On the night of 14 April 1912, around 11:40 pm, while the
Titanic was sailing about south of the
Grand Banks of Newfoundland, the ship struck an iceberg and began to sink. Shortly before midnight,
Captain Edward Smith ordered the ship's
lifeboats to be readied and a distress call was sent out. The closest ship to respond was
Cunard Line's away, which would arrive in an estimated 4 hours—too late to rescue all of
Titanic passengers. Forty-five minutes after the ship hit the iceberg, Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be loaded and lowered under the orders
women and children first. The first lifeboat launched was Lifeboat 7 on the
starboard side. It was lowered around 12:45 am as believed by the British Inquiry. Collapsible Boat D was the last lifeboat to be launched, at 1:55. Two more lifeboats, Collapsibles
Boat A and
Boat B, were in the process of being removed from their location on the roof of the officer's house, but could not be properly launched. Collapsible B floated away from the ship upside down, while Collapsible A became half-filled with water after the supports for its canvas sides were broken in the fall from the roof of the officers' quarters. At 2:20 am,
Titanic herself sank. Fifth Officer
Harold Lowe, after transferring passengers in
Lifeboat 14 to other nearby lifeboats, did return to the wrecksite and managed to pull out four survivors, one of whom died soon after. with
Titanic survivors At 4:10 am,
Carpathia arrived at the site of the sinking and began rescuing survivors. By 8:30 am, she picked up the last lifeboat with survivors and left the area at 08:50 bound for
Pier 54 in New York City. Of the 712 passengers and crew rescued by the
Carpathia, six, including first-class passenger William F. Hoyt, either died in a lifeboat during the night or on board the
Carpathia the next morning, and were
buried at sea. In the days following the sinking, several ships sailed to the disaster area to recover victims' bodies. The White Star Line chartered the cable ship
Mackay-Bennett from
Halifax, Nova Scotia, to retrieve bodies. Three other ships followed in the search: the cable ship
CS Minia, the lighthouse supply ship
Montmagny, and the sealing vessel
Algerine. Each ship left with embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Upon recovery, each body retrieved by the
Mackay-Bennett was numbered and given as detailed a description as possible to help aid in identification. The physical appearance of each body—height, weight, age, hair and eye colour, visible birthmarks, scars or tattoos, was catalogued and any personal effects on the bodies were gathered and placed in small canvas bags corresponding to their number. The ship found such a large number of bodies – 306 – that the embalming supplies aboard were quickly exhausted. Health regulations permitted that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port. Captain Larnder of the
Mackay-Bennett and the undertakers aboard decided to preserve all bodies of first-class passengers because of the need to visually identify wealthy men to resolve any disputes over large estates. As a result, the majority of the 116 burials at sea were third-class passengers and crew (only 56 were identified). Larnder himself claimed that as a mariner, he would expect to be buried at sea. However, complaints about the burials at sea were made by families and undertakers. Later ships such as
Minia found fewer bodies, requiring fewer embalming supplies, and were able to limit burials at sea to bodies that were too damaged to preserve. 190 bodies recovered were preserved and taken to
Halifax, Nova Scotia, the closest city to the sinking with direct rail and steamship connections. A large temporary morgue was set up in a
curling rink, and undertakers were called in from all across Eastern Canada to assist. Relatives from across North America came to identify and claim the bodies of their relatives. Some bodies were shipped to be buried in their home towns across North America and Europe. About two-thirds of the bodies were identified. Of the remaining 150 unclaimed bodies, 121 were taken to the non-denominational
Fairview Lawn Cemetery; 19 were buried in the Roman Catholic
Mount Olivet Cemetery, and 10 were taken to the
Jewish Baron de Hirsch Cemetery. Unidentified victims were buried with simple numbers based on the order in which their bodies were discovered. In mid-May 1912, over from the site of the sinking, recovered three bodies, numbers 331, 332, and 333, who were occupants of Collapsible A, which was swamped in the last moments of the sinking. Although numerous people managed to reach this lifeboat, several died during the night from hypothermia and, in most cases, their bodies pushed off to keep the boat afloat. When Fifth Officer Lowe and the crew of Lifeboat 14 returned to pick up survivors, they rescued surviving passengers from Collapsible A, but Lowe decided to leave the three dead bodies in the boat, covering them up with lifebelts. Only one of the bodies, that of first-class passeenger Thomson Beattie, was identified. The other two were determined to be unidentified crew members. After their retrieval of Collapsible A, the crew of the
Oceanic buried the decomposed bodies at sea. ==Passenger list==