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RMS Carpathia
The Twin Screw Conard RMS Carpathia was laid down at the Wallsend-on-Tyne works of Swan & Hunter in 1901 and launched on August 6, 1902 and, after fitting out, registered a gross tonnage of 13,603. Her maiden voyage was from Liverpool to New York, via Queenstown on May 5, 1903. She was 558 feet in length with a breadth of 64 feet 3 inches and depth 40 feet [This may be incorrect, see Alternate above]. Her eight cylinder quadruple-expansion engines installed by the Wallsend Slipway Co. gave her a service speed of approximately 14 knots. Being
primarily designed for the Hungarian emigrant service between Fiume and New
York, the Carpathia plied the
Liverpool to New York or Boston route in the Summer and she carried immigrants (mainly Hungarian) from Trieste and Fiume to
America between November and May. As well as providing essential immigrant revenue, the summer
cruises to Europe were particularly enjoyed by wealthy Americans on holiday
with additional stops being made at the ports of Gibraltar, Genoa and Naples
(sometimes including Messina and Palermo).
Her accommodations were far superior to anything
previously offered to emigrants, and the 3rd class accommodation was of
a good standard. There were also public rooms for 3rd class passengers
and all meals were included in the fare. The ship continued the Liverpool
to New York service until November 1903 and then spent the winter carrying
passengers from Trieste and Fiume. As well as providing essential immigrant revenue, these summer cruises to
Europe were particularly enjoyed by wealthy Americans on holiday with additional
stops being made at the ports of Gibraltar, Genoa and Naples (sometimes
including Messina and Palermo).
In 1905 the Carpathia was refitted to provide
accommodation for 100 first class, 200 second class and 2,250 third class
passengers. By 1909 she was permanently assigned to the Mediterranean service,
only returning to Liverpool at the end of each year for annual refitting /
maintenance. Titanic rescue For the story of Carpathia's involvement in the rescue of the Titanic
survivors, see the entry for her then-captain: Arthur
Henry Rostron. Compare with below: On April 11 1912,
the Carpathia set
sail
from New York en route to Liverpool on her normal run under the
command of Captain Arthur Rostron. On that same day, the HMS Titanic was
calling at Queenstown on her maiden voyade across the Atlantic.
It was past midnight on April 14 as the ship steamed
towards the Gibraltar. The Carpathia's solo Marconi
wireless operator Harold Cottam was about to go to bed. His regular shift
had ended hours ago, but he had been busy transmitting and relaying wireless
messages. He wore his headphones as he was fighting with a knot in his
shoelace, when he heard the brand new White Star steamship R.M.S. Titanic
calling. He replied and told the Titanic wireless operator that
Cottam ''had a bunch of messages coming for him by morning''. Onboard the
Titanic Chief wireless operator John ''Jack'' Phillips heard him
and sent him a request for help. The Titanic had just struck an
iceberg and was sinking. Carpathia was the closest ship to the Titanic; 58
(or 60?) miles
away.
Cottam rushed to the Bridge and
explained the situation to the officer of the watch. Together the men rushed
in to Captain Rostron's cabin and entered without knocking. Just when Rostron
was about to give a lesson in manners, Cottam spoke out and told that the
Titanic had sent a distress call. Captain Rostron was up within
a minute.
Carpathia had a maximum speed of of 14 knots,
but when she rushed to reach the sinking Titanic it is said to have
reached 16 to 17 knots. The captain cut everything he could think of to make
her go faster - heating , hot water, any unused light - but the Carpathia
nonetheless arrived too late. It was almost dawn
- around 3:30 or 4:00 AM - when she
finally arrived at the scene over two hours after the Titanic
actually sank. They couldn't see anything at first, then they
were approached by a small number of boats. Thus, they rescued
705* survivors from the most famous shipwreck of
all times and where 1,503 perished. Leaving the Leyland Line steamer Californian to search
for others, and as there was insufficient food on board to make it to Europe, Captain Rostron decided to sail back to New
York where she arrived
on April 18, whereupon the full horror of the Titanic tragedy was learnt. Amidst the controversy and rumours that were rife over the next few months, Captain Rostron, his crew and the
Carpathia itself were beyond reproach. |
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World War I
When World War
I broke out in Europe, Carpathia sailed only briefly under Cunard's flag. On September 5th, 1914 she was fined by the Italian government for
carrying immigrants without a license.
The Carpathia continued its commercial service throughout the
war. Then, in 1915, being
transferred to the New York and Boston run from Liverpool, she was requisitioned by the
British government and used as a troopship, first operating from the Piraeus
in Greece. Because of contradictory web sources, it is unclear as to whether or not
she was retrofitted by the military, but she had been designed to enable conversion to carry up 3000 officers
and troops with 1000 tons of stores, or 1000 officers and men when transporting
cavalry.
On 17 July 1918 the Carpathia was travelling in a convoy, bound
for Boston, when a German U-47 attacked 120 miles west of Fastnet and
170 miles north-west of the Bishop Rock. She was struck on the side by two torpedoes,
and she immediately began to sink. While the
crew evacuated the passengers on board to the lifeboats.
Despite the pummeling she took, Carpathia stayed afloat long enough
for 215 crew members to escape along with the 57 passengers. Only 5 crew members were killed in the torpedo
impacts. The survivors were picked
up by H.M.S. Snowdrop and taken to Liverpool. The Carpathia sank
at 12:40 AM. that day. In the spring of 2000, the chairman and founder of the National Underwater Marine Agency (NUMA) Dr. Clive Cussler lead a team that reported that they have found the wreck of the Carpathia in 514 (or 540?) feet of water 120 (or 220?) miles off Fastnet, Ireland, after being lost for 81 years. The vessel is standing upright and is not broken up. Only some debris spill out from the torpedo holes. After diligent research the wreck was pinpointed by scan sonar before being surveyed by ROV-carrying cameras. |
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From Divernet News, 30th November 2000 Carpathia Dive British divers are to travel 170 miles out into the Atlantic next year and plunge to 158m to explore one of the most evocative wrecks in the history of the great liners. The 170m Cunard liner RMS Carpathia was made famous for rushing to the aid of the sinking Titanic in 1912. In July 1918, she was torpedoed and sunk by a U-boat 170 miles north-west of the Bishop Rock, while en route from Liverpool to Boston. Five crew died but a naval vessel, HMS Snowdrop, managed to pick up the remaining 215 and a small passenger contingent of 57. In May, the commercial research survey vessel Ocean Venture, funded by American Clive Cussler, found the wreck after scanning 50 square miles over 28 days. The ship is said to have been identified by the matching of scan results to a template of its deck plans, and by ROV pictures of some of its sections, which revealed distinctive design features. Now an eight-strong diving team, headed by deep-wrecks explorer Richie Stevenson, has announced a 12-day expedition aboard Ocean Venture to dive the wreck next July. "We have obtained permission to dive from the wreck's owner, Graham Jessop, and aim to complete a video survey and recover the ship's bell," Richie Stevenson told Diver. "The bell is a beautiful silver one about 60cm high. It was located by the ROV, but no name was visible on it." Using closed-circuit rebreathers, eight divers will operate in two groups of four, diving on alternate days and acting as surface support on days off. The other divers are Zaid Al-Obaidi, Tony Harris, Ric Waring, Dave Wilkins, Mark Elliott, Mike Langborg and Phil Cheetham. Photographers Ron Mahoney and Gavin Newman will record shipboard life and some underwater operations. Meanwhile, divers at the European Technical Diving Centre in Orkney have also shown interest in diving the wreck, but have yet to announce a firm project plan and obtain permission from its owner. According to Richie Stevenson, only one man, Ocean Venture's skipper Gary Goodyear, knows the position of the Carpathia. "That's his prerogative, and we've reached an agreement with him to be taken to the site," said Stevenson. "To my knowledge he's not likely to be taking anyone else." The Carpathia was built in 1903 by Swan Hunter of Newcastle and had capacity to carry 1074 passengers in two classes. Her defining moment came when, alerted to the sinking Titanic while 58 miles from the stricken ship's position, the Carpathia steamed at 16 knots - 2 knots more than her supposed top speed - for four and a half hours to reach the floating rafts of passengers and crew. She arrived 90 minutes after the Titanic had gone down. The Carpathia was able to save 711* people who would otherwise have joined the 1503 lost in the disaster. *Note: The total given elsewhere are shown as 703 and 705 survivors. Sources: |
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This page compliments of Marisa Ciceran Created Friday, April 23, 2004;
Last updated:
Tuesday, March 04, 2008 |
On 17 May 1904 the Carpathia
returned to the Liverpool-New York service. During the following years
the ship would return to the Mediterranean service every winter, beginning
with a positioning cruise from Liverpool to Naples. 