RMS Carpathia
The RMS Carpathia under way
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | RMS Carpathia |
Namesake | Carpathian Mountain Range |
Owner | Cunard Line |
Port of registry | Liverpool |
Route |
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Builder | C.S. Swan & Hunter, Wallsend, England [1] |
Yard number | 274 |
Laid down | 10 September 1901 |
Launched | 6 August 1902 |
Completed | February 1903 |
Maiden voyage | 5 May 1903 |
In service | 1903–1918 |
Out of service | 17 July 1918 |
Identification |
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Fate | Sunk by torpedo from U-55 on 17 July 1918 |
Notes | Famous for rescuing more than 700 passengers from the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Ocean liner |
Tonnage | 13,603 GRT, 8,660 NRT |
Length | 558 ft (170 m) |
Beam | 64 ft 6 in (19.66 m) |
Draught | 34 ft 7 in (10.54 m) |
Decks | 7 |
Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Capacity |
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RMS Carpathia was a Cunard Line transatlantic passenger steamship built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson in their shipyard in Wallsend, England.
The Carpathia made her maiden voyage in 1903 from
The Carpathia was sunk during World War I on 17 July 1918 after being torpedoed three times by the German submarine U-55 off the southern Irish coast, with a loss of five crew members.
The name of the ship comes from the mountain range of the Carpathians in Eastern Europe.[2]
Background
Around 1900, the Cunard Line faced tight competition from the British
Rather than attempting to fully regain prestige by spending the additional money necessary to order liners that were fast enough to win back the Blue Riband from the German Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse or large enough to rival the Oceanic in size, Cunard tried to maximize their profitability in order to remain solvent enough to fend off any takeover attempts by the competing shipping conglomerate by the name of
The three new ships were not particularly fast, as they were designed for immigrant travellers, but provided significant cost savings in fuel economy. The three ships became both instruments and models through which Cunard was able to successfully compete with its larger rivals, most notably IMM's lead company, the White Star Line.[5]
The Carpathia was a modified design of the Ivernia-class ships, being approximately 40 feet (12 m) shorter than her "half-sisters." Like her predecessors, her design was based on a long hull, a low, well-balanced superstructure, and four masts fitted with cranes, allowing for effective handling of larger amounts of cargo than was customary on an ocean liner.[6]
History
Design and construction
The
At the time of her launch, she was described as being 558 ft (170 m) long,[8] 64 ft 3 in (19.58 m) breadth, with a gross register tonnage of 12,900 tons.[11] When the RMS Carpathia was finally completed, her gross register tonnage had increased to more than 13,500 tons.[8] She was designed with four complete steel decks, a steel orlop deck in holds No. 1 and 2, and a bridge deck 290 ft. long for passengers, the saloon, and cabins, with a boat deck located right above the bridge deck.[7] At the time she was launched, it was said that she was to be fitted for carrying 200 first-class and 600 third-class passengers and large quantities of frozen meat.[7][11] When she was finally completed, her capacity had increased to about 1,700 passengers.[8]
Despite being an intermediate liner designed mainly for second and third-class travellers, the Carpathia's interior accommodations were still quite comfortable and set a standard for the era. The dining saloon was described as decorated in cream and gold, which "combine effectively with the rich upholstery and mahogany of the furniture, and old gold curtains screening the ports",[6] and was capped by a stained-glass dome underneath an electrical fan for ventilation. The second-class accommodation also included a walnut-panelled smoking room located in the aft deckhouse and a handsome library at the forward end of the bridge (A) deck. After the 1905 renovation, these spaces would be converted to first-class accommodations. Third-class accommodations on the Carpathia were extraordinarily generous for the time. The third-class dining saloon extended the full width of the ship and seated 300 passengers, with walls panelled in polished oak and teak dado.[6] Third-class also included a smoking room and ladies' room located immediately forward of the dining saloon on the upper (C) deck, adjacent to the enclosed promenade (or open space) similar to the design on the Ivernia and Saxonia.[6] Officers were berthed in the forward deckhouse on the bridge (A) deck, above the second-class dining saloon, while the captain's quarters was located on the boat deck immediately below the ship's bridge.[citation needed]
The Carpathia's lower decks were well-ventilated by means of deck ventilators, supplemented by electric fans. The ventilation systems were designed to force fresh air over coiled thermotanks, which could be fed with cool water during the summer or steam during the winter, thus heating and cooling the ship as conditions warranted.[12] Although the ship was fully electrified with over 2,000 lamps, the ship still had backup oil lamps in the cabins when she entered service, in the event that an electrical outage were to occur.[6]
The Carpathia had seven single-ended boilers, fitted with the
The Carpathia made her maiden voyage on 5 May 1903 from Liverpool, England,[8] to Boston, Massachusetts in the US, and ran services between New York City[13] and Mediterranean ports, such as Gibraltar, Algiers, Genoa, Naples, Trieste and Fiume.[14]
Early service and renovations
Although lacking the speed and grand luxury of express liners, and having no first-class accommodations until 1905, the Carpathia quickly developed a reputation as a comfortable ship, particularly in rough weather, due to her relatively wide breadth to length ratio, the use of bilge keels, and the lack of vibration typically found in powerful engines.[6][12] The ship became popular with both tourists and emigrants. During the summer season, the Carpathia operated mainly between Liverpool and New York City, and in the winter, the Carpathia travelled from New York City to the Mediterranean Basin.[8]
After Cunard partnered with the Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Company Adria in 1904, the Carpathia was designated with the duty of transporting Hungarian emigrants.[15][16] As a result, the Carpathia was renovated in 1905, increasing its capacity from 1,700 passengers to 2,550 passengers. Mainly third-class small cabins were converted to large shared dormitory rooms while adding first-class accommodation to areas that were previously second-class.[8] By 1912, her tonnage has grown to 13,600[17] and she had a capacity of 2,450 passengers, with 250 being first and second-class passengers, and 2,200 being third-class passengers.[17] She had a crew in 1912 of about 300 members, including 6 officers.[17] She carried 20 lifeboats.[17]
Sinking of the RMS Titanic and the Carpathia's rescue of survivors
The Carpathia departed from New York City on 11 April 1912 bound for Fiume, Austria-Hungary (now Rijeka, Croatia). At that moment on the ship were about 240 crew members, of which a quarter were Croatian sailors. First class had 128 passengers, second class had 50 passengers and 565 passengers were in third class.[18] Among its passengers were the American painters Colin Campbell Cooper and his wife Emma, author Philip Mauro, journalists Lewis Palmer Skidmore and Carlos Fayette Hurd, with their wives Emily Vinton Skidmore and Katherine Cordell Hurd, photographer Dr. Francis H. Blackmarr, and Charles H. Marshall, whose three nieces were travelling onboard the Titanic. Also on board were Hope Brown Chapin, honeymooning youngest daughter of the former Governor of Rhode Island, Russell Brown, Pittsburgh architect Charles M. Hutchison and his wife, Sue Eva Rule, the sister of Judge Virgil Rule of the St. Louis Court of Appeals, as well as Louis Mansfield Ogden with his wife Augusta Davies Ogden, a granddaughter of Alexander H. Rice.[citation needed]
On the night of 14 April, the Carpathia's wireless operator, Harold Cottam, had missed previous messages from the Titanic, as he was on the bridge at the time.[19] After his shift ended at midnight, he continued listening to the transmitter before bed, and received messages from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, stating they had private traffic for the Titanic. He thought he would be helpful, and at 12:11 a.m. on the night of 15 April, sent a message to the Titanic, stating that Cape Cod had traffic for them. In reply he received the Titanic's distress signal, stating that they had struck an iceberg and were in need of immediate and urgent assistance.[19]
Cottam took the message and coordinates to the bridge, where the officers on watch were initially sceptical about the seriousness of the Titanic's distress call.
Rostron ordered the ship's heating and hot water cut off in order to make as much steam as possible available for the engines, and had extra lookouts on watch to spot icebergs.[22][23] He ordered three doctors to wait in each of the classes' dining saloons to tend to survivors of each class, and for blankets, ladders, and mail sacks to be put at each gangway door for survivors. Cottam, meanwhile, messaged the Titanic that the Carpathia was coming as quickly as possible and that they expected to reach their location within four hours. Cottam refrained from sending more signals after this, trying to keep the network clear for the Titanic's distress signals.[24] The Carpathia reached the edge of the ice field by 2:45 a.m., and for the next two hours dodged icebergs as small growlers of ice ground along the hull plates.[24][21] The Carpathia arrived at the distress call's position at 4:00 a.m., approximately an hour and a half after the Titanic went down,[25] claiming 1523 lives. For the next four and a half hours, the ship took on the 705 survivors of the disaster from Titanic's lifeboats.[26] Survivors were given blankets and coffee, and then escorted by stewards to the dining rooms. Others went on deck to survey the ocean for any sign of their loved ones. Throughout the rescue, the Carpathia's own passengers assisted in any way that they could, offering warm food, beverages, blankets, accommodations, and words of comfort.[27] By 9:00 a.m., the last survivor had been picked up from the lifeboats, and Rostron gave the order to sail away from the area. SS Birma was nearby and offered Carpathia supplies but was told to "shut up" by their wireless operators due to Birma not using a Marconi wireless set.[28]
After considering options for where to disembark the passengers, including
Third class passengers disembarked onto tenders for
For their rescue work, the crew of the Carpathia were awarded multiple medals by the survivors. Crew members were awarded bronze medals, officers silver, and Captain Rostron a silver cup and a gold medal, presented by
Josip Car, from Crikvenica, present-day Croatia, was an 18-year-old waiter onboard Carpathia. After participating in the rescue, he kept a Titanic life jacket as a souvenir and donated it in 1938 to the Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka. It is one of five known and confirmed original life jackets from the Titanic and the only one preserved and permanently displayed in Europe.[31]
Carpathia Seamount, one of the Fogo Seamounts southeast of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic Ocean, is named after Carpathia for her involvement in the Titanic disaster.[32]
Service in the First World War
During the First World War, the Carpathia was used to transfer Canadian and American Expeditionary Forces to Europe.[33] At least some of her voyages were in convoy, sailing from New York through Halifax to Liverpool and Glasgow.[34] Among her passengers during the war years was Frank Buckles, who went on to become the last surviving American veteran of the Great War.[35] Apparently some point during her enlistment, her long-faded red funnel, custom of the Cunard Line, was painted in battle grey.[36]
Sinking and aftermath
On 15 July 1918, the Carpathia departed from Liverpool in a convoy bound for Boston, carrying 57 passengers (36 saloon class and 21 steerage) and 166 crew. The convoy travelled on a zig-zag course along with an escort in accordance with procedures against submarine attacks.[37] The escort left the convoy early in the morning of 17 July, and the convoy was cut in half. The Carpathia continued west along with six other ships, and as the largest ship in the convoy, she assumed the role of the commodore ship. Three and a half hours later, at 9:15 a.m., while sailing in the Southwest Approaches, a torpedo was sighted approaching on her port side. The engines were thrown in full-astern and the helm was turned hard-a-starboard, but it was too late to avoid the torpedo.[37] The Carpathia was torpedoed near the No. 3 hatch on the port side by the Imperial German Navy submarine SM U-55, followed by a second which penetrated the engine room, killing three firemen and two trimmers, and effectively disabling her ability to escape, as the engines were rendered inoperable by the second torpedo impact.[38] The explosion severely damaged the Carpathia's electrical gear, including the wireless radio apparatus, as well as two of the ship's lifeboats.[37] As a result, Captain William Prothero, in command of the Carpathia since 1916, signalled the other ships in the convoy to send out wireless messages by use of flags. He then had rockets fired to attract the attention of nearby patrol boats. The remaining convoy steamed away at full speed to elude the submarine.[37]
As the Carpathia began to settle by the head and list to port, Prothero gave the order to abandon ship. All passengers and the surviving crew members boarded the 11 lifeboats as the Carpathia sank.[38] There were 218 survivors of the 223 aboard.[38] As the passengers and crew disembarked, Prothero, the chief officer, first and second officers and the gunners remained on the sinking ship, seeing to it that all the confidential books and documents were thrown overboard. The captain then signalled one of the lifeboats to come alongside, and he and the remaining crew members abandoned their ship.[37] U-55 surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship near the gunner's rooms, resulting in a massive explosion that doomed the Carpathia.[38] U-55 started approaching the lifeboats when the Azalea-class sloop HMS Snowdrop arrived on the scene and drove away the submarine with gunfire before picking up the survivors from the Carpathia around 1:00 p.m. The Snowdrop arrived back in Liverpool with the survivors on the evening of 18 July.
The Carpathia sank at 11:00 a.m. at a position recorded by the Snowdrop as 49°25′N 10°25′W / 49.417°N 10.417°W, about 1 hour and 45 minutes after the torpedo strike, and approximately 120 mi (190 km) west of
Discovery and salvage works
On 9 September 1999, the
In 2000, the American author and diver
The wreck of the Carpathia is owned by Premier Exhibitions Inc., formerly RMS Titanic Inc., which plans to recover objects from the wreck.[43]
Profile
Gallery
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The painted hull of the Carpathia rests on the slipway, awaiting launch.
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The Carpathia, having docked in New York following the rescue of the Titanic's survivors
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The Carpathia.
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Arthur Henry Rostrona golden award for his service in the rescue of the Titanic's survivors
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Rare on-deck photo of the Carpathia's passengers (c. 1914), unconnected with the Titanic disaster
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A lifeboat card from the Carpathia, used to identify a Titanic survivor's lifeboat
See also
- SS Californian, another vessel that was involved with the Titanic and sank in the First World War
- SS Mount Temple, another vessel that was initially thought to be the "mystery ship" failing to respond to the Titanic's distress calls
References
- ^ "RMS Carpathia (1903)". Tyne Built Ships. Retrieved 27 June 2017.
- OCLC 1024080123.
- ^ N. R. P. Bonsor, North Atlantic Seaway, pp. 154–55, 1873.
- ^ "thegreatoceanliners.com Saxonia (I) 1900–1925". Archived from the original on 3 September 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ J. H. Isherwood, "Intermediate Ship 'Saxonia' ", Sea Breezes 13 (1952), p. 411.
- ^ a b c d e f "The Cunard S.S. "Carpathia"", The Syren and Shipping Illustrated, pp. 250–255, 6 May 1903 – via Google Books
- ^ a b c d e "A floating dock and a new Cunarder" (PDF), The Engineer, p. 136, 8 August 1902 – via Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
- ^ a b c d e f g Tikkanen, Amy (2 August 2016), "Carpathia, ship", Encyclopædia Britannica
- ^ "Launches at Newcastle". The Times. No. 36840. London. 7 August 1902. p. 10.
- ^ "The Cunard Steamer Carpathia". The Times. No. 37065. London. 27 April 1903. col F, p. 10.
- ^ a b c d e "SS Carpathia" (PDF), The Engineer, p. 157, 15 August 1902 – via Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
- ^ a b c "Steamship Carpathia.", Marine Engineering, p. 517, October 1903
- ^ "(advertisement)". The Times. No. 37085. London. 20 May 1903. col B, p. 2.
- ^ "(advertisement)". The Times. No. 37267. London. 18 December 1903. col B, p. 2.
- ^ "100 éve történt (100 years ago)" (in Hungarian). Magyar Hajózásért Egyesület (Society for Hungarian Navigation). 12 April 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ^ "Carpathia – az első mentőhajó 1. rész" [Carpathia, the first rescue ship − part 1]. National Geographic (Hungary) (in Hungarian). 12 April 2012. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
- ^ a b c d "United States Senate Inquiry, Day 1, Testimony of Arthur H. Rostron, cont.", "Titanic" disaster, report of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, pursuant to S. Res. 283, directing the committee on commerce to investigate the causes leading to the wreck of the White Star liner "Titanic.", 19 April 2012
- ^ Dijana, Muškardin. Istarski mornari na brodu Carpathia(Istrian sailors on the ship Carpathia)(in Croatian) Histria : godišnjak Istarskog povijesnog društva = rivista della Società Storica Istriana, 2018, p. 185.
- ^ a b "British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry: Day 15, Testimony of Harold T. Cottam". Titanic Inquiry Project. 24 May 1912. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- ^ Heath, Neil (20 October 2013). "The reluctant hero who took the Titanic's distress call". BBC News. Nottingham. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
- ^ a b c d e f "United States Senate Inquiry, Day 1, Testimony of Arthur H. Rostron.", "Titanic" disaster, report of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, pursuant to S. Res. 283, directing the committee on commerce to investigate the causes leading to the wreck of the White Star liner "Titanic.", 19 April 2012
- ^ "RMS Carpathia Archived 16 May 2016 at the Wayback Machine" Retrieved 8 May 2014
- ^ Cimino, Eric (Fall 2017). "Carpathia's Care for Titanic's Survivors". Voyage, Journal of the Titanic International Society. 101: 23–24.
- ^ a b c Bisset, James G. P. (1959). Tramps and Ladies: My Early Years in Steamers. New York: Criterion Books. p. 297.
- ^ "United States Senate Inquiry, Day 1, Testimony of Arthur H. Rostron, cont.", "Titanic" disaster, report of the Committee on Commerce, United States Senate, pursuant to S. Res. 283, directing the committee on commerce to investigate the causes leading to the wreck of the White Star liner "Titanic.", 19 April 2012
- ^ "Titanic Inquiry Project". Titanic Inquiry Project. 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
- ^ Cimino (January 2017). "Carpathia's Care". Voyage: Journal of the Titanic International Society: 25–27.
- ^ Molony, Senan (28 December 2006). "Birma's wireless bears witness!". Encyclopedia Titanica.
- ^ "Testimony of Harold Bride". Titanic Inquiry Project.
- ^ "Congressional Gold Medal Recipients | US House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives". history.house.gov. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
- ^ "Pomorski muzej Hrvatskog primorja Rijeka". ppmhp.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 24 June 2023.
- ^ "Advisory Committee on Undersea Feature Names". Fisheries and Oceans Canada. 16 January 2019. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
- ^ Official war diaries of CEF – 27 Batt. 15 May 1915
- ^ Simmons, Perez; H. Davies, Alfred. Twentieth Engineers – France – 1917–1918–1919 (PDF). Portland, Oregon: Twentieth Engineers Publishing Association. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (28 February 2011). "Frank Buckles, Last of World War I Doughboys, Dies at 110". The New York Times.
- ^ "Carpathia: From a rescue ship to a ship of war".
- ^ a b c d e Ljungström, Henrik (March 2018). "Carpathia – TGOL". thegreatoceanliners.com.
- ^ a b c d e "Carpathia sunk; 5 of crew killed;" (PDF), The New York Times, p. 4, 20 July 1918
- ^ "UK Titanic rescue ship 'found'". BBC News. 8 September 1999.
- ISBN 978-1-55365-071-3.
- ^ "Wreck of the Carpathia, Titanic's Rescuer, Found". National Underwater and Marine Agency. 27 April 2004. Archived from the original on 27 April 2004. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
- ^ Kane Dane (23 September 2000). "Discovery Of R.M.S. Carpathia". Titanic-Titanic.com. Retrieved 26 August 2007.
- ^ a b BBC News. "Dive to film Titanic rescue ship". Retrieved 26 August 2007.
- ^ "Carpathia Rescue". National Underwater and Marine Agency. 25 February 2004. Archived from the original on 25 February 2004. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
Further reading
- Butler, Daniel Allen. (2009). The Other Side of the Night: The Carpathia, the Californian, and the Night the Titanic Was Lost. Philadelphia: Casemate.[ISBN missing]
- Eaton, John P. and Haas, Charles A. (1995). Titanic: Triumph and Tragedy. New York: W. W. Norton & Compan., 2nd ed.[ISBN missing]
External links
- Media related to Carpathia (ship, 1903) at Wikimedia Commons
- Carpathia on thegreatoceanliners.com(Wayback Machine)
- Biography of Captain Rostron
- RMS Carpathia at sorbie.net
- BBC News video describing a diving exploration of the ship
- RMS Carpathia History on Chris' Cunard Page
- Article on Carpathia from Marine Engineering Oct 1903