It is an unusual load that we board the CS Mackay-Bennett. Normally, this transatlantic cable ship based in Halifax (Nova Scotia, southeastern Canada) is responsible for repairing submarine cables in the North Atlantic Ocean. On April 17, 1912, the Canadian steamship loaded a hundred coffins, 100 tons of ice and 12 tons of steel into its holds usually occupied by kilometers of copper tubes and maintenance tools. Like three other vessels chartered from the Canadian coast (the CS Minia and le CGS Montmagny from Halifax, the SS Algerine from St. John’s, Newfoundland), the ship was converted into a floating morgue.
Chartered by the White Star Line, the British shipping company that co-owns the RMS Titanic, this sinister fleet was equipped for one reason: to find as many bodies as possible. More than forty-eight hours have passed since the sinking of the famous transatlantic liner (on the night of April 14 to 15, 1912) and a precise count of the missing has still not been drawn up. Many families are unaware of the fate of their loved ones: we will have to wait until April 19 for us to post a list of survivors at Southampton (England). Some famous passengers, like John Jacob Astor IVone of the greatest American fortunes, are missing. They must be brought back to dry land at all costs, if only to bury them there. The Mackay-Bennett is the first to weigh anchor. Destination: 41.16N, 50.14W, 800 nautical miles from Halifax.
The cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett, pictured here circa 1884, was tasked with recovering the remains of victims of the sinking of the Titanic in April and May 1912. | Author unknown / public domain via Wikimedia Commons
The time frozen at 2:10
Arriving first at the site of the shipwreck, on the evening of April 19, 1912, the Mackay-Bennett found its way to a cloud of debris – shards of wood, chairs, clothes – which bore witness to the scale of the disaster. Crowded on the deck, the sailors suddenly turn white: it is a veritable sea of death which rolls before their eyes, dotted with white dots which mark the location of the life jackets. “We saw them scattered on the surface, looking like a flock of seagulls”, the ship’s captain told the Washington Times. The macabre work is about to begin.
The task of the salvagers is long and tedious: hoisting the corpses aboard rowboats, bringing them back onto the main deck, inventorying their clothing and possessions, note their physical characteristics (eye and hair colors, height, weight, estimated age, etc.) to facilitate identification. “Body in good condition, but badly bruised by the shock of the waves”observes Clifford Crease, a Mackay-Bennett mechanic, in his logbook, April 21. When they collected jewelry and personal items and buried them in a numbered canvas bag, the sailors noticed that most of the drowned men’s watches indicate 2:10…The fateful hour of the shipwreck.
On April 22, the swollen body of John Jacob Astor IV was recovered. Managed by a prolonged stay in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, it remains easily recognizable by his 14-karat gold watchher jewelry and her embroidered initials. Which gives the crew, obviously gloomy, a reason to rejoice: the millionaire’s son has promised a reward for the recovery of the remains.
A corpse is recovered by a launch from the CS Minia, also chartered to recover the bodies of victims of the sinking of the Titanic in April 1912. | Author unknown / public domain via Wikimedia Commons
Unequal before death
The sailors quickly realize, given the scale of the “harvest”, that it will be impossible to take care of all the dead. Already the fluid used for thanatopraxia (embalming) is running out, just like the coffins, already full. Knowing that it will take several days to return to Halifax, the undertakers prefer to bury the bodies in poor condition at sea… Unsurprisingly, these are mainly third class passengers (who nevertheless represent 65% of the victims!) who pay the price. After a brief funeral oration, they are wrapped in a canvas then, weighted with steel bars, the corpses are sent to the abyss, where the wreck of the Titanic also rests.
Why does class distinction maintain its hold in death? It is likely that life insurance for wealthier passengers guaranteed them preferential treatment from the “morgue ships”. “No important man was sent back to the depths, would have assured Frederick Harold Larnder, captain of the Mackay-Bennett. (…) It seemed preferable to focus on bringing ashore the people whose death would raise the most questions about insurance, inheritance and litigation.”
What’s more, the number of bodies to be taken care of undoubtedly discouraged the crews. The Chicago Tribune April 25, 1912 reports that, four days earlier, a German ship passing in the area had crossed “fields of corpses”. Even the arrival, on April 26, of the steamship CS Minia –who was only able to recover seventeen bodies– will not allow us to fish out all those who are still floating, increasingly disfigured by the elements. We must therefore resolve to return with the meager “loot” stored in the holds, at the risk of compromising the integrity of the remains.
The body of a victim of the sinking of the Titanic is being embalmed before being placed in a makeshift coffin aboard the rescue ship CS Minia in April or May 1912. | Photo attributed to William J. Parker, carpenter on board the CS Minia / Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (NSARM) / public domain via Wikimedia Commons
337 bodies repatriated, including 150 anonymous
At the end of April 1912, its flag at half-mast, the CS Mackay-Bennett unloaded its sad cargo in the port of Halifax. A convoy of hearses awaits him on the quay, as well as a few serious-looking onlookers. Before giving them the last sacraments, the remains are laid out on the ice rink of the Mayflower Curling Clubin order to delay the effects of decomposition as much as possible. The first body removed will, unsurprisingly, be that of John Jacob Astor IV.
Hearses are lined up on the docks of the port of Halifax (Nova Scotia, southeastern Canada) to transport victims of the RMS Titanic to funeral homes, May 6, 1912. | William J. Parker or William Mosher / Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (NSARM) / public domain via Wikimedia Commons
In total, Canadian mortuary ships will have recovered 337 bodies (the vast majority is to be credited to the Mackay-Bennett, which recovered 306 remains), a third of which were buried at sea. This total number, which represents only 22 to 23% of the victims (estimated between 1,491 and 1,513 ), shows that the wind and currents quickly dispersed the corpses, also subject to accelerated decomposition in the water. The Algerine, the last boat to arrive at the site of the shipwreck, will only recover one body at the end of May 1912. The others disappeared forever.
Despite the work of the “morgue ships” leaving the Canadian coast, less than half of the bodies recovered could be identified. The others will be buried anonymously with the mention «DIED APRIL 15, 1912» engraved on their tombs. Today, 150 victims of the shipwreck still rest in Halifax.
Source: www.slate.fr
