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By Bill Lombardi
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
The year was 1912 when 54 year-old Tim McCarthy from Boston boarded the Titanic, never to return home to his family. He worked for Jordan Marsh as a buyer and had traveled extensively in Europe.
After two months in Europe, Timothy was very anxious to return home. On April 11, he was booked as a first class passenger on the new luxury liner RMS Titanic, which was making its maiden voyage. The ship carried some of the world’s richest people, as well as some of the poorest.
When the Titanic disembarked from England, she steamed along at a fast speed. Three days later, she received dangerous iceberg warnings, but even then, she never slowed down. There was incentive for a captain to travel fast; if his ship could reach destination ahead of schedule, his company would save many dollars. The captain was eager to do this, especially on the newly-hailed Titanic.
Hearses line up by the water’s edge in Halifax, Nova Scotia, anticipating the return of the Mackay-Bennett.
Disaster happened just before midnight on April 14.
The swift-moving ocean liner struck an iceberg, tearing open five of her 16 compartments. The ocean poured in and within two hours, the ship sank. Over 1,500 lives were lost.
News of the Titanic disaster spread all over the world. When Timothy McCarthy’s name did not appear on the list of passengers rescued, his family had hoped that his body would be recovered for burial in Boston.
The company that owned the Titanic had received thousands of inquires about missing bodies from family members and friends. They decided to launch a massive search in the area where the ship went down to recover as many bodies as possible. At the waterfront in Halifax, Nova Scotia, tons of ice was poured into the cargo hold of the search ship Mackay-Bennett, along with the embalming supplies and over 100 wooden caskets. Over 40 volunteer embalmers and undertakers, plus a few clergy, set sail for the disaster area.
A message was sent out to all ships from the Mackay-Bennett requesting notice of any sighted wreckage or bodies. Almost immediately, a German freighter notified them that they had passed huge amounts of wreckage and bodies. The search ship arrived at the scene late at night, but it was too dark; they cut their engines and drifted till morning.
At daybreak, boats were lowered to retrieve the bodies. Once on board, the identification process began. All their personal belongings, such as money, jewelry, photographs, letters and papers were tagged. Additionally, hair color, approximate height and weight, age, and all scars or birthmarks were recorded.
First class passengers were put in wooden caskets and packed in ice. Second and third class passengers were put in canvas bags and iced. On the first day, over 50 bodies were recovered. Annie O’Neill from New Brunswick was assigned to embalm the women and children. As more sightings were reported, the Mackay-Bennett sailed to other locations. One body was recovered as far as 25 miles away from where the Titanic sank. The corpse was dressed in evening clothes and was found floating among huge icebergs.
The only rest for the crew came on days that recovery operations had to stop because of heavy seas and bad weather. When they ran out of embalming fluid, additional supplies had to be sent from Halifax. As each body was identified, names were communicated to shore. Many of them recovered showed that they had prepared themselves well before leaving the ship. Some had on two sets of trousers, three shirts, two jackets, or two overcoats. Pockets were stuffed with tobacco, biscuits, meats, matches and other necessities.
Titanic survivors on Collapsible Boat D approach the RMS Carpathia for rescue.
Even though some of the victims had on heavy, soggy clothes, life jackets kept them afloat. All badly disfigured, unidentified bodies were committed back to the ocean after a brief ceremony.
One of the bodies found was identified as Timothy McCarthy of Boston.
Other ships were sent out and joined the recovery operations. The Mackay-Bennett steamed back to Halifax with 190 bodies. They had recovered 306 bodies, of which they committed 116 back to sea. Approximately 328 bodies were brought back and the majority of them were buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Halifax. All recovery operations ceased when it was evident that any remaining bodies were swept many miles away out into the Gulf stream. Thousands of anxious relatives and friends lined the waterfront.
Timothy McCarthy’s grave is located only a few feet away from Mayor James Michael Curley and heavyweight boxing champ John L. Sullivan in the Old Calvary Cemetery in Boston.
Bill Lombardi is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He is the grandfather of Emily, Ashley and Zachary Sullivan, and Cayce and Jimmy Lombardi - all Walpole residents.
