There were 700 souls on the Carpathia these lives, as well as the survivors of the Titanic herself, depended on a sudden turn of the wheel.” “It was an anxious time with the Titanic’s fateful experience very close in our minds. “Icebergs loomed up” on this still, moonless night, Arthur Rostron would write in his memoir, Home from the Sea. This was Titanic’s wellpublicized maiden voyage and her passenger manifest was a who’s who of the rich and famous of two continents.Ĭaptain Rostron could not forget his first duty: to his own ship and her passengers and crew. And the California, heartbreakingly close to Titanic, may have mistaken the sinking liner’s emergency flares for fireworks of celebration. The Olympic, sister ship to Titanic, was hundreds of miles away. There would be no other ship to do what Carpathia had to do that night. Once he had finished his mental list of a hundred tasks, Captain Rostron was observed, head bowed, praying. They would be left to shiver in their cabins, the steam heat having been diverted to drive the ship’s propellers. Avoid panic among Carpathia’s own passengers.

Get lists of survivors’ names to be sent by wireless. The ship’s doctors, pursers, and chief steward were ordered to receive passengers from Titanic, readying supplies of blankets, stimulants, and other restoratives. Poring over his charts, the captain issued a stream of orders. Even so, it would take hours to come alongside.

By diverting “every particle of steam” to her screws, she might reach 17 knots. In seconds, Captain Rostron was in the chart room, plotting a course to race to the side of the stricken vessel. Titanic, the pride of the White Star Line, had been racing from Britain to New York. “Who is this cheeky beggar coming into my cabin without knocking,” thought Captain Arthur Rostron, who had just retired. The ship’s only radio operator, Harold Cottam, had been working well past the end of his normal shift.Ĭarpathia’s first officer barged into the captain’s quarters. We have struck ice and require immediate assistance.” That startling message was received on board the RMS Carpathia. Their survival is a story of courage, competence, and faith. But 712 persons were rescued from the sinking of the luxury liner. More than 1,500 people lost their lives when that magnificent vessel struck an iceberg on the night of April 14, 1912, and sank within hours.

Home from the Sea by Arthur Rostron