Halifax.
On April 24th no wireless message was received from the Mackay-Bennett, but the White Star Line officials and telegraphers familiar with the wireless alphabet were busy trying to reconcile some of the names received with those of persons who went down on the Titanic. That the body of William T. Stead, the English journalist and author, had been recovered by the Mackay-Bennett, but through a freakish error in wireless transmission the name of another was reported instead, was one of the theories advanced by persons familiar with the Morse code.
When the German liner Bremen reached New York the account of its having sighted bodies of the Titanic victims was obtained.
From the bridge, officers of the ship saw more than a hundred bodies floating on the sea, a boat upside down, together with a number of small pieces of wood, steamer chairs and other wreckage. As the cable ship Mackay-Bennett was in sight, and having word that her mission was to look for bodies, no attempt was made by the Bremen’s crew to pick up the corpses.
In the vicinity was seen an iceberg which answered the description of the one the Titanic struck. Smaller bergs were sighted the same day, but at some distance from where the Titanic sank.
The officers of the Bremen did not care to talk about the tragic spectacle, but among the passengers several were found who gave accounts of the dismal panorama through which their ship steamed.
Mrs. Johanna Stunke, a first-cabin passenger, described the scene from the liner’s rail.
“It was between 4 and 5 o’clock, Saturday, April 20th,” she said, “when our ship sighted an iceberg off the bow to the starboard. As we drew nearer, and could make out small dots floating around in the sea, a feeling of awe and sadness crept over everyone on the ship.
“We passed within a hundred feet of the southernmost drift of the wreckage, and looking down over the rail we distinctly saw a number of bodies so clearly that we could make out what they were wearing and whether they were men or women.
“We saw one woman in her night dress, with a baby clasped closely to her breast. Several women passengers screamed and left the rail in a fainting condition. There was another woman, fully dressed, with her arms tight around the body of a shaggy dog.
“The bodies of three men in a group, all clinging to one steamship chair, floated near by, and just beyond them were a dozen bodies of men, all of them encased in life-preservers, clinging together as though in a last desperate struggle for life. We couldn’t see, but imagined that under them was some bit of wreckage to which they all clung when the ship went down, and which didn’t have buoyancy enough to support them.
“Those were the only bodies we passed near enough to distinguish, but we could see the white life- preservers of many more dotting the sea, all the way to the iceberg. The officers told us that was probably the berg hit by the Titanic, and that the bodies and ice had drifted along together.”
Mrs. Stunke said a number of the passengers demanded that the Bremen stop and pick up the bodies, but the officers assured them that they had just received a wireless message saying the cable ship Mackay-Bennett was only two hours away fron{sic} the spot, and was coming for that express purpose.
Other passengers corroborated Mrs. Stunke.
On April 25th the White Star Line officials issued a corrected list of the identified dead. While the corrected list cleared up two or more of the wireless confusions that caused so much speculation in the original list, there still remained a few names that so far as the record of the Titanic showed were not on board that ship when she foundered.
The new list, however, established the fact that the body of George D. Widener, of Philadelphia, was among those on the Mackay-Bennett, and two of the bodies were identified as those of men named Butt.
After completing her search the Mackay-Bennett steamed for Halifax, reaching that port on Tuesday, April 30th. With her flag at half mast, the death ship docked slowly. Her crew manned the rails with bared heads, and on the aft deck were stacked the caskets with the dead. The vessel carried on board 190 bodies, and announcement was made that 113 other bodies had been buried at sea.
Everybody picked up had been in a life-belt and there were no bullet holes in any. Among those brought to port were the bodies of two women.
When at last the Minia turned her bow toward shore only thirteen additional bodies had been recovered, making a total of 316 bodies found by the two ships.
Further search seemed futile. Not only had the two vessels gone thoroughly over as wide a field as might likely prove fruitful, but, in addition, the time elapsed made it improbable that other bodies, if found, could be brought to shore. Thus did the waves completely enforce the payment of their terrible toll.
{illust. caption = ISADOR STRAUS
The New York millionaire merchant and philanthropist who lost his life when the giant Titanic foundered at sea after hitting an iceberg.}
{illust. caption = ICEBERG PHOTOGRAPHED NEAR SCENE OF DISASTER
This photograph shows what is quite…}
LIST OF IDENTIFIED DEAD
Following is a list of those whose identity was wholly or partially established:
ASTOR, JOHN JACOB.
ADONIS, J.
ALE, WILLIAM.
ARTAGAVEYTIA, RAMON.
ASHE, H. W.
ADAHL, MAURITZ.
ANDERSON, THOMAS.
ADAMS, J.
ASPALANDE, CARL.
ALLEN, H.
ANDERSON, W. Y.
ALLISON, H. J.
BUTT, W. (seaman).
BUTT, W. (may be Major Butt).
BUTTERWORTH, ABELJ.
BAILEY, G. F.
BARKER, E. T.
BUTLER, REGINALD.
BIRNBAUM, JACOB.
BRISTOW, R. C.
BUCKLEY, KATHERINE.
CHAPMAN, JOHN H.
CHAPMAN, CHARLES.
CONNORS, P.
CLONG, MILTON.
COX, DENTON.
