Four miles off Morehead City, the North Carolina Marine Patrol recently completed a vital, quiet mission. Officers respectfully scattered the cremated remains of 116 people into the Atlantic Ocean.
The annual voyage is a partnership with the state’s Chief Medical Examiner. It ensures those who die without next of kin are laid to rest with dignity in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.
Officers opened and committed each bag of ashes to the sea. Officials will preserve the precise GPS coordinates of the site for ten years, allowing long-lost family members to find closure if they come forward in the future.
