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

History

The RMS Carpathia was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their Newcastle upon Tyne, England shipyard. She was launched on 6 August 1902 and began her sea trials on 22 April 1903 which ended on 25 April. Carpathia was 8,600 tons, long (164 m) and 64.5 feet (18 m) in breadth.

Carpathia made her maiden voyage on 5 May 1903 from Liverpool, England to Boston, USA, and ran services between New York, Trieste, Rijeka and various Mediterranean ports.

Titanic disaster

Carpathia docked in New York following the rescue of Titanic 's survivors

Her wireless operator, Harold Cottam had missed previous messages from RMS Titanic, being on the bridge at the time. He received messages from Cape Race stating that they had private traffic for 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 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

Molly Brown (right) giving Captain Arthur Henry Rostron an award for his service in the rescue of the Titanic

Carpathia was part of a convoy when she was torpedoed on 17 July 1918 off the east coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-55. The Carpathia listed to port and sank bow first.^[2] 157 passengers and the surviving crew were rescued by HMS Snowdrop the following day. The last sighting was at 02:45am, just as the stern section sank.

Finding and salvage works

On 9 September 1999 Reuters and AP wire services reported that Argosy International Ltd., headed by Graham Jessop, son of internationally known undersea explorer Keith Jessop, had found the wreck of the Carpathia on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean earlier that week, about off the southwestern English coast. "She is in reasonably good condition for a wreck of that age," Jessop said. "She is in one piece, and she is upright."^[3]

The next year American author and diver Clive Cussler announced that his organization, NUMA, had found the wreck in the Spring of 2000,^[4][5] at a depth of .^[6] After the submarine attack Carpathia rolled over and landed upright on the sea floor. The wreck currently lies upright off the coast of Ireland.^[7]

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

• 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 1907 photos by Marjorie Champlin Bowen
• BBC News video describing a diving exploration of the ship

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