Rev. Kenneth Cameron Hind of All Saints Cathedral in Halifax, N.S., conducts a burial service at sea as crewmen in front of him consign one of many bodies recovered by the Cable Ship Mackay-Bennett to the deep. Of the passengers recovered, 116 were returned to the icy Atlantic while 190 were taken to Halifax and a makeshift morgue at the Mayflower Curling Club.

After the Titantic sinking on April 14, 1912 about 500 kilometres south of Newfoundland, the White Star Line contracted four Canadian ships to recover bodies. This one is the Cable Ship Mackay-Bennett from Halifax, which was at sea repairing a French cable when the disaster occurred. It returned to Halifax, loaded its massive cable hold with ice to keep the bodies cold and put back out to sea on April 17 for the scene, remaining on station for 10 days.

Efforts to recover the bodies were continually hampered by thick fog, wind and high seas. The rescue ship Mackay-Bennett was held up in Halifax harbour for six hours the day it left for the Titanic sinking. The recovery effort would take two weeks, with the ship retrieving 306 passengers and crew from the Titanic, including band leader Wallace Hartley, whose musicians played as the ship sank.

Crewmen slip a Titanic victim over the side and into the Atlantic while Rev. Kenneth Cameron Hind says a prayer, as he did for all 116 buried at sea. "For as much as it has pleased Almighty God to take unto Himself the soul of our dear brother departed, we therefore commit his body to the deep...."

This extremely rare original photograph of Titantic victims is being auctioned by Henry Aldridge and Son of England, which obtained the photo from the archives of R. D. "Westy" Legate, Fourth Officer of the Cable Ship Mackay-Bennett, one of four Canadian vessels hired for the recovery effort. "It not only gives us a snapshot into one of the less well known chapters of the story but it also dispels the myth of the process being an ordered one, with bodies piled two or three high in sacks on the deck," said Andrew Aldridge of the auction house, which has put the photograph out for bidding until October 19. It is expected to fetch as much as $8,000 (Cdn). www.henry-aldridge.co.uk

The ship left Halifax with 100 caskets, but this number proved far too low for the 306 bodies recovered, forcing the Mackay-Bennett to borrow canvas and embalming supplies from three other recovery vessels. Bodies that were not in good enough condition to be returned to Halifax, where they could be claimed by families or shipped to them after embalming, were of necessity buried at sea.

The Cable Ship Mackay-Bennett returned to Halifax April 30, 1912, with 190 bodies on board following the recovery efforts. As spotters watched the ship enter the harbour, word spread like wildfire. Flags were lowered to half mast in the city and church bells pealed.