# Is it legal to have a Viking-style burial at sea? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025 "2004-09-25T10:41:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/21 "2004-09-26T13:16:11Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > if your dead, why exactly are you worried about prosecution? :dubious: A dead man can’t light his own boat on fire. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/22 "2004-09-26T15:34:29Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > A dead man can’t light his own boat on fire. Hmm. I think he could. He’d need to die on the boat. It would have to be fitted with a GPS navigation system, and an autopilot. Finally, he would need to set a timer before he died. For this, several battery powered alarm clocks should work. Simply modify them so that rather than sounding an alarm, they activate piezo electric igniters. It would take some planning, but it could be done. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/23 "2004-09-26T15:36:56Z")
Yeah, but where’s the fun for beer-swilling friends? And who’d videotape it. It would\* have \* to be videotaped. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/24 "2004-09-26T19:33:16Z")
But. I think we’ve established that dumping the body presents no problem. That leaves the boat. I did some google and found an oblique reference on another board about scuttling maybe coming under dumping, but that’s all. What I vaguely do remember is that fishermen (in Alaska?) had a tradition of scuttling their old boats when they replaced them with new. Kind of a respectful burial for a faithful old friend. Seamen do other really wierd stuff, so why not that? I’d say take her out 25 miles or so then go ahead and do it. Do your kids _really_ love you? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/25 "2004-09-26T19:53:06Z")
If the boat is the problem, find a loophole. For example the Vikings, along with a bunch of other peoples, would sometimes slit a hound’s throat and bury it at the feet of its dead master. If we get enough dogs, and tie them together with leashes, we’ll have a raft capable of supporting the corpse but which will count as a body for legal purposes. We use no boat at all, but fill the body with pressurized hydrogen before gluing all orifices firmly shut. Not only will the body float, the burning should be spectacular. We use no boat, but draw as much moisture as possible from the corpse and then soak it in gasoline. ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2004, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/26 "2004-09-27T21:35:19Z")
My brother died in a plane crash while in the Coast Guard. He’d mentioned before that if something should happen to him that his cremains be scattered over the Bering Sea. So the Coast Guard obliged with my mother and my sister-in-law (the widow) looking on as they tossed it out the back of a C-130. I honestly don’t recall the distance, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t more than a couple of dozen miles offshore since the flight only lasted 20-25 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/27 "2004-09-28T01:15:23Z")
(Anecdotal) (The actual wording of the laws, in California let alone elsewhere, is unknown to deponent.) If your loving descendants go to get your cremains from the crematorium, the employees will ask (in California) where the remains are going. They will deliver them to a licensed cemetary themselves. What your heir can do then is tell them he are bringing them to a (unlicensed? unmanned? grandfathered in? private?–private!) cemetary that your family has been using since the Gold Rush, and take delivery. Once your buddies have their hands on your ashes, they are clearly in a much better position. If you want to skip the cremation, I can offer no assistance with the moves between the death certificate and hauling off the carcass. If you want to skip the death certificate, one method might be just to have have the loved ones wrap you up and move you to the boat, if you aren’t there already, and wait seven years to have you declared legally dead. Of course if they are itching to get their hands on their inheritance, they might not cooperate. PS, hey **duffer** and **mangeorge** have nothing on **DocCathode**. I admire everyone’s style, all three. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/28 "2004-09-28T01:59:37Z")
> [@MaryEFoo](#): > > (Anecdotal) (The actual wording of the laws, in California let alone elsewhere, is unknown to deponent.) If your loving descendants go to get your cremains from the crematorium, the employees will ask (in California) where the remains are going. They will deliver them to a licensed cemetary themselves. What your heir can do then is tell them he are bringing them to a (unlicensed? unmanned? grandfathered in? private?–private!) cemetary that your family has been using since the Gold Rush, and take delivery. Once your buddies have their hands on your ashes, they are clearly in a much better position. > > If you want to skip the cremation, I can offer no assistance with the moves between the death certificate and hauling off the carcass. > > If you want to skip the death certificate, one method might be just to have have the loved ones wrap you up and move you to the boat, if you aren’t there already, and wait seven years to have you declared legally dead. Of course if they are itching to get their hands on their inheritance, they might not cooperate. > PS, hey **duffer** and **mangeorge** have nothing on **DocCathode**. I admire everyone’s style, all three. They won’t just hand over the ashes? I told my two daughters they could put mine in my favorite bong and set it on top of the tv. They plan to rotate every year or so. To the PS; Aw shucks, kiddo, we’re just playing. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/29 "2004-09-28T03:06:51Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > How much of a “tradition” the flaming-ship Viking funeral ever was is, to put it mildly, in dispute. Historians know of one written account of such a funeral, which was written by an outsider and contains a number of known inaccuracies. On the other hand, a large body of physical evidence exists to indicate that the Vikings often buried their dead, including finds of the graves of obviously wealthy and important people buried in their ships. Actually, “in dispute” is certainly a mild way of putting it. My ex-wife, who teaches Old Norse literature in England, reported that the “stereotypical” viking\* burial at sea “never once happened,” regarding the outsider’s account to be total fiction. \*Non-capitalized on purpose; many academics do so, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/30 "2004-09-28T04:11:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Aw shucks, kiddo, we’re just playing. 😛 I knew you were! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/31 "2004-09-28T06:21:41Z")
[An old Straight Dope Article on Gram Parsons](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_014.html) gives some mention about “stealing” (AND cremating) a body. The article mentions that stealing the corpse itself was (at the time, 1973) not illegal, but stealing the _coffin_ was. (The punishment was a $750 fine. Again, in 1973 dollars.) I’ve _really_ got to start a thread asking what the legal ways to dispose of a body are. We’ve got burial, cremation (and any number of things you can do with cremains), cryonics, donation to science, donation to that guy in German who plasticizes corpses for his art gallery… ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/32 "2004-09-28T13:52:08Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > But. > I think we’ve established that dumping the body presents no problem. That leaves the boat. I did some google and found an oblique reference on another board about scuttling maybe coming under dumping, but that’s all. > What I vaguely do remember is that fishermen (in Alaska?) had a tradition of scuttling their old boats when they replaced them with new. Kind of a respectful burial for a faithful old friend. Seamen do other really wierd stuff, so why not that? > I’d say take her out 25 miles or so then go ahead and do it. Do your kids _really_ love you? 😉 You know, the Navy dumps all kinds of trash over the side in international waters. As long as the boat is all wood or all wood and metal its fine. Any plastic is a nono. ---
**Author:** ![FordPrefect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@FordPrefect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FordPrefect)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/33 "2004-09-28T20:21:22Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > I was thinking of doing the same thing, only in a small plane and with explosives. You know, if you guys both timed it right… ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/34 "2004-09-28T20:59:57Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > You know, the Navy dumps all kinds of trash over the side in international waters. As long as the boat is all wood or all wood and metal its fine. Any plastic is a nono. Not any more. About the only thing that goes overboard is food waste and poop. Everything else is melted into discs (plastics), crushed (metal), burned (er, um, burnables), or held on to until it can be thrown into a dumpster on the pier, and then put on a civilian barge and taken out to sea to be dumped. Hey, it doesn’t have to be a good plan, just a plan. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/35 "2004-09-29T22:29:18Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > But. > What I vaguely do remember is that fishermen (in Alaska?) had a tradition of scuttling their old boats when they replaced them with new. Hey, don’t go draggin’ us into this cockeyed fantasy. Unless ‘old boats’ is a euphemism for ‘ex-wives’? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/36 "2004-09-29T23:21:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Hey, don’t go draggin’ us into this cockeyed fantasy. Unless ‘old boats’ is a euphemism for ‘ex-wives’? Maybe it was the Inuit People\*. I don’t think they _had_ ex-wives. \*If this is not the proper term, please substitute the correct one and excuse my ignorance. ---
**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/37 "2004-09-30T00:03:09Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > Not any more. About the only thing that goes overboard is food waste and poop. Everything else is melted into discs (plastics), crushed (metal), burned (er, um, burnables), or held on to until it can be thrown into a dumpster on the pier, and then put on a civilian barge and taken out to sea to be dumped. > > Hey, it doesn’t have to be a good plan, just a plan. You say “not any more” as if I haven’t been on a Navy ship recently 🙂 Perhaps the newer ships and aircraft carriers have all the neat new toys onboard, but some of these ships, including mine, are 40 years old. We melted plastics into discs but the aluminum cans and metal went over. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/38 "2004-09-30T00:06:08Z")
> [@FordPrefect](#): > > You know, if you guys both timed it right… Oooh! That’s good! **mangeorge** , you in for this? I mean if we happen to die at the same time it’s like fate is telling us to try it! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/39 "2004-09-30T20:34:21Z")
> [@alterego](#): > > You say “not any more” as if I haven’t been on a Navy ship recently 🙂 Perhaps the newer ships and aircraft carriers have all the neat new toys onboard, but some of these ships, including mine, are 40 years old. We melted plastics into discs but the aluminum cans and metal went over. Then you were/are violating Federal law, and filled out grunchloads of paperwork after the fact. 😉 Look, I’m not going to say every afloat command follows the laws exactly every time. But there are programs in place for disposal of trash, and they don’t include throwing it overboard. We had an incinerator onboard a cruiser I served on in the '80s, and there’s always the Red Goat (when it’s working) on the older/smaller ships. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025/40 "2004-09-30T23:13:31Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Oooh! That’s good! **mangeorge** , you in for this? I mean if we happen to die at the same time it’s like fate is telling us to try it! 😃 I’m re-writing my will as we speak. My kid’s will give me the old :rolleyes:, but that’s ok. They _won’t_ be surprised. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-have-a-viking-style-burial-at-sea/266025.md?page=3)