Photo of a burial at sea aboard the SS United States in the 1950s.

The body pictured here on the promenade deck of the SS United States most likely could have been a crewmember in the stewards or catering department.

Notice how canvas curtains have been placed so passengers could not see the burial.

Besides the officers, there are mainly stewards and cooks in the photo.  The ship would not have carried the crewmember to the next port.  The SS United States on a trans-Atlantic crossing probably would have housed a passenger’s body.  But most lines did not.  Passengers were buried at sea.

Two passengers were buried at sea on the SS Canberra aboard a 1968 sailing from Los Angeles to Australia.

Until the last couple of decades, burial at sea (passengers or crew) was common.  Corpses were not carried to the next port.  In the late 1960s, I sailed from Los Angeles to Australia aboard the SS Canberra and there were two burials at sea.  Both were passengers.

The burials took place around six in the morning.

We were sailing via the Orient so there were long passages at sea – 6 to 7 days.  There were no morgues aboard ship.  The body would be wrapped in a canvas bag and pushed overboard.  It would be covered with a flag but the flag did not go with the body.  The Anglican (Episcopal) service of burial was read, with officers, crew and some passengers in attendance.  There was no announcement in the ship’s paper.

Recently, I was aboard the Princess Cruise’s Island Princess, touring the crew’s quarters and galleys.  There is a refrigerated compartment known as the morgue and bodies are kept there until they can be removed at the next port.