Survivors and victims

Main article: List of Titanic passengers

The number of casualties of the sinking is unclear, due to a number of factors. These include confusion over the passenger list, which included some names of people who cancelled their trip at the last minute, and the fact that several passengers travelled under aliases for various reasons and were therefore double-counted on the casualty lists.^[204] The death toll has been put at between 1,490 and 1,635 people.^[205] The tables below use figures from the British Board of Trade report on the disaster.^[95]
Fewer than a third of those aboard Titanic survived the disaster. Some survivors died shortly afterwards; injuries and the effects of exposure caused the deaths of several of those brought aboard Carpathia.^[206] The figures show stark differences in the survival rates of the different classes aboard Titanic. Although only 3% of first-class women were lost, 54% of those in third class died. Similarly, five of six first-class and all second-class children survived, but 52 of the 79 in third class perished. The differences by gender were even bigger: nearly all female crew members, first and second class passengers were saved. Men from the First Class died at a higher rate than women from the Third Class.^[207] In total, 50% of the children survived, 20% of the men and 75% of the women.
The last living survivor, Millvina Dean from England, who at only nine weeks old was the youngest passenger on board, died aged 97 on 31 May 2009.^[208] A special survivor was crew member Violet Jessop who survived the sinkings of both Titanic and Britannic and was aboard Olympic when she was rammed in 1911.^[209]

Age/gender	Class/crew	Number aboard	Number saved	Number lost	Percentage saved	Percentage lost
Children	First Class	6	5	1	83%	17%
	Second Class	24	24	0	100%	0%
	Third Class	79	27	52	34%	66%
Women	First Class	144	140	4	97%	3%
	Second Class	93	80	13	86%	14%
	Third Class	165	76	89	46%	54%
	Crew	23	20	3	87%	13%
Men	First Class	175	57	118	33%	67%
	Second Class	168	14	154	8%	92%
	Third Class	462	75	387	16%	84%
	Crew	885	192	693	22%	78%
Total		2224	710	1514	32%	68%

Retrieval and burial of the dead

Markers of Titanic victims, Fairview Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Once the massive loss of life became known, White Star Line chartered the cable ship CS Mackay-Bennett from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, to retrieve bodies.^[210] Three other Canadian ships followed in the search: the cable ship Minia,^[211] lighthouse supply ship Montmagny and sealing vessel Algerine.^[212] Each ship left with embalming supplies, undertakers, and clergy. Of the 333 victims that were eventually recovered, 328 were retrieved by the Canadian ships and five more by passing North Atlantic steamships.^[213][r]
The first ship to reach the site of the sinking, the CS Mackay-Bennett, found so many bodies that the embalming supplies aboard were quickly exhausted. Health regulations required that only embalmed bodies could be returned to port.^[215] Captain Larnder of the Mackay-Bennett and undertakers aboard decided to preserve only the bodies of first class passengers, justifying their decision by the need to visually identify wealthy men to resolve any disputes over large estates. As a result, many third class passengers and crew were buried at sea. Larnder identified many of those buried at sea as crew members by their clothing, and stated that as a mariner, he himself would be contented to be buried at sea.^[216]
Bodies recovered were preserved for transport to Halifax, the closest city to the sinking with direct rail and steamship connections. The Halifax coroner, John Henry Barnstead, developed a detailed system to identify bodies and safeguard personal possessions. Relatives from across North America came to identify and claim bodies. A large temporary morgue was set up in the curling rink of the Mayflower Curling Club and undertakers were called in from all across eastern Canada to assist.^[216] Some bodies were shipped to be buried in their home towns across North America and Europe. About two-thirds of the bodies were identified. Unidentified victims were buried with simple numbers based on the order in which their bodies were discovered. The majority of recovered victims, 150 bodies, were buried in three Halifax cemeteries, the largest being Fairview Lawn Cemetery followed by the nearby Mount Olivet and Baron de Hirsch cemeteries.^[217]
In mid-May 1912, RMS Oceanic recovered three bodies over 200 miles (320 km) from the site of the sinking who were among the original occupants of Collapsible A. When Fifth Officer Harold Lowe and six crewmen returned to the wreck site sometime after the sinking in a lifeboat to pick up survivors, they rescued a dozen males and one female from Collapsible A, but left the dead bodies of three of its occupants.^[s] After their retrieval from Collapsible A by Oceanic, the bodies were buried at sea.^[218]
The last Titanic body recovered was steward James McGrady, Body No. 330, found by the chartered Newfoundland sealing vessel Algerine on 22 May and buried at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax on 12 June.^[219]
Only 333 bodies of Titanic victims were recovered, one in five of the over 1500 victims. Some bodies sank with the ship while currents quickly dispersed bodies and wreckage across hundreds of miles making them difficult to recover. By June one of the last search ships reported that life jackets supporting bodies were coming apart and releasing bodies to sink.^[220]