How is a body and the casket made ready for a traditional sea burial?
The body is made ready for sea burial by the funeral home and then placed in a wooden casket-reinforced with wooden ‘banding’ around the cover to insure it will not open upon contact with the sea floor. To insure the casket descends quickly to the ocean floor, the casket is altered by drilling 20 holes [2 inches in diameter] at strategic locations of the casket so it will sink immediately. Additionally, we weight the casket with sufficient number of Egyptian cotton-cloth encased packets containing sand (approximately 150 pounds) to insure the casket will not ‘wander away’ but descend quickly -feet first- to the ocean floor. Incidentally, we coordinate with funeral directors to insure the type of casket material is porous wood or a bio-degradable composite.
