Many ships were involved in the grisly task of bringing back the bodies from the North Atlantic following the Titanic disaster. Their names are familiar to very few and they have passed on into history. However their story is just a small portion of a large picture.

With the Carpathia on her way to New York, the White Star Line acted promptly in chartering a vessel to recover those bodies in the area of the sinking and in the vain hope of rescuing any survivors. The Commercial Cable Company's cable ship Mackay-Bennet was initially chosen for this most difficult task. The vessel was loaded with tons of ice, embalmers supplies, coffins and undertakers. Canon K.O. Hind joined the ship to perform the burials at sea and on Wednesday 17 April she sailed from Halifax for the scene of the disaster. The search was made easier by the use of wireless, ships were requested to report any wreckage or bodies floating around and the Mackay-Bennet would then act on their information. At 08:15 pm. on Sunday 21 April, 24 of the recovered bodies were committed to the deep. Passing ships kept on spotting debris and bodies, radioing their sightings on to the Mackay-Bennet who would then head for each position, frequently hampered by fog. Eventually the situation occurred where facilities on board were severely over extended and a wireless message was passed onto the White Star Line offices in New York to the effect.

A second vessel, the Minia was chartered by the local White Star agents from the Anglo-American Telegraph Company Ltd. She was similarly loaded with ice and embalming supplies and departed on 22 April to relieve the already overburdened Mackay-Bennet. By Friday 26th she had joined the Mackay-Bennet and passed across additional supplies. The two ships then proceeded in their search, recovering an additional 14 bodies. These were placed on the Mackay-Bennet and the cable ship set course for home. The Minia was quickly beset by gales and fog, resulting in very few recoveries. A service was conducted on board by Reverend H.W. Cunningham when the Minia passed the area where the Titanic went down. After recovering only 17 bodies, she returned home, having buried two at sea.

The Montmagny departed on her grim journey on 3 May 1912 from the port of Sorel, Quebec. Her journey took her cruising in the Gulf of St Lawrence, where she eventually came across wreckage and the body of Harold Reynolds, a steerage passenger. Three more bodies were recovered with one being that of an unidentified crewman which was buried at sea. She arrived at Louisburg, Nova Scotia on 13 May, landing the bodies for further transportation to Halifax. After bunkering she sailed on the 14th to continue her search. This time there were no bodies to be found and on the 19th she headed for port to unload and commence her normal duties for her owners; the Canadian Ministry of Marine and Fisheries.

The Algerine, a Bowring Brothers owned ship departed St Johns on 15 May with a load of coffins and embalming equipment. This vessel only recovered a single body and returned to port on 8 June.

In total 328 bodies were recovered from the sea, 119 were buried at sea, with 209 being brought back to Halifax for burial. Many were claimed by family members and taken home for final burial, while others were buried at Halifax. Those who were not claimed or identified were laid to rest in a city that had seen the true tragedy of the Titanic in the cargo of these ships.
Over 1100 people found their peace in the Atlantic Ocean.