OUR JOURNEY SLOW.
We left Halifax shortly after noon on April 17, and had not proceeded far when fog set in so that our journey was slow. We reached the vicinity of the wreckage on Saturday evening. Early on Sunday morning the search for bodies began, when the captain and other officers of the ship kept a lookout from the bridge.
Soon the command was given “Stand by the boat!” and a little later the lifeboat was lowered and the work begun of picking up the bodies as they were pointed out in the water to the crew.
Through the day some fifty were picked up. All were carefully examined and their effects placed in separate bags, all bodies and bags being numbered.
It was deemed wise that some of them should be buried. At 8 P. M. the ship’s bell was tolled to indicate all was in readiness for the service. Standing on the bow of the ship as she rocked to and fro, one gazed at the starry heavens and across the boundless deep, and to his mind the psalmist’s words came with mighty force:
“Whither shall I go then from Thy spirit, or whither shall I go then from Thy presence? If I ascend up to heaven Thou art there, I make my bed in the grave, Thou art there also. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea, even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me.”
In the solemn stillness of the early night, the words of that unequaled burial office rang across the waters: “I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord. He that believeth in Me shall never die.”
When the time of committal came these words were used over each body: