When the White Star Liner RMS Titanic sank during the night of 15 April 1912, there were 2228 passengers and crew on board; 1518 lost their lives. Within hours, the RMS Carpathia recovered 710 passengers at the scene; five were dead or subsequently died on board and were buried at sea. Two Halifax-based cable ships, the CS Mackay-Bennett and the CS Minia, were chartered within days, steamed to the site, and recovered the majority of the remaining bodies - 306 by the Mackay-Bennett and 18 by the Minia.

Altogether, some 337 bodies were plucked from the Atlantic, with the CGS Montmagny, the SS Algerine, the RMS Oceanic and the SS Ilford also assisting. One hundred and twenty-eight bodies were buried at sea and 209 brought to Halifax. Of the latter, 59 were claimed and shipped to other locations; the remaining 150 were buried at Fairview Lawn, Mount Olivet and Baron de Hirsch cemeteries.

In the process of searching for, recovering, identifying and forwarding the remains of those lost on the Titanic, various official records were created then — and have survived. We are pleased to present here, for the first time online, a printed document which is scarcely known and has seldom been seen before — 'Disposition of Bodies ex Titanic Recovered up to May 13, 1912.'

In two sections: 'List of Bodies Identified and Disposition of Same,' and 'List of Bodies Unidentified and Disposition of Same' this document is significant because it provides the most complete known record of bodies recovered from the disaster site. The Provincial Secretary's Office, Government of Nova Scotia, was the agency responsible for all matters relating to the identification and disposition of the dead. It is likely that the list was prepared by this office for use by the White Star Line. The original has been in the collections of Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management since 1933, when it was transferred from the Provincial Secretary.

The 'Disposition of Bodies' contains 23 pages and lists 328 bodies found at the disaster site and either buried at sea or brought back to Halifax. The document was printed and bound, arranged in alphabetical order by surname for those identified, followed by a lengthy list of the unknown. Information recorded for each body includes name of the individual (if known), distinguishing physical features and notations regarding clothing and personal effects found on the body (if unidentified) and details concerning final disposition of the remains.

The 'Disposition of Bodies' has been scanned so that online visitors can experience visually the appearance of the original document. A companion transcribed version of the list has also been created and is presented here in a database format, so that Titanic researchers can search and manipulate the list in useful ways. click to view scanned version of the list

Two additional body numbers have been added to the electronic version, namely #329, picked up by the CGS Montmagny, and #330, retrieved by the SS Algerine. Readers examining the electronic list very carefully will also note that body numbers 324 and 325 were never used in 1912, for unknown reasons. And finally, body # 4, previously recorded as an unknown infant, is corrected in the electronic version to 'Baby Paulsson,' identity conclusively proved in 2003 by DNA investigation. click to view the electronic list

NSARM also holds a second, equally rare list of Titanic victims, published on or about 4 May 1915. This slightly earlier version is titled, 'Disposition of Bodies & Effects Passengers and Crew SS Titanic Recovered by the Cable Steamer Mackay-Bennett, Buried at Sea and Bodies Delivered at Morgue in Halifax, NS up to May 3, 1912.' This earlier list stops at body #306 and is therefore neither complete nor definitive. However, researchers interested in viewing the information it provides should visit the Encyclopedia Titanica Website at http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/. A version of the list is available there, with permission from NSARM, and is accessible by entering individual surnames into the Site Search Box.

The loss of the RMS Titanic is one of the landmark events of the early 20th century. Discovery of the wreck in 1985 and the huge international success of the 1997 film have guaranteed that although the great liner lies at the bottom of the North Atlantic, she sails on forever in our collective imagination. We are proud to make this small contribution towards perpetuating the memory of those who died in Titanic's catastrophic end.

Planning a visit to Halifax? Find out more about the city's Titanic heritage and about the popular exhibit onsite at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, by visiting http://titanic.gov.ns.ca/.