Widower fulfills wife's dying wish to have a Viking funeral

A heartbroken widower has fulfilled his wife’s dying wish to have a traditional Viking funeral. Devoted Francis Mulcahy took Karine’s ashes two miles out to sea on a replica longship that he built himself. He then set fire to the 3ft-long vessel and watched it sink.


Photo from SWNS.

Karine, 59, was Scottish but insisted on the unusual send-off because her grandparents were Scandinavian. Francis, 50, said: “I loved her very much. She wished for that sort of funeral, so that’s what she got. I wanted to give her everything I possibly could in my power.” Karine, who lived in Tavistock, Devon, died from a blood clot which spread to her lungs on September 15 last year.


Photo from SWNS.

Francis then set about fulfilling her dying wish and bought a £120 flatpack replica Viking longboat – intended as a collector’s model. He spent five days building the wooden boat and even added a Saltire sail. Her ashes were then placed into two small cabins on the boat’s deck.


Photo from SWNS.

Last week, Francis and 70 mourners sailed out from Plymouth Sound on a friend’s fishing boat. When they were two miles out, he used a blowtorch to ignite firelighters on the longship. He said: “We just watched it as it burnt. After that, we turned the boat around and went to a pub where we had a good eat and a good drink together and just simply celebrated her life.”

With more photos.