![]() Due to severe fog and rough seas it took the ship nearly four days to sail the 800 nautical miles (1,500 km 920 mi) to the scene of the disaster. ![]() The ship left Halifax at 12:28PM on Wednesday, 17 April 1912. There was a hierarchy to the mortuary details as the ship could never hope to bring all back: first class passengers were embalmed and placed in coffins second-class were wrapped in linen winding sheets third class and crew bodies were weighted and buried at sea (116 in total). 100 long tons (100 t) of ice, in which to store the recovered bodiesĬrew were paid double pay for the grisly task.Sufficient embalming supplies to handle 70 bodies.Snow, Jr., the chief embalmer with the firm of John Snow & Co., the province of Nova Scotia's largest undertaking firm, hired by White Star to oversee the embalming arrangements Canon Kenneth Cameron Hind of All Saints Cathedral, Halifax.Both additional and specialized personnel and supplies were taken on board for the assignment. Larnder, took on board a combination of specialists and an effective mobile mortuary. The task was further motivated by Joseph Astor's announcement of a $100,000 reward for the ship recovering the body of his father J. The ship became notable as the main vessel contracted by the White Star Line to carry out the difficult task of recovering the bodies left floating in the North Atlantic, after the Titanic disaster. Of the three ships in Halifax at that time only Mackay-Bennett had a hold capable of holding the 125 coffins and ice forming part of the exercise to recover bodies. In April 1912, she was berthed at Halifax during a period of long-term work maintaining the France-to-Canada communications cable. Typical was the rescue of the crew of the sinking schooner Caledonia on 12 February 1912. In addition to carrying out numerous difficult cable repairs, many during times of wartime danger, due to the nature of her work and resultant position in the Atlantic, Mackay-Bennett performed many rescues. The Canadian author Thomas Raddall worked as wireless operator aboard Mackay-Bennett and based some short stories on his experiences aboard. Mainly based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she first arrived in March 1885, she was also often used for operations on the European side of the Atlantic, based out of Plymouth, England. Named for two founders of the Commercial Cable Company, John W. The hull design included bilge keels to keep her stable, and she had two rudders, one fore and one aft, to maximize manoeuvrability. The design was also very hydrodynamic to keep her fuel efficient and fast in operation. ![]() It was one of the first ships built from steel rather than iron, and she had a relatively deep keel design to both accommodate as much cable as possible and to keep the ship stable in the Atlantic Ocean swells. The company incorporated a number of then new and original features into the cable ship. The ship was commissioned by the USA-based Commercial Cable Company from then noted River Clyde-based warship builders John Elder & Co. ![]() It is notable for being the ship that recovered the majority of the bodies that were recovered after the sinking of the Titanic. CS Mackay-Bennett in Dry Dock at Halifax, Nova ScotiaĬable Ship (CS) Mackay-Bennett was a transatlantic cable-laying and cable-repair ship registered at Lloyd's of London as a Glasgow vessel but owned by the American Commercial Cable Company.
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