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Titanic's wreckage finding stirs new interest in report

EDITOR'S NOTE As deep-sea researchers examine the wreckage of the Titanic, interest has been stirred again in the grisly, fascinating story of the sunken liner. Among the least-known aspects of the tragedy is the recovery of the dead. The following is from a report by Carole Hyde written recently for Oceanus' Magazine of the Woods Hole Oceanographlc Institution. WOODS HOLE, Mass. (AP) - As the S.S. Carpathia neared the harbor of New York City with the survivors of the wrecked luxury liner Titanic on board, another ship steamed out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, toward the Titanic's grave. Its mission the dead. More than 1,500 people perished in the waters of the North Atlantic when the Titanic hurled itself at 22 knots onto an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912. Bodies of its victims dotted the ocean after the disaster, and the Titanic's owners the White Star Line chartered the little cable steamer MacKayBennett to recover and return the remains to Halifax for reclamation or burial in the city's cemeteries. The search for the dead and their burial is a little-known aspect of the Titanic story. Some authors have indicated that only one body or no bodies were recovered. Overshadowed by the disaster itself, and by the stories of the Titanic's survivors, the search for the dead barely entered public consciousness. But according to accounts of those aboard the MacKay-Bennett, the mission was an unforgettable conclusion to the story. Two days after the sinking, the MacKay-Bennett, stacked with coffins and packed with ice, quietly embarked on its mission. Fog and bad weather slowed the trip. The MacKay-Bennett arrived in the vicinity of the disaster a week after the Titanic hit the iceberg. The ocean was strewn with wreckage. Small icebergs known as growlers hid dangerously in the swells. During the middle watch, the first bodies were sighted. It was agonizing. Many of them were crushed and disfigured beyond recognition. Some women were found with infants locked in their arms. Other bodies, faces distorted with terror, clung to objects they had grasped in their anguish. Still others looked calm, as if asleep. On Sunday, the first of the bodies were brought aboard the MacKay-Bennett. There were 51 of them. They were numbered and identified where possible, their property marked and stored. Some were embalmed and others were placed in ice-filled holds. That evening, the burial of the dead began. From the diary of Frederick Hamilton, engineer, the MacKayBennett: For those buried at night the dead who could not be identified interment in the sea was suitable and touching, for many of them were thought to be members of the Titanic's crew. For four m o r e d a y s t h e MacKay-Bennett drifted through miles and miles of the Titanic's wreckage, finding amidst the debris and ice sometimes solitary corpses, at other times, great clusters of them, appearing strangely like seagulls as they bobbed peacefully in the swells. Holds filling with the dead, the MacKay-Bennett called for help and was joined by the cableship Minia, also stocked with coffins and ice. . The MacKay-Bennett, with as many dead on board as it could accommodate, headed for home. It carried 190 of the Titanic's dead and left 116 buried in the sea. On April 30, the MacKay-Bennett approached the dockyards of Halifax. For hours the unloading and removal proceeded. Crowds of onlookers, kept away from the dockyards, lined the hearses' route and silently paid their respects as the procession passed on its way to the Mayflower Curling Rink at the edge of town. There, in the makeshift morgue, friends and relatives of the victims had begun arriving to claim their dead. The first body claimed and removed from the rink was that of John Jacob Astor. The search encompassed six weeks.

So you think U know Tonawandas?

Here's a contest to test your knowledge of sections of the Twin Cities. This is our second annual contest spawned by Vince Harmon, chairman of 'the Mayor's Advisory Committee in Tonawanda. He convinced the Tonawanda NEWS to sponsor this contest to generate enthusiasm about Canal Fest and test your powers of observation and recollection. Most of the photos are from yesteryear and the locations have been altered or the buildings are completely gone. The rules are simple. Watch the Tonawanda NEWS daily through July 26, print the numbers 1-7 and your identification of the landmark building where the photo was taken. Include your name, address and telephone number. Bring or mail your entry to the Tonawanda NEWS, 435 River Road, North Tonawanda, 14120 by 5 p.m. July 29. The Two winners of $100 or $50 will be announced in the Aug. 2 edition. A drawing will be held to break any ties. This is the NEWS ways of spurring downtown interest and promoting Canal Fest 85, July 20-27. So join the fun.

Even uninvited can secure peek

By GRAHAM HEATHCOTE Associated Press Writer

BUBBLE MAKERS: Making mammoth size bubbles in front of thatr horn* on DKalb Stroat in Tonawanda ara. from loft Christopher and Oan.i

RockweM. Watching the children at play Is mom. Sua. The bkj bubbta mafcora wars a gift to thochWdronffomthokgrandmothaf.

LONDON (AP) - Fifteen hundred select people have been invited to the w e d d i n g Wednesday in Westminster Abbey of Prinee Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, but after it is over the doors will remain open for the uninvited to see what it was like. "We wanted people to see the setting the flowers, the blue carpet and the wedding registers," David Dorey, the dean's verger at the abbey. The abbey will be open Wednesday afternoon and the next two days to visitors The abbey normally averages about 3 million visitors a year. Arranging the wedding flowers was a two-day job, and because of other preparations and rehearsals the abbey was ordered closed for four days prior to the wedding. Daily Church of England services of Holy Communion, matins and evensong were shifted to St. Margaret's Church on the abbey's north lawn. Queen Elizabeth II, Andrew's

mother, was married and crowned in the abbey. Since William the Conqueror in 1066, all English monarchs have been crowned there except for Edward V who was murdered in 1483 and Edward VIII who abdicated in 1936 before the formal coronation. The abbey is near Westminster Bridge and the Houses of Parliament. Its site has bean used by the church for 1,000 years, 300 years before Henry III rebuilt the abbey in the 13th century. Twelve kings and 16 queens are buried in the abbey and there are many other burials and about 2,500 memorials. It's not an abbey any more, so it has no monks. It's not a cathedral, so it has no bishop. It is run by a dean. Its official name is not Westminster Abbey but the Collegiate Church of St. Peter in Westminster. "It's the closest thing we have to a national shrine and it's a very busy place," said Dorey.

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Thomas M. Tryniski 309 South 4th Street Fulton New York 13069

www.fultonhistory.com