Selecting a Reputable Sea Burial Business

What to be careful of in selecting a burial at sea provider:

New England Burials at Sea LLC is a licensed and insured company who owns and sub leases vessels from Maine to Miami for 1 – 400 passengers for at sea burial events.

 We have worked with hundreds of families over the years and understand the stress and grief involved in planning a loved one’s final farewell.  We have learned to share the following FAQ’s with families to assist them in their planning.  We operate year round and this is all that we do.  We focus on all of the sea planning details so you can spend important time with your family.  We are pleased to send references on request.

                                                                 Why choose us?

We offer the complete captain’s sea tribute service that we are well known for nationwide.

 We run the event with you, not leaving you to fend for your self with wind and tide.

We are properly insured for actual sea burials – other charter operators are not.

We offer on board photography—ask us for a sample link or DVD to see how our events are run.

We use uniformed crew who are trained in these events.

We offer free refreshments.

We have a library of over 1,250 musical songs and over 100 poems / readings.

We file for and take care of all the required State and federal EPA sea burial permitting for you and the decedent’s estate.

As a Ship’s gift to your family, we fly and present a custom 8-Bell Burgee,

that is flown on the vessel during the sea burial and presented to the family by the captain on vessel disembarkation.

We offer Military honors and a document locator service if needed for the DD-214

We have nationwide net work of sea burial certified funeral homes from which to choose from if necessary 

We donate to the US Coast guard foundation and the Nature conservancy supporting our nation’s oceans and beauty.

We have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.  

“My brother’s friend has a lobster boat he can take us out on”…We do hear this innocent comment all the time.  While it may sound convenient and inexpensive, ask these questions before you sign up.  Is the owner operator a licensed USCG captain?  Have they done it before?  Are they insured for charters and for burying people at sea?  Do they have liability insurance?  Is the boat clean or does it have a lot of green head fly’s buzzing around due to rancid baits?  Do they have a head aboard? Do they have proper seating for passengers? Do they know the laws? Do they report scatterings to the EPA?  Does the EPA know them as a reputable provider?  Do they have the required safety equipment for a charter?  Have they been recently boarded by the US Coast Guard for a safety check?  Are all of the vessel’s boats papers in order for documentation, life raft certifications, EIRPB’s and more up to date?  Crew drug testing up to date?

Clients tell us that they want the most important last memory of their loved one not to be a nightmare but one of  smiles and good tears.

Your burial at sea experience for your loved one needs to be conducted as professional as possible and there are hundreds of details to attend to.  You want to remember the beauty of the moment versus the leaky deck or odiferous boat ride while sitting on a five gallon pail top.  We have seen it all and many clients come to us after they ask the above questions.

What to be careful of in selecting a burial at sea provider:   Stay away from boat brokers who simply act as the facilitator to put a buyer (you) and seller (Boat charter)  together to make a transaction happen no matter what the required cultural formality, legality or requested family wishes and details may be.  Brokers are a dime a dozen.  They can be ruthless to just “get the order.”  Be careful and wary of the “low ball” boat brokers who will not actually participate in your actual event at sea.  They are just there to sell vessel time and are most probably not properly licensed and insured to actually run your event, nor do they want to.  Brokers do not discuss your family needs or conduct your actual sea tribute.  When an event is not timed properly and you use more vessel time than you need you might be surprised to get back to the dock and be presented with an additional invoice for $600+ or more for unplanned “Sea time”.  They do not file the proper permits as required by Federal and State law.  No warranty, no guarantee, nothing in the way of client family support.  You typically show up at the dock and the broker simply points you to your vessel.  Brokers just book the boat and are done with it once the payment clears.  They can be nice as pie when you inquire about a booking but do nothing in the way of putting together your sea burial tribute together and we mean nothing.  This is especially problematic during an actual at sea ash scatterings when the vessel may not be positioned properly because there are no experienced people aboard running the event and that can result in “ash blow back” or the “station wagon effect” when Uncle Chuck’s cremated remains become airborne and flow back up to the boat deck or stick to your sweater.  And what if someone drops or prematurely spills the urn—are they insured for that?  No.  If you are seeking a full body burial at sea is the broker going to follow the very strict US Navy guidelines required or the many hours of planning time between funeral home, family, church, vessel and crew?  Most probably not

Why we do what we do at New England Burials At Sea LLC  

First, we handle all of the details as this is our full time business.  We are the experts.  We help you plan your event during your difficult time of need.   We have the vessel and crew ready, equipped, clean and welcoming to your group when you board.  We are recognized by the US Navy, US Coast Guard and the EPA.  We are recommended by and used by hundreds of funeral homes across America. Having been approved by the Academy of Professional Funeral Service Practice in –Westerville, OH, we train funeral directors in continuing education in class room settings on the proper procedures during sea burials.  Plain and simple we are the go to company for sea burials. 

Our company operates year round providing cost effective, attended or unattended traditional ash scattering memorial cruises and complete full bodycasket free sea burials using our eco friendly burial shroud per USCG regulations, presided over by the captain and a funeral director for full body committals, serving all faiths with personalized services. 

For ash scatterings, we voyage out three nautical miles, scatter ashes with a customized sea tribute service and return to port.  All sea burials include an official parchment sea burial certificate marking the latitude and longitude of your final resting place.  We now use 31 different vessels from 30’ to 115’ for up to 400 passengers from Maine to Miami.  All vessels are clean, current and have the latest safety gear. 

We include waters and sodas.  Your family is welcome to bring munchies and beer and wine if you wish(if the vessel does not have a cash bar aboard).  We also have very nice box lunch catering available.  You can do your own photography or we can provide.  We are very flexible. 

A 50% deposit books your day and time.  We accept all credit card and personal checks or money orders. 

The price includes, the vessel, fuel, taxes, soft drinks, up to three hrs portal to portalthe steering captain and our services for the sea tributearrangements, six signed and sealed burial certificates, filing with the EPA, a suggested order of service and an “e book” of poems and readings you might like to look through and consider for your sea tribute. We also include an eight-bell end of watch blessing & ship’s horn farewell while circling the ocean flower field after the scattering.  While planning, please take advantage of our no cost in house concierge service that can assist with hotel, dining, flowers, city and airport transportation services.

The price does not include optional food, flowers, urns, parking, or music.  

Options for slight additional cost: Taps or favorite song(s) or both, Door to shore livery service, simulcasting world wide with internet logins (summer 2011) , water urns, bag pipers, extra certificates, catering, 10 GA cannon Salute send off $15.00, Single flower $5.00, Plump rose petals $75, select hand picked Sea Flowers $100, Ocean Friendly Sea Wreath $145.00.  Bagpiper for 2 hours $300 (Abundant “tune” library), custom nautical memory chart™ (11” x 14”) an official NOAA Nautical chart of the exact area showing committal location $100, Sea Memory Bottles™$15 each.  Photo show with music up to 75 candid’s create a 3-5 minute long photo show with online access taken by a professional photographer $475.00 with optional reprints available. Ask about our new 8 Bell Burgee Program.

Some Questions to ask yourself in selecting a reputable Sea Burial Business

1.       What type of boat is being used for your size of family? 

2.       Is it USCG approved with all the required safety equipment?

3.       Are the licensed Coast Guard Captains that are performing your service current with their certifications? Ask for a current copy of their USCG License if you are unsure.

4.       Is the Sea Burial business recognized by the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) as a responsible business in filing all required paperwork on a timely basis?

5.       Does the Sea Burial business work closely with your funeral home or crematory as needed for no extra charge? 

6.       Does the service have a reference list available of current clients that you can speak with?

7.       Will the burial at sea service perform your service at your geographic location of choice?

8.       Does the sea burial business perform the sea burial within 48 hours if asked (weather permitting) versus other services taking up to 30 days?

9.       Is there someone at the toll free # during business hours when you call or just an answering machine?

10.   Is the service member in good standing of the Local Chamber of Commerce or other nationally recognized group or agency? 

11.   Does the Burial at sea services complete all of your permits and filings for you?

12.   Does the sea burial service offer a “Door to shore®” livery service if needed?

13.   Is the sea burial business properly insured on land as well as at sea?

New England Burials At Sea LLC provides all of the above and more. 

Trust us as hundreds of families do each year—we guarantee it.

Ask to see what the Boston Globe and TV program Chronicle recently said about us. 

We also have a DVD that shows interviews with our founding captain, client families, The Boston Globe and more.

Call us today toll free at (877) 897.7700 or email OceanBurial@aol.com, for your burial at sea “free” info pack.

Thank you for considering our service offerings.

Captain Brad White