RMS Carpathia

RMS Carpathia

   RMS Carpathia was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their Newcastle upon Tyne, England shipyard. She was launched on 6 August 1902 and began her sea trials on 22 April 1903 which ended on 25 April. Carpathia displaced 8,600 long tons (8,700 t) and was 541 ft (165 m) long and 64 ft 6 in (19.66 m) breadth.

   Carpathia made her maiden voyage on 5 May 1903 from Liverpool, England to Boston, USA, and ran services between New York, Trieste, Rijeka and various Mediterranean ports. Carpathia was sailing from New York City in 14 April 1912, when received a SOS frm RMS Titanic that was sinking. On morning of 15 April 1912 Carpathia rescue the survivors of Titanic. Carpathia took on 705 survivors.

   For the rescue work, the crew of the Carpathia were awarded medals by the survivors. Crew members were awarded bronze medals, officers silver and Captain Rostron a silver cup and gold medal, presented by Margaret Brown.

   Carpathia was used to transfer American troops to Europe during the First World War. Among them was Frank Buckles, who became the last surviving American veteran of the war. She was part of a convoy when she was torpedoed on 17 July 1918 off the east coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-55, the explosions killing five crewmen. The Carpathia listed to port and sank bow first. 57 passengers and the surviving crew were rescued by Snowdrop the following day. The last sighting was at 02:45, just as the stern section sank.

   On 9 September 1999, Reuters and AP wire services reported that Argosy International Ltd., headed by Graham Jessop, son of internationally known undersea explorer Keith Jessop, had found the wreck of the Carpathia on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean earlier that week, about 185 mi (298 km) west of Lands End. The next year American author and diver Clive Cussler announced that his organization, NUMA, had found the wreck in the spring of 2000, at a depth of 500 ft (150 m). RMS Carpathia photo was courtesy From Maritime Quest.