispensed with. No coffin other than the bio-destructible brown paper envelope and steel chain mail will save on timber,
timber composites and metal fitting.
The millions of tons of fuel becoming smoke will stop.
Granted getting people to the seaside cemetery will have its own price in energy but where public transport can be invoked this will reduce this. In the first instance of course this is for people on the coast, especially those born and bred there and then as it catches on people from inland will want this type of funeral.
Because the boat that delivers to the sea is not manned this type of funeral can happen in all sea conditions.
This truly seaside cemetery will have all the amenities and reverence of any ordinary cemetery and protection from any weather state.
Give yourself back to nature via the sea.
In the UK some 45,000 tons of demised people are buried or burnt and in the world this figure is almost 4 million tonnes .
Burying may provide some nutrition for the immediate area's worms and plant life but patently all cremation is doing is raising its imprint of higher CO2 , smoke pollution and energy usage. There is evidence too that upkeep of burial ground in cemeteries exceeds at two or three year the energy used for cremation. In either case there is effectively nothing given back to nature that we could feel proud of.
Imagine this:
You have died. There are no questions over the manner of your death and official clearance is given for a funeral.
All issues of display for relatives, friends and the public are dealt with.
The undertakers now place the body in a thick brown paper bag and it is sealed at the open end.
They then wrap this envelope with steel mail chain several times and the end tied off with steel wire to as to fashion what now looks like a bonbon. ID is attached and the body is chilled till the funeral.
This sea side cemetery is an appropriately hallowed area right on the water's edge. It has no need of grounds for burial nor crematoria.
The sea beside which it lies is deep at low tide and is officially protected against fishing and any water sports.
The facility provides a horse-shoe shaped wharf, mostly covered and the open end of the horseshoe pointing out to sea.
The motor boat has a dais at its stern which can be tipped by remote control so any thing on it can be delivered to the sea and is itself remotely controlled so it's passage away from and its return to its berth can be controlled by a steward of the cemetery.
On the day of the funeral the attendees go to the sea side cemetery and the service is arranged to begin when the hearse arrives and the body is conveyed by the pall bearers to the dais at the back of the motor boat and in full view of the congregation. The minister, priest or celebrant starts the service now in full view of the body. At the end of the service and at the time of the committal a steward of the cemetery takes over and remotely controls the movement of the boat to sea - this movement is
sedate and allows the attendees time to walk to the opening of the horseshoe and watch the boats progress. It move directly out, then, at an appropriate distance, but in full view of all, the boat comes square on, stops and then, at the press of a button, causes the dais to tip and the body is delivered to the sea bed below. The advantages of this type of funeral will soon be discussed.
Burying may provide some nutrition for the immediate area's worms and plant life but patently all cremation is doing is raising its imprint of higher CO2 , smoke pollution and energy usage. There is evidence too that upkeep of burial ground in cemeteries exceeds at two or three year the energy used for cremation. In either case there is effectively nothing given back to nature that we could feel proud of.
Imagine this:
You have died. There are no questions over the manner of your death and official clearance is given for a funeral.
All issues of display for relatives, friends and the public are dealt with.
The undertakers now place the body in a thick brown paper bag and it is sealed at the open end.
They then wrap this envelope with steel mail chain several times and the end tied off with steel wire to as to fashion what now looks like a bonbon. ID is attached and the body is chilled till the funeral.
This sea side cemetery is an appropriately hallowed area right on the water's edge. It has no need of grounds for burial nor crematoria.
The sea beside which it lies is deep at low tide and is officially protected against fishing and any water sports.
The facility provides a horse-shoe shaped wharf, mostly covered and the open end of the horseshoe pointing out to sea.
At the land end of the horse shoe is a spur - a double sided pontoon in which a special motor boat
lies.The motor boat has a dais at its stern which can be tipped by remote control so any thing on it can be delivered to the sea and is itself remotely controlled so it's passage away from and its return to its berth can be controlled by a steward of the cemetery.
On the day of the funeral the attendees go to the sea side cemetery and the service is arranged to begin when the hearse arrives and the body is conveyed by the pall bearers to the dais at the back of the motor boat and in full view of the congregation. The minister, priest or celebrant starts the service now in full view of the body. At the end of the service and at the time of the committal a steward of the cemetery takes over and remotely controls the movement of the boat to sea - this movement is
sedate and allows the attendees time to walk to the opening of the horseshoe and watch the boats progress. It move directly out, then, at an appropriate distance, but in full view of all, the boat comes square on, stops and then, at the press of a button, causes the dais to tip and the body is delivered to the sea bed below. The advantages of this type of funeral will soon be discussed.
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