Police officers and military personnel stood by to keep the prying eyes of the public at bay. Residents mostly heeded the request to stay away, but there was an understanding news of the sinking had to be shared as reporters from Toronto, Montreal, Boston and New York descended on Halifax.
Shutlak says the dockyard commander granted reporters a pass to a holding wharf to witness caskets being off-loaded. Photographers, however, were strictly forbidden. It's why there are so few photos from the time. They didn't want people to take snapshots of someone fainting.
Over the coming weeks, families of descended on Halifax in hopes of finding their loved ones among the dead and claiming personal effects. There was no single memorial to remember the victims, though Ruffman says there were a number of funeral services for individuals, including an unidentified toddler who was plucked from the icy waters by the crew of the Mackay-Bennett.
The youngster was buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery under a headstone paid for by the ship's crew and dedicated to an "unknown child. In all, the remains of victims were buried in three Halifax cemeteries. The White Star Line paid for simple grey headstones, while more ornate markers were often paid for by the family. A few weeks after the sinking, there was little else to be done. Hind, aboard the Mackay-Bennett , as he conducts a service for the dead. The Minia , a cable ship, was dispatched to help with the difficult job of locating victims and providing them with proper burials.
Early on Friday some more bodies were picked up. The captain then felt we had covered the ground fairly well, and decided to start on our homeward way at noon. After receiving some supplies from the Minia, we bid goodbye and proceeded on our way. The Mackay-Bennett succeeded in finding in all bodies, of which were buried at sea, and one could not help feeling as we steamed homeward, that of those bodies we had on board, it would be well if the greater number of them were resting in the deep.
It is to be noted how earnestly and reverently all the work was done, and how nobly the crew acquitted themselves during a work of several days, which meant a hard and trying strain on mind and body.
What seems a very regrettable fact is, that in chartering the Mackay-Bennett for this work, the White Star Company did not send an official agent to accompany the steamer in her search for the bodies. Boothby, G. Butterworth, E. Gill, Anvers Gustafsen, A. Hayter, G. Hinckley, Henry D. Hansen, Reg Hale, W.
Hinton, Adolph Humblein, A. Hell, T. Widener; James Keller, R. Lily, Jaen Mouros, Mrs. Mack, Mrs. McNamee, Mary Mangan, M. Petty, C. Ricks, J. Robinson, J. Stone, Fred Sutton, W. Saunders, Wm. Sage, Philip J. Stokes, Ernest P. Tomling, F. Vear, Leslie Williams, W. Watson, O. They had bean struck by spars or floating wreckage. We commenced work again on Monday morning at daylight, but bodies were scarce. We got only 26 that day. We searched 15 minutes in and out along the line of wreck. At night we marked the floating wreckage with a drifting buoy so we could find it readily in the morning.
We picked up ninety bodies before noon. Then the weather came on thick and in the afternoon we recovered only In one place we saw them scattered over the surface looking like a flock of gulls. They looked just like gulls with the white ends of the life belts fluttering and flapping up and down with the rise and fall of the waves. All of those picked up wore life belts and they rod upright in the waves, the belts carrying them high above the water.
Then the captain continued his outline of the cruise, consulting the log before him from time to time. We saw nothing all day. About midnight the weather eased up and we shaped our course back for the bodies. At Thursday morning we found one drifting near us. We let her drift until daylight and then commenced work. We picked up 87 bodies that day. Thursday I got a message saying the Minia was coming out to assist us.
She arrived about 45 minutes after midnight Friday. At noon I picked up 14 more bodies and then we started for Halifax because we had as many on board as we could look after. We experienced bad weather on the way in. When they picked up four or five bodies, if the weather was heavy, we would bring them in. If the weather was calm, they could handled seven or eight in a boat. The bodies were hoisted on board and when they were searched, the contents of the pockets and their valuables were placed in canvass bags having on them the same number as that on the body.
In this way we made some identifications, long after the bodies were taken aboard. We covered a square of sea about thirty miles long and thirty miles wide, about. All of the bodies found were In the cold water, north of the gulf stream. Widener but the quality of the underclothing worn by body was not such as would be worn by a first class passenger. His overcoat bore the Initials E. His head was terribly crushed and the body would not keep so we burled him at sea.
I feel sure that those buried at sea were practically all either seamen, stewards or other employes of the White Star company. We have quite a lot of jewelry taken from both men and women.
Halifax, April
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