Remembering seafarers and others lost at sea

The Memorial Book and Service of Thanksgiving

The sea takes a toll in lives. While the War Graves Commission provides lasting memorials to those killed in battle, many people lost at sea, whether in peacetime or wartime, have no such memorial. In 1987, the Maritime Foundation initiated a Memorial Book for ‘Those Lost at Sea with No Known Grave’, which is kept in the Mariners’ Chapel at All Hallows by The Tower to record their names and circumstances of their deaths. A Service of Thanksgiving is held each year for friends and family. To save what, for many, may be the expense and difficulty of travelling to London, the Foundation has proposed that linked Memorial Books should be established in other major ports. This project has the support of the Mission to Seafarers, but much work remains to be done.