RMS Carpathia
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The RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson. The Carpathia began its maiden voyage in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of the RMS Titanic after it sank on April 15, 1912.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Titanic disaster
The Carpathia was sailing from New York City when her wireless operator, Harold Cottam, received distress signals from the RMS Titanic. Cottam awakened Captain Arthur Henry Rostron who immediately set a course at maximum speed towards Titanic's last known position, approximately 58 miles away. Rostron managed to squeeze 17 knots out of a supposed 14 knot ship, a remarkable and dangerous feat for the time, due to the risk of structural damage from excessive vibration, or boiler explosion from excess pressure. At 4 o'clock in the morning, Carpathia arrived at the scene after working her way through dangerous ice fields and was able to save 705[1] people.
[edit] Aftermath
For his rescue work, Captain Rostron was awarded a silver cup and gold medal by survivors, the presentation made by Molly Brown. He 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 [1]. 157 passengers and the surviving crew were rescued by the HMS Snowdrop the following day. American author and diver Clive Cussler found the wreck in 1999 [2][3]. The last sighting was at 02:45am, just as the stern section sank.
The current owner of the vessel is Premier Exhibitions Inc. (formerly RMS Titanic Inc.) who plans to recover objects from the wreck.[4] The same company owns the salvor-in-possession rights of the RMS Titanic whose artifacts are shown in worldwide exhibitions.
[edit] Note
- ^ These numbers were taken from the final report by the U.S. Senate Inquiry.
- The crew of the Carpathia were awarded Bronze Medals and the Silvers was issued to the Officers of the Carpathia and the Gold was issued to the Captain.
[edit] Reference
- Eaton, John P. and Haas, Charles A. Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy (2nd ed.). W.W. Norton & Company, 1995
