Sømandens våde grav, s. 103-167 - Handels- og Søfartsmuseet

We do have a few details about burials at sea from heathen times, but we have
many more from the Christian era. As long ago as the Middle Ages they took
place in the same way as today with tokens of respect and Christian ritual, i.e.
prayers, psalms, a funeral oration and the sprinkling of earth, before the body
was east overboard wrapped in a sail or hammock, or perhaps laid in a coffin.
A weight, such as coal, a stone or a cannonball, was attached to the body to make
it sink, but the weight was often not heavy enough so that the body remained on
the surface and even seemed to follow the ship. In warm seas the corpses were
often eaten by sharks, mackerel or other sea animals. It was unpleasant to watch,
but in principle no worse than worms and lizards eating the corpses in a graveyard.
Ancient heathen ideas have mingled with the Christian concepts. It was, for
example, quite common to believe in death ships which fetched the buried and
carried them to the kingdom ofthe dead, just as one still hears tales of phantom
ships, the Flying Dutchman etc.Nobody was quite sure about the location of this
kingdom of the dead. Here in Denmark it was believed that it was on Læsø, the
island of the sea god Ægir (Hlér) and his wife Ran. In Brittany and England
certain islands were considered to be death islands. Others referred to the
fortunate islands in the ocean, God knows where. Later on, probably in the
17th-18th century, English sailors, presumably rather much as a joke, »in­
vented« one or two maritime kingdoms of death. It was said that the bottom of
the sea was ruled over by Davy Jones, an old pirate (in faet Davy was another
name for the devil) who put all wicked sailors into his huge »locker«, which was
then padlocked. It was supposed to be a kind of heil for lazy, untrustworthy,
malingering sailors. To go to Davy's locker was a euphemism for dying. The
counterpart to this was Fiddler's Green, which sounds like the name of a
summer restaurant. It was paradise for the good, honest, conscientious sailors,
who could enjoy themselves here as in sailor towns all over the world with rum,
good food, tobacco, pretty girls, music and dancing. Even the legendary great
ship »The Merry Dun of Dover« (and other names), could function as heaven.
It was so big that the captain had to ride a horse to get around the deck, and the
ship's boys s who climbed up on high came down again as old bearded sea dogs.
There was an inn in every block in the rigging where the sailors not only enjoyed
the same material pleasures as in Fiddler's Green, but also had the satisfaction
of having their former tormentors put to work with the most menial jobs: the
mates scrubbed the deck, the captains reefed the sails and the ship owners
waited at table.
It is, however, to be assumed that sailors who had been brought up in the
Christian faith counted on going to heaven and not to heil. The reasoning was
that the Lord could not bring Himself to punish the wretched and poor sailors
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