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The Cable Ship ''Mackay-Bennett'' was a transatlantic cable-laying and cable-repair ship registered at
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as a Glasgow vessel but owned by the American Commercial Cable Company. She is notable for being the ship that recovered the majority of the bodies after the sinking of the ''Titanic''.


Design and build

The ship was commissioned by the USA-based Commercial Cable Company from then noted
River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...
-based warship builders John Elder & Co. at their Fairfield Yards. The company incorporated a number of then new and original features into the cable ship. It was one of the first ships built from
steel Steel is an alloy of iron and carbon that demonstrates improved mechanical properties compared to the pure form of iron. Due to steel's high Young's modulus, elastic modulus, Yield (engineering), yield strength, Fracture, fracture strength a ...
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 The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...
swells. The design was also very hydrodynamic to keep her fuel efficient and fast in operation. The hull design included bilge keels to keep her stable, and she had two rudders, one fore and one aft, to maximize manoeuvrability.''Clydebuilt: The ships that made the Commonwealth'' - CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' David Hayman,
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, 5 June 2014


Operations

Named for two founders of the Commercial Cable Company, John W. MacKay and James G. Bennett, she was launched late in 1884. Mainly based in Halifax,
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
, 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 Plymouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Devon, South West England. It is located on Devon's south coast between the rivers River Plym, Plym and River Tamar, Tamar, about southwest of Exeter and ...
, England. The Canadian author Thomas Raddall worked as wireless operator aboard ''Mackay-Bennett'' and based some short stories on his experiences aboard. 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. Typical was the rescue of the crew of the sinking
schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ...
''Caledonia'' on 12 February 1912.


Recovery of bodies

In April 1912, she was berthed at Halifax during a period of long-term work maintaining the
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
-to-Canada communications cable. 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. The ship became notable as the main vessel contracted by the
White Star Line The White Star Line was a British shipping line. Founded out of the remains of a defunct Packet trade, packet company, it gradually grew to become one of the most prominent shipping companies in the world, providing passenger and cargo service ...
to carry out the difficult task of recovering the bodies left floating in the
North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...
, after the disaster. 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. J. Astor. Her captain, Frederick H. Larnder, took on board a combination of specialists and an effective mobile mortuary. Both additional and specialized personnel and supplies were taken on board for the assignment. These included: *Canon Kenneth Cameron Hind of All Saints Cathedral, Halifax *John R. 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 *Sufficient embalming supplies to handle 70 bodies * 100 coffins * of ice, in which to store the recovered bodies Crew were paid double pay for the grisly task. 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, 60 of which were unidentified). The ship left Halifax at 12:45 P.M. on Wednesday, 17 April 1912. Due to severe fog and rough seas it took the ship nearly four days to sail the to the scene of the disaster. The captain instructed the ship's crew to keep their
logbook A logbook (or log book) is a record used to record states, events, or conditions applicable to complex machines or the personnel who operate them. Logbooks are commonly associated with the operation of aircraft, nuclear plants, particle accelera ...
s complete and up to date during the voyage and subsequent recovery operation, but only two logbooks are presently known to have survived: seven pages from the logbook of engineer Frederick A. Hamilton, now kept in the
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, England, and the personal diary of Clifford Crease, a 24-year-old Naval artificer (craftsman-in-training); much of the detailed account of the recovery operation is today traced to Crease's diary, now held in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia. The ship arrived at the scene during the night, so recovery of bodies began at 06:00 on 20 April. CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' was anchored close to but not within the recovery area, using her
sea anchor A sea anchor (also known as a parachute anchor, drift anchor, drift sock, para-anchor or boat brake) is a device that is streamed from a boat in heavy weather. Its purpose is to stabilize the vessel and to limit progress through the water. Rathe ...
to stay with the drifting bodies and wreckage, and she offloaded her skiff lifeboats. Crews then rowed into the recovery area and manually recovered the bodies into the skiffs. After recovering as many bodies as they deemed safe for the return journey (51 corpses), the crews then rowed back to the CS ''Mackay-Bennett''. The captain noted that there was neither sufficient space aboard to store all of the recovered bodies nor enough embalming supplies aboard. As the Canadian Government and associated burial and maritime laws directed that any bodies carried had to be embalmed before a ship enter a Canadian port, the captain agreed to a system whereby: *First-class passengers were embalmed, placed in coffins, and stored in the rear cable locker. These included the bodies of:
John Jacob Astor IV John Jacob Astor IV (July 13, 1864 – April 15, 1912) was an American business magnate, real estate developer, investor, writer, lieutenant colonel in the Spanish–American War, and a prominent member of the Astor family. He was among the most ...
, the richest man aboard, body No.124 recovered on 22 April, identified by his unique diamond finger ring and the initials sewn on the label of his jacket; architect Edward Austin Kent, body No.258; and Isidor Straus, owner of
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Department Store. *Second-class passengers were embalmed, wrapped in
canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...
, and stored in the forward cable locker. *Third-class passengers and crew were buried at sea, a total of 116 bodies. In October 2013, a photograph taken by Fourth officer R. D. "Westy" Legate came up for auction, which captured the Canon ministering over a ceremony of multiple burials at sea on board the ship. *The body of band leader Wallace Hartley, found fully dressed with his music case strapped to his body, was transferred to the ''Arabic'' and returned to England, where on 18 May he was buried in Keighley Road Cemetery,
Colne Colne () is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. The town is northeast of Nelson, Lancashire, Nelson, northeast of Burnley and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. The ...
,
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. *The body of 19-month old Sidney Leslie Goodwin (known until 2008 only as "The Unknown Child"), a third-class passenger and the fourth body recovered, was saved by the crew and stored in the hold. At 19:00 on 23 April, CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' lay briefly alongside the Allan Shipping Line's ''Sardinian'' (en route to
Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John () is a port#seaport, seaport city located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is Canada's oldest Municipal corporation, incorporated city, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign ...
), to collect additional canvas. Just after midnight on 26 April, CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' rendezvoused with the Anglo-American Telegraph Company's CS ''Minia'' to get extra embalming supplies, before departing for Halifax at dawn that day. After a seven-day recovery operation, the CS ''Mackay-Bennett'' had: *Recovered 306 of the 328 bodies found from among the 1,517 who perished aboard ''Titanic'' *Buried 116 at sea, of which only 56 were identified *Set sail for home with 190 bodies on board, almost twice as many as there were coffins available *Arrived in Halifax on 30 April 1912, began unloading her cargo at 09:30, and transferred the bodies to the
ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...
of the
Mayflower Curling Club The Mayflower Curling Club is a curling club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was established in 1905. Since 1962, the club has been located at 3000 Monaghan Drive. The club is one of the premier curling rinks in Nova Scotia, being home to teams heade ...
. The crew split the $100,000 reward for Astor's body (around $2500 each). Using some of that money they paid for the burial of the body of the unknown child and his headstone monument - the casket was marked by a copper plaque reading "Our Babe". The entire ship's crew, together with the majority of the population of Halifax, attended the child's burial at Fairview Lawn Cemetery on 4 May 1912. With improved DNA testing, on 30 July 2007 Canadian researchers at Lakehead University announced that testing of the body's
mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...
had revealed that the child was 19-month-old Sidney Leslie Goodwin. After his death in 1961, Clifford Crease's body was interred only a few steps away from the grave of "Our Babe", a site he had visited on every anniversary of the tragedy during his lifetime. Mackay-Bennett Seamount, one of the Fogo Seamounts southeast of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic Ocean, is named after ''Mackay-Bennett'' for her involvement in the ''Titanic'' disaster.


Retirement and scrapping

The ship was retired in May 1922, anchored in
Plymouth Sound Plymouth Sound, or locally just The Sound, is a deep inlet or sound in the English Channel near Plymouth in England. Description Its southwest and southeast corners are Penlee Point in Cornwall and Wembury Point in Devon, a distance of abo ...
to be used as a storage hulk. During
The Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
on England in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she was sunk during a
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Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
attack but later refloated. Her hull was finally scrapped in 1965.


References


External links


''Mackay-Bennett''
at Encyclopedia Titanica *
''Mackay-Bennett'' at the Atlantic Cable website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mackay-Bennett Cable ships of the United Kingdom Sinking of RMS Titanic Ships built on the River Clyde 1884 ships History of Halifax, Nova Scotia Maritime incidents in March 1941 Cable laying ships