RMSRoyal Mail Ship , usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, a designation which dates back to 1840, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail...
Carpathia was a
Cunard LineCunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...
transatlantic passenger steamship built by
Swan Hunter & Wigham RichardsonSwan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
. Carpathia made her
maiden voyageThe maiden voyage of a ship, aircraft or other craft is the first journey made by the craft after shakedown. A number of traditions and superstitions are associated with it....
in 1903 and became famous for rescuing the survivors of after the latter ship hit an iceberg and sank on 15 April 1912. Carpathia herself was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic on 17 July 1918 during the
First World WarWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
by an Imperial German Navy
U-boatU-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
.
History
RMSRoyal Mail Ship , usually seen in its abbreviated form RMS, a designation which dates back to 1840, is the ship prefix used for seagoing vessels that carry mail under contract by Royal Mail...
Carpathia was built by
Swan Hunter & Wigham RichardsonSwan Hunter, formerly known as "Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson", was one of the best known shipbuilding companies in the world. Based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, the company was responsible for some of the greatest ships of the early 20th century — most famously, the RMS Mauretania which...
at their
Newcastle upon TyneNewcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
shipyard. She was launched on 6 August 1902 and underwent her
sea trialA sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s...
s between 22 April and 25 April 1903. Carpathia
displacedA ship's displacement is its weight at any given time, generally expressed in metric tons or long tons. The term is often used to mean the ship's weight when it is loaded to its maximum capacity. A number of synonymous terms exist for this maximum weight, such as loaded displacement, full load...
8600 LT (8,738 t) and was 541 ft (164.9 m) long and 64 in 6 in (19.66 m)
breadthThe beam of a ship is its width at the widest point. Generally speaking, the wider the beam of a ship , the more initial stability it has, at expense of reserve stability in the event of a capsize, where more energy is required to right the vessel from its inverted position...
.
Carpathia made her maiden voyage on 5 May 1903 from
LiverpoolLiverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, England, to
BostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
,
USAThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and ran services between
New YorkNew York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
,
TriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
,
RijekaRijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...
and various
MediterraneanThe Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
ports. She was used as a
troopshipA troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime...
by the
Canadian Expeditionary ForceThe Canadian Expeditionary Force was the designation of the field force created by Canada for service overseas in the First World War. Units of the C.E.F. were divided into field formation in France, where they were organized first into separate divisions and later joined together into a single...
during the
First World WarWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
.
Titanic disaster
Carpathia was sailing from New York City to Fiume,
Austria-HungaryAustria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, (today Rijeka in Croatia) on the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912. Among her passengers were the American painters
Colin Campbell CooperColin Campbell Cooper, Jr. was an American Impressionist painter, perhaps most renowned for his architectural paintings, especially of skyscrapers in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. An avid traveler, he was also known for his paintings of European and Asian landmarks, as well as natural...
and his wife
EmmaEmma Lampert Cooper was one of Rochester, New York's most renowned painters. She was married to painter Colin Campbell Cooper ....
, journalist Lewis P. Skidmore, photographer Dr. Francis H. Blackmarr, and Charles H. Marshall, whose three nieces were travelling aboard the Titanic.
Carpathias wireless operator,
Harold CottamHarold Thomas Cottam was the wireless operator on the RMS Carpathia when the SOS from the sinking RMS Titanic was sent. It was also he who awakened Captain Arthur Henry Rostron after receiving the distress signal. Without his diligence, and the somewhat fortuitous circumstances, many more people...
, had missed previous messages from Titanic, as he was on the bridge at the time. He then received messages from
Cape RaceCape Race is a point of land located at the southeastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Its name is thought to come from the original Portuguese name for this cape, "Raso", or "bare"...
,
NewfoundlandNewfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, stating that they had private traffic for Titanic. He thought he would be helpful and at 12:11 am on 15 April sent a message to the Titanic stating that Cape Race had traffic for them. In reply he received Titanics distress signal. Cottam awakened
CaptainCaptain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....
Arthur Henry Rostron who immediately set a course at maximum speed (17 kn (20.7 mph; 33.3 km/h)) to Titanics last known position, approximately 58 mi (93.3 km) away. Rostron ordered the ship's heating and hot water to be cut off in order to make as much steam as possible available for the engines.
At 4:00 am, Carpathia arrived at the scene, after working her way through dangerous ice fields, and took on 705 survivors of the disaster from Titanic's lifeboats.
Aftermath
For their rescue work, the crew of Carpathia were awarded medals by the survivors. Crew members were awarded bronze medals, officers silver and Captain Rostron a silver cup and a gold medal, presented by Margaret Brown. Rostron was later a guest of
President TaftWilliam Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
at the
White HouseThe White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
and was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honour the
United States CongressThe United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
could confer upon him.
Sinking
During the
First World WarWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Carpathia was used to transfer American troops to Europe. Among them was
Frank BucklesFrank Woodruff Buckles was the last surviving American veteran of World War I. He enlisted in the United States Army in 1917 and served with a detachment from Fort Riley, driving ambulances and motorcycles near the front lines in Europe.During World War II, he was captured by Japanese forces...
, who went on to become the last surviving American veteran of the war.
On 15 July 1918, Carpathia departed Liverpool in convoy. Shortly after midnight on 17 July she was torpedoed in the
Celtic SeaThe Celtic Sea is the area of the Atlantic Ocean off the south coast of Ireland bounded to the east by Saint George's Channel; other limits include the Bristol Channel, the English Channel, and the Bay of Biscay, as well as adjacent portions of Wales, Cornwall, Devon, and Brittany...
by the Imperial German Navy
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
U-55. Of two torpedoes fired at the ship, one impacted the port side while the other penetrated the engine room, killing two firemen and three trimmers. As Carpathia began to sink by the bow, Captain William Prothero gave the order to abandon ship. All 57 passengers (36 saloon class and 21 steerage) and 218 surviving crew members boarded the lifeboats as the vessel sank. U-55 surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship and was approaching the lifeboats when the arrived on the scene and drove away the submarine with gunfire before picking up the survivors from Carpathia.
Carpathia sank at 12:40 at a position recorded by Snowdrop as 49.25 N 10.25 W, approximately 120 mi (193.1 km) west of
FastnetFastnet can refer to:*Fastnet International Schools Regatta, a regatta held in County Cork, Ireland*Fastnet Line, a passenger ferry service operating between Wales and Ireland...
.
Finding and salvage works
On 9 September 1999, the
ReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
and AP wire services reported that Argosy International Ltd., headed by
Graham JessopGraham Jessop is a British deep sea diver, and marine archaeologist who has taken part in a number of important expeditions such as the 1999 discovery of the remains of the RMS Carpathia off the coast of Ireland...
, son of the undersea explorer
Keith JessopKeith Jessop was a British salvage diver and successful marine treasure hunter.-Early life:Born in Keighley as the son of a penniless Yorkshire mill-worker, he left school without a single qualification, but to make ends meet he started salvaging scrap metal from shallow water wrecks off the coast...
, and sponsored by the
National Underwater and Marine AgencyThe National Underwater and Marine Agency , originally an organization within the fiction of author Clive Cussler, is a private non-profit organization in the United States...
, had discovered Carpathias wreck in 600 ft (182.9 m) of water, 185 mi (297.7 km) west of
Land's EndLand's End is a headland and small settlement in west Cornwall, England, within the United Kingdom. It is located on the Penwith peninsula approximately eight miles west-southwest of Penzance....
. Bad weather forced his ship to abandon the position before he could verify the discovery using underwater cameras. However, when he later returned to the location the wreck proved to be not that of Carpathia but that of the Hamburg-America Line's Isis, sunk on 8 November 1936.
In 2000 the American author and diver
Clive CusslerClive Eric Cussler is an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist. His thriller novels, many featuring the character Dirk Pitt, have reached The New York Times fiction best-seller list more than seventeen times...
announced that his organization, NUMA, had found the true wreck of Carpathia in the spring of that year, at a depth of 500 ft (152.4 m). After the submarine attack Carpathia had rolled over and landed upright on the seabed. NUMA gave the approximate location of the wreck as 120 mi (193.1 km) west of
FastnetFastnet can refer to:*Fastnet International Schools Regatta, a regatta held in County Cork, Ireland*Fastnet Line, a passenger ferry service operating between Wales and Ireland...
, Ireland.
The current owner of the vessel is the company
Premier Exhibitions Inc.Premier Exhibitions Inc is an Atlanta, Georgia-based company that organizes traveling exhibitions.Its two most prominent exhibits are artifacts from the RMS Titanic and BODIES.....
, formerly RMS Titanic Inc., which plans to recover objects from the wreck. The same company owns the salvor-in-possession rights of Titanic, from which many artefacts have been recovered and are on display in worldwide exhibitions.
Further reading
- Butler, Daniel Allen, The Other Side of the Night (Casemate, 2009)
- Eaton, John P. and Haas, Charles A., Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy (W. W. Norton & Company, 2nd ed. 1995)
External links