Death at Sea

[PatBet]

Does anyone know what happens if someone dies at sea and the body is not found?  My ancestor was a sea captain and died off the coast of New Jersey in 1933 but I can't find any death certificate in New Jersey or in Maryland (where he was born and lived).   I have the newspaper report of the loss of the barge Salem that he was on.
Any help would be greatly appreciated
Pat

[shellyesq]

If he was missing and never found, someone might have had him declared dead later on.  Did you contact the New Jersey Department of Health to see if they had any record?  If they only looked in 1933, maybe there was something later on.

[Michael ONeil]

Always tricky this one. As it was 1933 then there's no wartime complications that certainly makes finding merchant mariners records difficult. I presume your ancestor was merchant marine? If so then does the USA have an equivalent of what we have in the UK - the Marine Register? If so then the loss of the Salem will be recorded and as your ancestor was the captain then he will definitely be listed. As far as I know, in the UK you can obtain a certified copy of the ship's loss and the sailor's details and this is legally the equivalent of a death certificate. I think that a relative can apply to have a death certificate later (as shellyesq suggests) but in the UK that could be done from wherever the applicant was living at that time. As we have a national system for recording BDMs then at least it makes it slightly easier to check given you know name and year of death (events recorded years later are always added to the actual year the event happened which raises a few eyebrows when it happens with births). Over your side of the pond, you have State and County records to contend with so you might be looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack unless if the person you think might have made an application stayed roughly in the same location.
Good luck - Michael.
Liverpool, UK.

[PatBet]

Thanks for your replies.  I should have included more info.
I have already checked the State archives where he lived for both 1933 and 7 years past that.  I also checked ancestry for New Jersey but perhaps I should check in the NJ archives itself.    I called the coast guard but they did not help at all, even though they were called in during the sinking of the ship. 
The ship was a private barge owned by a NJ company that is now out of business so I can't ask them either. 

[GrahamSimons]

Found this site via Cyndi's List - not sure if it will help.... http://www.usmm.org/

[PatBet]

Thanks!

[Lisa in California]

My one and only American ancestor was born in New Jersey (c1850).  Granted it was a very long time ago compared to your 1933 date (one would think that birth and death records might have less errors by then), but I had a very difficult time finding a record of my ancestor's birth.  It turns out that because he was a twin, the gender box had dashes rather than M or F which was not helpful when I was looking for the birth of a male, and the spelling of his last name was incorrect.

Is there a possibility that your ancestor's name could have been incorrectly recorded?  Was the ship lost in 1933 or 1932?  After a quick search, it appears that one website has the date recorded as 1932.    But, perhaps I did not find the correct barge.

...I also checked ancestry for New Jersey but perhaps I should check in the NJ archives itself.

PS  I've also check Anc*try for the death an Irish ancestor (c1845 in New Jersey) and I've not yet found it on Anc*try.

PS, again.      Welcome to RootsChat.