Pros And Cons of Funeral At Sea

Burying dead people in the sea is now a common practice that is been done all over the world. This practice is increasingly getting more popular unlike the older method of having to bury people in the ground in a coffin. Sea funeral can be associated with cremation or done alone. After cremation occurs, the ashes of the dead individual are dropped into the sea, either from an Urn or just emptied into the sea.

Sea funeral is not a practice that just started, many people have been successfully buried in the sea. Sailors and people that work on the sea are the main targets here, although it is not only restricted to them. This form of burial has its own pros and cons and this article is about the pros and cons you need to know before considering a Funeral at Sea.

Pros of Funeral at Sea

• One of the main reasons why funeral at sea is pretty advantageous is because, if the family desires, they can still perform other burial traditions for the individual. Other forms of burial come once and for all, but funeral at sea might necessarily not be the final form of burial as the family of the deceased can still choose to perform the other necessary funeral rites for the individual. This, of course, will be without the body being around.
• Another advantage that funeral at sea has over all other forms of a major funeral is the expenses that are associated with this kind of funeral. From research, it can be ascertained that burying people at sea is way cheaper than having to buy a coffin or doing other forms of proper burying for an individual.

Burying people at sea on the basic note costs less than $1200, while having to bury an individual on the land is substantially more expensive than this. The price of getting a befitting coffin at this time, particularly the metallic one has been found to be around the range of $3000 to $15000. This, of course, is way more expensive than sea burial which does not even require all this.

• Getting land for funeral alone will require intensive planning and lots of unavoidable protocols that need to be followed. Getting to do a sea funeral, on the other hand, can be pretty time effective as there are no major barriers to be followed and planning can be done within a very short time. Even if the individual wants to get cremated before being buried, it will still take a shorter time when compared with other forms of burial ceremonies. Sea burial is, therefore, less time-consuming.
• Funeral at sea is by far more environmentally friendly and of course more land saving than buried on the land. When you bury an individual in the sea, there is less likely environmental pollution or soil contamination. Well, you could say that the body will eventually decay when an individual is buried in the soil, but, that would take a longer time of decomposition and who knows what can be transmitted in periods like this.

Also, having to bury an individual on the land actually takes much more space compared to burying an individual in the sea. There are states that are densely populated and they are short of spaces. States like this would rather opt for sea burial in order to save land to be used for other precious purposes.

Cons of Funeral at Sea

Not being able to visit a loved one at your own convenience can be tough for family members, especially after a loss just occurred. Family members have to wait until they can schedule a boat to transport them to the latitude and longitude of the location in order to revisit their loved ones resting place.

Another disadvantage of having to do a burial at sea is that it might be against the belief or the religion of the deceased or his or her family members. Not all religions support burying their dead ones in the Sea. In a condition like this, one cannot but consider the only option of having to bury their loved ones in the soil.

The major disadvantage is not being able to control the weather on your decided date of the funeral at sea. Depending on the seasonality of the desired area, winters can be ruled out, leaving family waiting until the spring when the weather conditions fair better. Wind and sunshine are two unpredictable factors that can make navigating the seas a difficult feat. Patience is required for weather cooperation for a burial at sea to be optimal.

As we can see, the method of burying at sea has both its pros and cons. With all these being said, one can weigh his or her options well, considering these germaine points before opting for burial at Sea.