RMS Carpathia

Around 1900, the Cunard Line faced stiff competition from the British White Star Line and the German lines Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd) and Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). Cunards largest liners as of 1898, and , had a reputation for size and speed, both being of 12,950 gross register tons (GRT) and having held the "Blue Riband" for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. However, Norddeutscher Lloyds new liner had taken the Blue Riband from them in 1897, while the White Star Line was planning to place a new 17,000-GRT liner, , into service. Cunard also upgraded its fleet during this time, ordering the construction of three new liners, , , and Carpathia. 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 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 International Mercantile Marine Co. 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. Carpathia was a modified design of the Ivernia-class ships, being approximately 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. She underwent her sea trials on a voyage from the River Tyne to the River Mersey between 22 and 25 April 1903. At the time of her launch, she was described as being long, When Carpathia was finally completed, her gross register tonnage had increased to more than 13,500 tons. 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 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. 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. which fed two independent sets of four-cylinder, four-crank, quadruple expansion engines, built by the Wallsend Slipway and Engineering Company, Ltd. of Wallsend, England to Boston, Massachusetts in the US, and ran services between New York City and Mediterranean ports, such as Gibraltar, Algiers, Genoa, Naples, Trieste and Fiume. ==Early service and renovations==

Although lacking the speed and grand luxury of express liners, and having no first-class accommodations until 1905, 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. As a result, 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. --> By 1912, her tonnage had grown to 13,600 and she had a capacity of 2,450 passengers, with 250 being first and second-class passengers, and 2,200 being third-class passengers. She had a crew in 1912 of about 300 members, including 6 officers. She carried 20 lifeboats. == Sinking of RMS Titanic and Carpathia rescue of survivors ==

. Under his command, Carpathia responded to Titanic distress call and rescued survivors. 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. She carried 128 passengers in first class, 50 in second class and 565 in third class. 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, Dr. Frank Hamlin Blackmarr who attended to the survivors and sent the first detailed reports about them, and Charles H. Marshall, whose three nieces were travelling onboard 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. On the night of 14 April, Carpathias wireless operator, Harold Cottam, had missed previous messages from Titanic, as he was on the bridge at the time. 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 Titanic. He thought he would be helpful, and at 12:11 a.m. on the morning of 15 April, sent a message to Titanic, stating that Cape Cod had traffic for them. In reply he received Titanic distress signal, stating that they had struck an iceberg and were in need of immediate and urgent assistance. Along with Dean, Cottam rushed down the ladder to the captain's cabin and awakened Captain Arthur Henry Rostron, who briefly scolded Cottam, but once he learnt about the seriousness of the message, immediately sprang into action and gave the order to turn the ship around, and then asked Harold Cottam if he was absolutely certain it was a distress signal from Titanic. 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. Joseph Zupichich, a steward, recalled the captain telling the crew, "We are in danger. I am risking your lives. The Titanic is in trouble and is sinking and we have to go help them." Cottam, meanwhile, messaged Titanic that 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 Titanics distress signals. 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. claiming 1,496 lives. For the next four and a half hours, the ship took on the 712 survivors of the disaster from Titanics lifeboats. Captain Rostron decided that the survivors should be hoisted aboard the ship through the between-deck entrance nearest the waterline and posted Árpád Lengyel there, because he had paramedic experience and was tasked to perform the initial diagnosis. Chief surgeon Francis Edward "Frank" McGee assisted the first class passengers, assistant surgeon Vittorio Risicato the second class passengers. 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, Carpathias own passengers assisted in any way that they could, offering warm food, beverages, blankets, accommodations, and words of comfort. 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. After considering options for where to disembark the passengers, including the Azores (the destination with the least cost to the Cunard Line) and Halifax (the closest port, although along an ice-laden route), Rostron consulted with Bruce Ismay, and ultimately decided to disembark the survivors in New York City, the original destination of Titanic. News of the disaster rapidly spread on shore, and Carpathia became the centre of intense media attention as she steamed westward towards New York at an average speed of 14 knots. Hundreds of wireless messages were being sent from Cape Race and other shore stations addressed to Captain Rostron from relatives of Titanic passengers and journalists demanding details in exchange for money. The liner docked at the White Star Line pier, Pier 59, and offloaded Titanic 13 lifeboats before proceeding to the Cunard pier, Pier 54, to disembark the remaining survivors. For their rescue work, the crew of 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 Margaret Brown. Rostron was knighted by King George V, and was later a guest of President William Howard Taft at the White House, where he was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honour the United States Congress could confer upon an individual. 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 fourteen known and confirmed original life jackets from Titanic and the only one preserved and permanently displayed in Europe. 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. ==Service in the First World War==

During the First World War, Carpathia was used to transfer Canadian and American Expeditionary Forces to Europe. At least some of her voyages were in convoy, sailing from New York through Halifax to Liverpool and Glasgow. Among her passengers during the war years was Frank Buckles, who went on to become the last surviving American veteran of the Great War. Apparently some point during her enlistment, her long-faded red funnel, custom of the Cunard Line, was painted in battle grey. Sometime prior to March 1918, the entire ship was painted in wartime dazzle camouflage. Sinking and aftermath On 15 July 1918, 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. The escort left the convoy early in the morning of 17 July, and the convoy was cut in half. 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. The explosion severely damaged Carpathias electrical gear, including the wireless radio apparatus, as well as two of the ship's lifeboats. As a result, Captain William Prothero, in command of 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. As 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 Carpathia sank. There were 218 survivors of the 223 aboard. 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. U-55 surfaced and fired a third torpedo into the ship near the gunner's rooms, resulting in a massive explosion that doomed Carpathia. U-55 started approaching the lifeboats when the sloop arrived on the scene and drove away the submarine with gunfire before picking up the survivors from Carpathia around 1:00 p.m. Snowdrop arrived back in Liverpool with the survivors on the evening of 18 July. Carpathia sank at 11:00 a.m. at a position recorded by Snowdrop as , about 1 hour and 45 minutes after the torpedo strike, and approximately west of Fastnet. At the time of her sinking, Carpathia was the fifth Cunard steamship sunk in as many weeks, the others being Ascania, Ausonia, and Valentia, leaving only five Cunarders afloat from the large pre-war fleet. ==Discovery and salvage works==

On 9 September 1999, the Reuters and AP wire services reported that Argosy International Ltd., headed by Graham Jessop, son of the undersea explorer Keith Jessop, and sponsored by the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA), had discovered Carpathias wreck in of water, west of Land's End. Adverse weather conditions forced his ship to abandon the position before Jessop could verify the discovery using underwater cameras. However, when he returned to the location, the wreck was determined to be the Hamburg-America Line's Isis, sunk on 8 November 1936. In 2000, the American author and diver Clive Cussler announced that his organisation, NUMA, had found the true wreck of Carpathia in the spring of that year, at a depth of . It was found that Carpathia landed upright on the seabed. NUMA gave the approximate location of the wreck as west of Fastnet, Ireland. The wreck of Carpathia is owned by Premier Exhibitions Inc., formerly RMS Titanic Inc., which had planned to recover objects from the wreck. ==Profile==

File:RMS Carpathia Launch.jpg|The painted hull of Carpathia rests on the slipway, awaiting launch. File:Carpathia-54.jpg|Carpathia, having docked in New York following the rescue of Titanics survivors File:Carpathia Malta.jpg|Carpathia. File:Molly brown rescue award titanic.jpg|Margaret Brown (right) giving Captain Arthur Henry Rostron a golden award for his service in the rescue of Titanics survivors File:Rms carpathia passengers on deck 1914 blasius zeiser osa group of 1914.JPG|Rare on-deck photo of Carpathia passengers (), unconnected with the Titanic disaster File:EdnaMcLarenRMS.CarpathiaLifeBoatCard.jpg|A lifeboat card from Carpathia, used to identify a Titanic survivor's lifeboat ==See also==