It is difficult to describe the emotions we experienced. Youngsters, grown old, stood uncovered on the afterdeck. A steady rain splattered down upon us. In the stillness the soft voice of Chaplain Ingvoldstad was clearly heard:
“I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die. . . . “Unto Almighty God we commend the soul of our brother departed, and we commit his body to the deep; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; at whose coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the sea shall give up her dead; and the corruptible bodies of those who sleep in him shall be changed, and made like unto his glorious body; according to the mighty working whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself.”
A volley was fired, and the canvas-bound bodies slid gently into the sea. The service itself was a form of action, a picture that moved steadily before us—the flag at half-mast, the prayer, the committal...
