RMS CARPATHIA

'RMS ''Carpathia''' was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. ''Carpathia'' began its maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of RMS ''Titanic'' after it sank on 15 April 1912.

Contents

History

''Titanic'' disaster

Aftermath

Finding and salvage works

References

External links

History

The RMS ''Carpathia'' was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their Newcastle, United Kingdom shipyard. Launched on August 6, 1902 and began its sea trials on April 22, 1903 which ended on April 25. ''Carpathia'' was 8,600 tons, 541 feet long (164 m) and 64.5 feet (18 m)in breadth.
''Carpathia'' made her maiden voyage on May 5, 1903 from Liverpool to Boston, USA, and ran service between New York, Trieste and various Mediterranean ports.

''Titanic'' disaster

The ''Carpathia'' was sailing east from New York City bound for Gibraltar on the night of Sunday, 14 April, 1912. Her wireless operator, Harold Cottam had missed previous messages from the RMS Titanic, being on the bridge at the time. He received messages from Cape Race stating that they had private traffic for the Titanic. He thought he would be helpful and sent a message to the Titanic stating that Cape Race had traffic for them. In reply he received a distress signal. Cottam awakened Captain Arthur Henry Rostron who immediately set a course at maximum speed to ''Titanic's ''last known position,'' ''approximately 58'' ''miles away. Rostron ordered the ship's heating and hot water to be cut off, so the engines could feed on every ounce of steam.'' ''At 4 o'clock in the morning, ''Carpathia'' arrived at the scene after working her way through dangerous ice fields. ''Carpathia'' was able to save 705 people.^[1]

Aftermath

For the rescue work, the crew of the Carpathia were awarded medals by the survivors. Crew members were awarded bronze medals, officers silver and Captain Rostron a silver cup and gold medal, presented by Molly Brown. Rostron was later a guest of President Taft at the White House and was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honor the United States Congress could confer upon him.
''Carpathia'' was part of a convoy when it was torpedoed July 17, 1918 off the east coast of Ireland by German submarine U-55.^[2] 157 passengers and the surviving crew were rescued by the HMS ''Snowdrop'' the following day. The last sighting was at 02:45am, just as the stern section sank.

Finding and salvage works

American author and diver Clive Cussler found the wreck in 1999,^[3][4][5] at a depth of 500ft.^[6]
The current owner of the vessel is Premier Exhibitions Inc. (formerly RMS Titanic Inc.) who plans to recover objects from the wreck.^[6] The same company owns the salvor-in-possession rights of the RMS Titanic whose artifacts are shown in worldwide exhibitions.

References

1. Titanic Inquiry Project" Electronic copies of British and American inquiries into the disaster accessed August 26, 2006)
2. R.M.S. Carpathia" A detailed description of the ship; accessed August 26, 2007)
3. UK Titanic rescue ship 'found'" from http://news.bbc.co.uk; accessed August 26, 2007)
4. Wreck of the Carpathia, Titanic's Rescuer, Found" from www.numa.net; accessed August 26, 2007)
5. DISCOVERY OF THE R.M.S. CARPATHIA" from www.titanic-titanic.com; accessed August 26, 2007)
6. Dive to film Titanic rescue ship" from http://news.bbc.co.uk; accessed August 26, 2007)
7. Dive to film Titanic rescue ship" from http://news.bbc.co.uk; accessed August 26, 2007)


★ Eaton, John P. and Haas, Charles A. ''Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy'' (2nd ed.). W.W. Norton & Company, 1995

External links

★ Carpathia: Passengers and Crew

★ Biography of Captain Rostron

★ Maritimequest RMS Carpathia Photo Gallery

★ RMS Carpathia at sorbie.net

★ Carpathia 1917 photos by Marjorie Bowen