"To those at sea..."   the third toast
(Russian seafaring tradition)

During one of my trips with Peter Bird and Kenneth F Crutchlow (ORS Director) we were in Russia obtaining official permission from the city council of Vladivostok, Russia, for Peter to row from Vladivostok to San Francisco. One of our hosts, Vladimir Maltsev, a former executive involved with Russian shipping, would always offer the third toast at different gatherings we attended with, " To those at sea..." 
  Not until Peter Bird was lost at sea did I appreciate the full meaning of Vladimir's toast. He was not only recognizing the efforts of those on ships crossing the seas but also the spirit of those friends and family that have been lost at sea. It's an odd situation trying to achieve closure when someone you love is lost at sea and there is no physical remains to be found. 

  Peter Bird was lost at sea June 3 1996, a full moon. We had his memorial June 30 at the Corinthian Yacht Club in Tiburon, California ; another full moon, a blue moon. Once in a blue moon overlooking the San Francisco Bay on a beautiful clear summer evening over a hundred mourners at a memorial for Peter, I made a toast: " To those at sea..."

Tom Lynch American Coordinator of the Ocean Rowing Society

Editors Note: All six of the ocean row boats listed above eventually made it to Land and were recovered.
The only "body" of those oceanrowers lost at sea that was recovered was that of Eugene Smurgis. His body was returned to Lipetzk, Russia for burial;
  there is a Museum of Smurgis in Lipetzk and a street  was named after him as a mark of respect for his ocean rowing efforts.