As far as ocean liners go the British liner, RMS Carpathia was ordinary. She was neither particularly fast nor luxurious. Around 1900 the great ocean liners of the world were trying to outdo each other for size, speed, and luxury., The Carpathia would certainly have slipped into relative obscurity but for a twist of fate that made her famous.
In 1897 the Cunard Line tried to maximize its profits by ordering three new liners, the Ivernia, Saxonia, and Carpathia. The three new ships would enable Cunard to successfully compete with its larger rivals, most notably the White Star Line. The Carpathia was built to carry cargo and transport immigrant travelers.
The Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 from Liverpool to Boston and continued this route before being transferred to Mediterranean service in 1904. For nine years she sailed without any incidents of note until the fateful night of April 14, 1912, when she received a distress call from the RMS Titanic that had struck an iceberg in the North Atlantic and was sinking. The Carpathia went from obscurity to front page news overnight.
The story of the Titanic disaster is certainly the most famous maritime tragedy in history. The gripping tale of a reportedly unsinkable ship on her maiden voyage striking an iceberg and sinking with the loss of over 1500 people has been popularized in many books and movies. In 1985 millions watched on television as explorer Bob Ballard discovered the Titanic’s ghostly remains on the ocean floor.
One interesting aspect of the Titanic story that is rarely mentioned is the fact that during her construction there were 246 injuries including 28 severe injuries such as arms severed by machines or legs crushed under falling pieces of steel. Six of the injuries were fatal. These facts and her subsequent sinking might lead some to think she was a cursed ship. Whether unlucky or not, the Titanic’s Captain Smith had received a series of warnings of ice in her area, that day, from other ships. He ignored the warnings and continued at full speed ahead. It was generally believed that ice posed little danger to large vessels. Captain Smith said “I could not imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder. Modern shipbuilding has gone beyond that.”
At 11:40 pm on April 14, Titanic’s lookout spotted an iceberg immediately ahead and alerted the bridge. First Officer William Murdoch ordered the ship to be steered around the iceberg and the engines were stopped, but it was too late. The starboard side of Titanic struck the iceberg, creating a series of holes below the waterline and Titanic began to sink. Around 2:15 am, a little over two and a half hours after Titanic struck the iceberg, the rate of sinking suddenly increased and the lights flickered out. As the ship’s unsupported stern rose out of the water, the ship broke into two main pieces. With the bow underwater, the stern remained afloat rising to a nearly vertical angle with hundreds of people still clinging to it, before foundering at 2:20.
Distress signals had been sent by wireless and rockets fired but none of the ships that responded were near enough to reach Titanic before it sank. The SS Californian, the nearest ship, saw Titanic’s flares but failed to assist as the crew did not interpret the rockets as a distress signal and her wireless operator had gone to bed. The inaction of the Californian led to highly publicized British and American inquiries.
The Carpathia’s wireless operator, Harold Cottam, had not heard any of the Titanic’s distress calls until he received messages from Cape Cod. He thought he would be helpful and sent a message to Titanic, stating that Cape Cod had traffic for them. In reply he received Titanic’s distress signal. When Captain Arthur Henry Rostron, the Carpathia’s captain, received the Titanic’s distress call he immediately turned the Carpathia toward the Titanic’s location 67 miles away. Racing through the dangerous iceberg filled waters Carpathia arrived two hours after the Titanic had sunk.
Ice ground along the Carpathia’s hull when she arrived at the Titanic’s position at 4:00 a.m.. For the next four and a half hours the ship took on the 713 survivors of the disaster from the Titanic’s lifeboats. Survivors were given blankets and coffee and then escorted by stewards to the dining rooms. Others went on deck to survey the ocean for any sign of their loved ones. Throughout the rescue Carpathia’s own passengers assisted in any way that they could, offering warm food, beverages, blankets, accommodations, and words of comfort. By 9:00 a.m. the last survivor had been picked up from the lifeboats and Rostron gave the order to sail away from the area. Without the intervention of Captain Rostron and the Carpathia it is certain that all hands would have perished. As it was over 1500 souls were lost.
Carpathia finally arrived in New York on the evening of Thursday April 18, 1912, to disembark the survivors under tremendous press coverage. In one moment the Carpathia went from obscurity to front page news all over the world. For their rescue work the crew of Carpathia were awarded multiple medals. Crew members were awarded bronze medals, officers’ silver, and Captain Rostron a silver cup and a gold medal. Rostron was knighted by King George V and was later a guest of President William Howard Taft at the White House where he was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal.
The Carpathia returned to service until the outbreak of World War I when she was painted battleship gray and joined the war effort transporting Canadian and American Forces to Europe. Some of her voyages were in convoy, sailing from New York through Halifax to Liverpool and Glasgow. On July 17, 1918, only six years after the rescue, the Carpathia was in convoy with six other ships when she was torpedoed by Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-55. As Carpathia began to sink Captain Prothero gave the order to abandon ship. All passengers and the surviving crew members boarded her 11 lifeboats. There were 218 survivors, but 5 crew members were lost.
The Titanic disaster was one of the deadliest peacetime maritime shipwrecks in history and made the need for change in safety at sea requirements apparent. The international community came together and established global maritime standards and regulations that resulted in the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) treaty. This convention is widely regarded as the most important of all international agreements on the safety of merchant ships.
With all the publicity and worldwide acclaim about the finding of the wreck of the Titanic there was little fanfare when in 2000, the American author and diver Clive Cussler discovered the wreck of the Carpathia 120 miles west of Ireland. The ship that came to the rescue and saved 713 people from a cold death that night of terror lies unsung at the bottom of the ocean a thousand miles to the east of the Titanic.