The bodies of third class passengers from the Titanic were tossed into the sea by rescuers to make room for first and second class victims, new documents have revealed.

A collection of telegrams between the Mackay-Bennett, the main body-recovery ship, and the White Star line, the company that operated the Titanic, reveal what the grim clean-up operation was really like.

The messages were sent by telegram between the CS Mackay-Bennett in the North Atlantic and the White Star Line, the British shipping company which owned the Titanic

The telegrams reveal the chilling process of recovering the bodies - which included organising the corpses by their personal effects

The Mackay-Bennett's crew were overwhelmed by the number of bodies from the disaster, and only had limited space on their small cable repair ship.

It was decided to prioritize first and second class passengers. They were recovered, embalmed and returned to their loved ones.

Frederick Larnder, Captain of the Mackay-Bennett, struggled with the number of bodies

Meanwhile the bodies of third class passengers were cast into the freezing depths of the North Atlantic.

In keeping with maritime tradition crew members were also buried at sea.

In total 116 of the 334 recovered bodies were cast off.

Captain Frederick Larnder made the decision because his ship was struggling to cope with insufficient space and embalming supplies.

TITANIC TRAGEDY: HOW MORE THAN 1,500 LOST THEIR LIVES The RMS Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York. More than 1,500 people died when the ship, which was carrying 2,224 passengers and crew, sank under the command of Captain Edward Smith. The ship was designed in such a way that it was meant to be 'unsinkable'. It had an on-board gym, libraries, swimming pool and several restaurants and luxury first class cabins. But crucially there were not enough lifeboats on board for all the passengers due to out-of-date maritime safety regulations. On April 14, 1912, four days into the crossing, she hit an iceberg at 11:40pm ship's time. James Moody was on night watch when the collision happened and took the call from the watchman, asking him 'What do you see?' The man responded: 'Iceberg, dead ahead.' By 2:20am, with hundreds of people still on board, the ship plunged beneath the waves, taking many, including Moody, with it. Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, only arrived two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water. Despite repeated distress calls being sent out and flares launched from the decks, the first rescue ship, the RMS Carpathia, only arrived two hours later, pulling more than 700 people from the water. It was not until 1985 that the wreck of the ship was discovered in two pieces on the ocean floor. Advertisement

Dead passengers were separated by class according to their clothing or personal possessions.

Captain Larnder's painful instructions are seen in the 181 telegrams which have been uncovered more than 100 years later.

Even the White Star employees on land struggled to cope with the influx. At one point they telegram to say that the office in Nova Scotia has had a 'complete collapse'

One message sent to the Mackay-Bennett from the port of Halifax in Canada, where the bodies were taken, reads: 'Absolutely essential you should bring to port all bodies you can possibly accommodate.'

The Mackay-Bennett then responds: 'A careful record has been made of all papers moneys and valuables found on bodies. Would it not be better to bury all bodies at sea unless specially requested by relatives to preserve them.'

Capt Larnder then messaged: 'Add to my wireless today re burial, we can bring seventy to port if required.'

The telegrams also provide a fascinating glimpse at how a massive logistical effort was coordinated decades before the rise of the internet

Later telegrams show the immense stress White Star Line employees on land were under as they attempted to process the bodies, dozens of which arrived each day.

One reads: '[The Halifax office] has complete collapse tonight. Please instruct New York office cannot undertake any work tomorrow. Must let up on demands for rush replies until we have had little rest.'

Titanic specialist Andrew Aldridge said: 'Very little thought would have been given into giving priority to a wealthy person over a poor one, dead or alive'

The grisly recovery operation ended in May, nearly a month after the Titanic sunk in 1912.

The telegrams were kept by a former employee of the Cunard Line, which merged with the ailing White Star Line in 1934.

They were almost lost forever when they were tossed into a skip, but the employee recovered them and passed them on to his daughter.

Of the 334 bodies recovered from the site of the Titanic's sinking by the Mackay-Bennett, 116 were buried at sea

They then passed to Titanic historian Charles Haas in the 1980s, who had them painstakingly restored.

Mr Haas, 69, from New Jersey, said: 'The collection develops in great detail how difficult the process after the sinking was. They candidly show the immense stress everyone involved was under.

'The Mackay-Bennett was coming across bodies by the dozen.

Titanic was one of three 'Olympic Class' ocean liners built in Belfast. It's sister ship, HMHS Britannic, also sunk during the First World War

'It wasn't a particularly large ship and so the captain had to make difficult decisions when he was faced with bringing 200 or 300 bodies on board.

'His decision appeared to be that when a body was identified as first or second class they would be brought in, otherwise they could be buried at sea.

'Apparently the captain thought that was the best way to handle an overwhelming situation.

The telegrams would likely have been lost to history if a former employee of the Cunard Line hadn't rescued them from a skip

'When the telegrams were sent I imagine it was with every expectation that they would remain private.

Andrew Aldridge, a specialist Titanic auctioneer added: 'We are looking upon these telegrams now in the social structure of 2017.

'The world was a very different place in 1912 when there was this class structure in place and very little thought would have been given into giving priority to a wealthy person over a poor one, dead or alive.'