RMS Carpathia

One Dritsas family member, John Dasios, came to the U.S. aboard the RMS Carpathia.
If the name of the ship sounds familiar read on.

John Dasios sailed on Dec 23, 1911, four months before the fateful event.

 

The following information is from the Wikipedia and The Ships List:

 History

The  Carpathia  was built in 1902 by C.S.Swan & Hunter, Wallsend-on-Tyne (engines by Wallsend Slipway Co Ltd). She was a 13,555 gross ton ship, length 540ft x beam 64.5ft, one funnel, four masts, twin screw and a speed of 14 knots.

There was passenger accommodation for 204-2nd class and 1,500-3rd class.

Launched on 6/8/1902, she sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Queenstown (Cobh) and Boston on 5/5/1903. After this voyage, she transferred to the Liverpool – Queenstown – New York service on 28/5/1903.

On 24/11/1903 she commenced her first New York – Trieste sailing with 1st and 3rd class passengers and on 17/5/1904 resumed New York – Queenstown – Liverpool. On 29/11/1904 she went back to the New York – Trieste route and on 30/5/1905 resumed the New York – Queenstown – Liverpool service. She started her last voyage on this route on 19/9/1905 and was then refitted to carry 100-1st, 200-2nd and 2,250-3rd class passengers.

She resumed sailings between Trieste, Fiume, Palermo and New York on 27/10/1905 and on 18/4/1912 arrived in New York with 700 \”Titanic\” survivors. She commenced her last Piraeus – Messina – Palermo – Naples – Genoa – Lisbon – New York voyage on 13/4/1915 and transferred to the Liverpool – New York service in July 1915.

On 17/7/1918 she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U.55, 120 miles west of Fastnet, with the loss of 5 lives. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P. Bonsor, vol.1, p.156] – [Posted to The ShipsList by Ted Finch – 15 July 1998]

 Titanic disaster

Carpathia was sailing east from New York City bound for Gibraltar on the night of Sunday, 14 April 1912. Among her passengers were renowned American painter Colin Campbell Cooper, his wife Emma, journalist Lewis P. Skidmore, photographer Dr. Francis H. Blackmarr and Charles H. Marshall, whose three nieces were travelling aboard the Titanic.

Her wireless operator, Harold Cottam had missed previous messages from RMS Titanic, being on the bridge at the time. He received messages from Cape Race stating that they had private traffic for Titanic. He thought he would be helpful and sent a message to the Titanic stating that Cape Race had traffic for them. In reply he received a distress signal. Cottam awakened Captain Arthur Henry Rostron who immediately set a course at maximum speed to Titanic’s last known position, approximately 58 miles away. Rostron ordered the ship’s heating and hot water to be cut off, so the engines could feed on every ounce of steam. At 4 o’clock in the morning Carpathia arrived at the scene after working her way through dangerous ice fields. Carpathia was able to save 705 people.

Carpathia docked in New York following the rescue of Titanic ‘s survivors

Aftermath

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 Molly Brown. Rostron was later a guest of President Taft at the White House and was presented with a Congressional Gold Medal, the highest honour the United States Congress could confer upon him.

Carpathia 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 Carpathia listed to port and sank bow first. 157 passengers and the surviving crew were rescued by HMS Snowdrop the following day. The last sighting was at 02:45am, just as the stern section sank.

 Finding and salvage works

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 miles off the southwestern English coast.  “She is in reasonably good condition for a wreck of that age,  Jessop said.  “She is in one piece, and she is upright.”

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 500ft. After the submarine attack Carpathia rolled over and landed upside down on the sea floor. The wreck currently lies upside down off the coast of Ireland.

The current owner of the vessel is Premier Exhibitions Inc. (formerly RMS Titanic Inc.) who plans to recover objects from the wreck. The same company owns the salvor-in-possession rights of the RMS Titanic whose artifacts are shown in worldwide exhibitions.

 

 

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