The Other Ship: Carpathia Rescues Titanic Passengers

 Michael Streich June 3, 2011

 

Built in 1903 for the British Cunard line and used to service Mediterranean ports, the Carpathia was steaming to Trieste when her wireless operator Harold Cottam received an urgent distress call from the RMS Titanic at 12:35 AM on the morning of April 15, 1912. Carpathia’s captain Arthur H. Rostron immediately changed course to assist the stricken liner, arriving too late but rescuing over 700 survivors from lifeboats. In 1918, the famous rescue ship would herself be sunk off the Irish coast by German torpedoes as World War I was drawing to a close.

 

Titanic Strikes an Iceberg

 

Unlike the great British and German liners competing for the cross-Atlantic trade, the Carpathia was not built for speed and did not reflect the luxurious accommodations associated with the White Star Line. Her first class passengers were prominent members of American society, like Mr. and Mrs. Louis Mansfield Ogden, but attracted no aristocrats. The April 1912 voyage to Trieste would take fourteen days.

 

Although the CQD and SOS calls from Titanic came as a shock, Captain Rostron prepared his ship to take on potentially over 2,000 survivors. Titanic had struck an iceberg but it was inconceivable that she would founder: she was deemed “unsinkable.” Rostron poured on the speed, ordering that all hot water be turned off and redirected to steam. As his passengers slept, Carpathia was readied for a massive rescue operation.

 

Rostron arrived at the site approximately four hours later but Titanic had already sunk. Too few lifeboats signaled a death sentence for the many still aboard. Three quarters of her crew were lost. The White Star Line, part of a conglomerate owned by American financier J.P. Morgan, stopped paying the crew once the liner sunk. The company reversed itself once the surviving crew members returned to Southampton.

 

Rescue of Survivors On board the Carpathia

 

The Carpathia took 709 survivors on board. In her memoirs, surviving stewardess Violet Jessup recalls being served brandy to counteract the fierce cold the lifeboat occupants endured. Survivors were separated by class, although every effort was made to make all Titanic survivors comfortable. Carpathia’s passengers gave up their rooms and dug through belongings to share toiletries. Others provided clothing and make-shift blankets.

 

Titanic historian Daniel A. Butler comments that, “passengers and crew alike understood that they were suddenly part of an extraordinary event, which required extraordinary conduct.” This included Mrs. Ogden, a “great favorite in society,” according to an October 31, 1898 New York Times announcement. Serving hot coffee, Mrs. Ogden and her husband knew some of the surviving first class passengers. Mr. Ogden owned a family lumber business, was a graduate of the New York Columbia Law School, and a board member of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine.

 

Class Distinctions on the Carpathia

 

Working closely with Carpathia’s passengers and crew in their efforts to relieve the suffering and trauma was Titanic survivor Mrs. J.J. Brown, known in history as the “unsinkable Molly Brown.” Margaret Brown, as she was known, formed a relief committee before Carpathia reached New York, determined to assist Titanic’s steerage passengers. She had befriended three Irish girls and became acutely concerned with their future. Steerage passengers had lost everything.

 

Would steerage passengers be forced to undergo rigid immigration policies associated with Ellis Island? Would they be returned to Europe for lack of funds? Did they have family support in New York? Such questions plagued Mrs. Brown and other concerned first class passengers. Once Carpathia docked in New York, however, regulations were relaxed.

 

Carpathia’s Arrival in New York Harbor

 

Captain Rostron refused to answer any wireless inquiries as his ship returned to New York, even from the USS Chester, an American naval vessel dispatched by President Taft. Marconi wireless messages tapped out the names of survivors, ignoring press questions. Once in New York, Rostron was the first important official to be questioned by the hastily convened Congressional sub-committee led by Michigan Junior Senator William Alden Smith. Smith wanted to determine how it was possible so many lives were lost, including powerful men like John Astor.

 

Rostron continued his voyage to Trieste after testifying. In later years, he commanded numerous Cunard ships including the Mauritania. Retiring with the rank of commodore, he died at the age of 71. The Carpathia continued her trans-Atlantic passages throughout World War I, chartered toward the end of the conflict by the U.S. government to transport troops.

 

The Final Voyage of the Carpathia

 

On a sunny July morning in 1918, just after breakfast off the west coast of Ireland, Carpathia received three torpedoes which sank her. There was no loss of life as “perfect discipline” enabled the 218 on board to survive. According to the New York Times (July 20, 1918), she went under at 11 AM and would be forever remembered as the Titanic rescue ship.

 

Sources:

 

Daniel Allen Butler, The Other Side Of The Night: The Carpathia, the Californian, and the Night the Titanic Was Lost (Casemate, 2009)

Daniel Allen Butler, “Unsinkable” The Full Story (Stackpole Books, 1998)

Kristen Iversen, Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth (Johnson Books, 1999)

Violet Jessop, Titanic Survivor, John Maxtone-Graham, editor (Sheridan House, 1997)

New York Times, various articles from 1912.

Originally published in Suite101. Any republishing in any form including digital or print must have written permission from the author.