Maritime Foundation Memorial Book

Over the centuries, many people who have lost their lives at sea - whether during peacetime or in war, whether in ships, aircraft or shoreline tragedies - have often had no grave or permanent memorial of their passing. The Memorial Book for those Lost at Sea with No Known Grave was established by the Maritime Foundation in 1987 to provide a focus of remembrance for relatives and friends. The Memorial Book, which is kept at All Hallows by the Tower, records the names and, where possible, the circumstances of the deaths of people lost at sea with no know grave, irrespective of creed or nationality. You can watch a short film about the Memorial Book HERE.

To see a list of the current entries, please click HERE. Entry is open to all who have been lost from ships, inshore craft, offshore installations and from beaches and who have no known grave. A small charge is levied to cover the costs of inserting entries into the Memorial Book. If you have a relative or friend who has died in such circumstances, however long ago, and you would like to have their name entered in the book, you can download an application form here.

The Memorial Book remains on permanent display in the Mariners' Chapel at All Hallows, but the Foundation has also undertaken the digitisation of the entries to make these records available to a much wider audience. Entries in the book are accompanied by an online entry on the publicly accessible Lost at Sea website, which can also include images and documents relating to the loss in a historical context. As the website expands, we hope it will be of interest not only to families and friends, but also to historians, archivists and educationalists. To access the records, please visit www.lostatsea.org.uk

A Service of Thanksgiving is held in October each year for friends and families to commemorate those whose names have been entered in the Memorial Book. Sadly, due to Covid restrictions it was not possible to hold the 2021 service in church in the usual way, but an online Service of Remembrance was recorded and is available to watch via the Lost at Sea website HERE.