The Guild of the Holy Compassion held its annual wreath-laying ceremony to pay tribute to the men and women who have been lost at sea.

The ceremony took place on Friday in the main shipping channel at Murray’s Anchorage and was presided over by the Reverend Canon John Stow.

Executives from the major shipping companies in Bermuda joined pilot warden Mario Thompson, retired pilot warden Keith Battersbee and assistant pilot warden Harold Millett on the pilot boat St David.

With the cargo ship Somers Isles alongside, Canon Stowe blessed the wreaths and paid tribute “to those who go down to the sea in ships and who have paid the supreme sacrifice in the service of their families and nations”.

Derek Tully, the secretary of the guild, gave a special “thanks” to the captain and crew of the Somers Isles who gathered on the main deck of their ship to watch the ceremony.

“They gave rounds of applause as the wreaths were blessed and placed over the stern of the St David,” Dr Tully said.

Henry Hayward, honorary custodian of the guild, thanked the participants of the ceremony.

He gave a special mention to the five-man crew of the Ocean Queen, who were lost at sea off Bermuda during a storm in 1927.

“We especially remember the families of the St George’s pilots,” he said.