Captain Smith and the Titanic

It's portrait time.

I thought it would be fitting to paint Captain Smith,

the Captain of the Titanic.

100 years ago at this time,

the Titanic was on its way to New York from Southampton,

with more than 2000 passengers onboard.

We all know the rest of the story.

But not everyone knows what happened after the sinking of the ship.

It's those stories i find interesting.

The recovery of the frozen bodies

once the Titanic had sunk,

and how the CS Mackay-Bennett,

a Halifax based cable ship,

was called for the grisly task,

of bringing the bodies back to shore.

And how, in Halifax, Nova Scotia,

on Citadel Hill,

people stood watch

and when the Mackay Bennett,

carrying over 200 dead bodies,

came into sight in the Halifax Port,

the bell rang to signal its arrival,

and within minutes,

surrounding church bells

began ringing

until it became a chorus of sadness

in the Halifax skies.

The bodies were taken to the Mayflower Curling Club,

because it was the only space large enough

and cold enough

to preserve so many bodies

until identification was made

and families were contacted.

But the story that saddens me the most

is how the White Star Line didn't cover the expense

of having the bodies sent back to their families.

Families would need to pay

to have their loved ones sent back home.

Needless to say, most of them were too poor to do so.

So most of the bodies remained in Halifax,

and are buried there,

in the Fairview Cemetery.

Some identified, others not.