As the 'Carpathia' was heading for Pier 54 in New York, to reunite the 705 survivors aboard the Titanic, another ship, the 'MacKay-Bennett' was headed toward a more grisly destination in the North Atlantic. It was her task to retrieve as many bodies as she could of the 1,523 passengers who perished that "Fateful Night" of April 14th - 15th, 1912.
The White Star Line began to make arrangements for the grim task of retrieving the victims as soon as the loss of life was verified by a number of wireless messages received from the 'Carpathia'.
The White Star's agents in Halifax, chartered the Commercial Cable Company's cable ship the 'Mackay-Bennett'. The crew was all-volunteer, under the command of Captain F.H. Lardner. The commander and his crew would receive double wages for this difficult task. They would leave as soon as the ship could be loaded for her journey.
The undertaking firm of John Snow and Company, Ltd. of Halifax, was requested to handle the funeral arrangements. Along with Snow and Company an additional 40 members of the Funeral Directors' Association of the Maritime Provinces agreed to help embalm and prepare the dead for burial. By Wednesday, April 17th, 1912, more than a hundred coffins, tons of ice, embalmer's tools, and canvas and burlap bags were loaded aboard the 'Mackay-Bennett' at her Halifax pier. She left at noon for the last known location of the Titanic. Along with her crew, Canon Hind of All Saints Cathedral and an embalmer made the journey to the disaster site. Soon, the 'Mackay-Bennett's' job would be one of heartbreak and sorrow.
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Captain Lardner was aided by other ships in finding the disaster site as the 'Mackay-Bennett' drew closer to where most of the wreckage and bodies would be found. Few ships, after the Titanic went down, chose to navigate in or around the area where the Titanic sank. Those that did, came upon hundreds of bodies and wreckage. Most ship captains considered this site a graveyard and chose to not subject their passengers to the grim sight in that area.
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As cautious as some captains were about subjecting their passengers to such sights, some ships could not avoid the wreckage area. Even after the search for victims by the 'Mackay-Bennett' had concluded, ships continued to sight victims of the Titanic. Some Scandinavian immigrants en route to Minnesota related an incident so heartbreaking and ghastly a transcription of it was sent to President Taft. "In several instances," the immigrants reported, "bodies were struck by our boat and knocked from the water several feet into the air".
One of the 'Bremen's' First-Class passengers saw a body of a woman in her night dress, and clasping a baby to her breast. Close by was the body of another woman with her arms around a shaggy dog. Other passengers saw the bodies of three men in a group, all clinging to a chair. Floating by just beyond them were dozens of bodies, wearing life belts and clinging desperately together as though in their last struggle for life. The entire surface of the ocean around them formed a wreath of deck chairs and wreckage.
The North German liner 'Rhein' reported bodies and wreckage in latitude 42.01° N, 49.13' W. The 'Bremen' wired to the 'Mackay-Bennett' that she had passed more than a hundred bodies at latitude 42.00° N, 49.20' W. The crew and her ship were almost there.
The 'Mackay-Bennett' arrived at the site on Saturday, April 20th, 1912 at 8.00 p.m. The next morning, around 4.30 a.m. the crew members climbed into their boats and began the task of retrieving the water-logged corpses. Fifty-one bodies were recovered that first day, two children, three women and forty-six men.
As each body came aboard, a square of canvas with a stenciled number on it was attached. Personal property were placed in canvas bags bearing the same number. Many of the bodies were in poor condition. Many were indistinguishable. Some showed signs of damage sustained during the sinking. Other bodies were disfigured by either sea creatures or from the corpses smashing against ice flow or wreckage. For these bodies, a full description of the victim including hair color, height, weight, age, birthmarks and scars were methodically entered into a ledger, on the corresponding page number. These details, it was hoped, would permit accurate identifications to be made even if the body had suffered great trauma.
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At 8.15 p.m. on the first day of the body retrieval, burial services were held on the 'Mackay-Bennett's' forecastle deck as thirty bodies wrapped in canvas and weighted down with iron weights were recommitted to the sea. The remainder, (all First-Class passengers no matter what the condition of the body, were embalmed) placed in a coffin for the return to Halifax.
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One of the first of the Titanic's illustrious passengers to be found was multi-millionaire Colonel John Jacob Astor IV. His body was badly crushed and covered in soot, indicating that he was killed when the Titanic's funnel collapsed. Astor's body was the first to be claimed. After it's return to Halifax, it bore the body number of 124. Identification had been easy in Astor's case. His record noted that he wore a blue serge suit, a blue handkerchief with 'A.V.' on it, a belt with gold buckle, brown boots with red rubber soles, and a brown flannel shirt with 'J.J.A.' in its collar. Astor's effects included a gold watch, gold cuff links with diamonds, a diamond ring with three stones, £225 in English bank notes, $2,440 in American bank notes, £5 in gold, 7 shillings in silver, 50 francs, a gold pencil and a pocketbook.
Another notable Titanic victim was that of Wallace Hartley, the bandleader of Titanic's orchestra. His music case was still strapped to his side when he was pulled from the Atlantic's icy water.
Two days later on April 23rd, 1912, the 'Mackay-Bennett' had 80 bodies on board and had received additional supplies of canvas and burlap from a liner passing through the area. The search operation began again and continued for 14 straight hours. An additional 87 victims were recovered, searched and tagged. Another burial took place that night and at noon on the 24th, seventy-seven more bodies followed the others.
Captain Lardner quickly became aware of the fact that they would be overwhelmed with bodies. He contacted the White Star's New York office for help. On April 21st, the company's Halifax agents chartered another ship, the 'Minia', a cable ship owned by the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, Ltd. A shortage of coffins delayed her departure, but fully stocked with ice, iron weights, coffins and embalming supplies, the 'Minia' left at midnight on April 22nd to join the 'Mackay-Bennett'.
At 6.15 a.m. on Friday, April 26th the 'Minia' and the 'Mackay-Bennett' began their joint search. Fourteen more bodies were found by noon, and these were placed aboard the 'Mackay-Bennett' which filled her to capacity. Her crew had found 306 bodies. Of these, 116 had been buried at sea. The cable ship now returned to Halifax with 190 victims on board, a hundred in all the available coffins, the rest in canvas bags on her forecastle deck.
The 'Minia' remained searching, but bad weather and strong gales made retrieval of additional bodies almost impossible. Captain W.G.S. DeCarteret advised the White Star Line that the gales had swept the remaining bodies into the Gulf Stream. The 'Minia' did recover some bodies and returned 15 to Halifax on May 6th.
As the 'Minia' left for Halifax a third ship had been dispatched by the White Star Line to continue the search. The Canadian Ministry of Marine and Fisheries' 'Montmagny' left Sorel, Quebec. The 'Montmagny's' search had not been fruitful. A dense fog still covered the area and only 4 additional corpses were recovered. On Monday, May 13th, the 'Montmagny' crew off-loaded 3 coffins at Louisburg, Nova Scotia, for shipment to Halifax, and within a day returned to the Titanic site to pick-up where she had left off. On her return, only small pieces of wreckage were found, scattered to the east of the disaster site. Reaching the edge of the Gulf Stream, the 'Montmagny' left the area and headed for home with no additional victims.
The White Star Line made one more furtive attempt to locate additional victims. On May 14th the Bowring Brothers' 'Algerine', which departed from St. John's, Newfoundland, one day later. During their voyage, one more additional body was recovered, that of saloon steward James McGrady. Grady was thought to be the final victim of the Titanic to be recovered. However, another grisly discovery was found in mid-May.
A full month after the sinking, 200 miles from the Titanic's last position, the 'Oceanic' came upon collapsible Lifeboat A. There were three bodies in it, a passenger from Chicago - Mr. Thompson Beattie (Cabin C-6) - and two crew members. The canvas
sides of the boat had never been raised and there was a foot of water in the bottom. A crew of volunteers rowed over from the ship and prepared the bodies for burial. Passengers on the 'Oceanic' watched the scene in grisly fascination. The luncheon bugle was ignored until the last canvas-wrapped body was returned to the sea.
In the years following the retrieval the 'Mackay-Bennett's' crew would reveal many stories of those horrifying days of body retrieval in the North Atlantic. However, there was one victim that the crew, even years after the incident, had a difficult time talking about. They would remember this victim for years to come.
During the early stages of the recovery process the crew of the 'Mackay-Bennett' retrieved the body of a young boy floating amongst the wreckage. The child was about two years of age. His entry in the ledger of victims simply stated: "No identification. No effects." He was one of two children found and the only child that had not suffered great trauma to his body. Even the toughest of crew members wept openly over the discovery of the Titanic's smallest of victims.
The 'Mackay-Bennett' arrived in Halifax on April 30th, 1912. The crew off-loaded the bodies at HM Naval Dockyards, north coaling wharf number 4. Close by were twenty sailors from the Canadian cruiser 'Niobe'. It was their duty to keep the curious and photographers from interfering with the off-loading of bodies. Halifax officials followed a strict pattern of decorum and respect toward the dead and their survivors.
The first of the bodies to be taken ashore were the Titanic's crew members for whom there had been no embalming or other preparation. After that came the Second-Class passengers and Third-Class passengers ("Steerage") wrapped in canvas bags. Finally the bodies of the First-Class passengers all embalmed, most identified, and all in coffins were taken from the stern. Hundreds of horse-drawn hearses pulled up to pick-up one of the wrapped bodies or coffins. All the victims were taken to the Mayflower Curling Rink in Halifax. The curling rink had been turned into a temporary morgue where embalming, storage and identification took place. The corpses were to be kept at the rink for two weeks. Where faces were distinguishable, photographs of the deceased and additional descriptive details were taken for future identification after burial.
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Jewish victims were to burried at the "Baron de Hirsch Cemetery".
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For the remainder, these bodies would be buried at the non-sectarian "Fairview Cemetery".
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The burials began on Friday, May 3rd, 1912 at all three cemeteries. As sad as all of these funerals were, no amount of mourning could surpass the following day. Saturday was the day for the funeral of the unidentified little boy found by the 'Mackay-Bennett's' crew. Hundreds of mourners from Halifax and the surrounding area packed St. George's Anglican Church to pay their last respects to this little unknown victim. People around the world embraced this little boy and mourned this loss of innocence which was cut short at such a young age.
Prior to his funeral the White Star Line had been inundated with offers to sponsor the child's funeral costs, but only one request was granted and that request came from Captain Lardner and his crew of the 'Mackay-Bennett'. Six of her crew members carried his little white coffin, covered in flowers, to the hearse for burial at the "Fairview Cemetery". The young boy was laid to rest with the other casualties from the Titanic. His tombstone, made of granite, bears the inscription: "Erected to the memory of an unknown child whose remains were recovered after the disaster to the Titanic,
The six weeks of searching by four ships had recovered 325 dead, of which 116 had been buried at sea. Of the 209 returned to Halifax, 59 were claimed and shipped to other locations, which 150 were buried in the city's three cemeteries. Of all the 325 recovered dead, 128 remained unidentified.
In all this is how the three classes were treated regarding the return of bodies and burial at sea:
For the 1,523 passengers that perished on April 15th 1,175 of them, would have the sea as their final resting place, 1,000 miles due East of Boston which will be as close as they will ever get to the land of hope and promise. Beginning on April 15th, 1912 their hope rested 13,000 feet below on the ocean bottom, on a gently sloping alpine-like countryside overlooking a small canyon with the 'unsinkable' Titanic as their only companion...
April 15th, 1912".
This website is dedicated to the eternal legacy of the RMS Titanic and to all of those who needlessly died one cold night in April, 1912...
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