Crewmen were placed in the corridors to reassure passengers alarmed by the increased speed and changed direction of the ship. Even so, Carpathia, travelling through dangerous ice floes, took about 3.5 hours to reach Titanic’s radioed position.ĭuring this time, Rostron turned off heating to ensure maximum steam for the engines of the Carpathia and had the ship prepared for survivors, including getting blankets, food, and drinks ready, and ordering his medical crew to stand by to receive the possibly injured. Jones, skillfully obtained the maximum speed possible from the engines of Carpathia, coaxing her up to 17.5 knots-three and a half faster than her rated speed.

Rostron and his engineering crew, led by Chief Engineer A.B.

About 58 nautical miles (107 km) separated Carpathia from Titanic’s position. Only after ordering Carpathia “turned to”, towards the disaster scene, did Rostron confirm with Cottam that the latter was sure about Titanic’s distress call. Rostron immediately ordered the ship to race towards Titanic’s reported position, posting extra lookouts to help spot and manoeuvre around the ice he knew to be in the area. Cottam ran to Rostron’s cabin to alert him. The sinking Titanic, which had struck an iceberg about 11:41 p.m., replied with a distress message and call for help. Rostron was asleep when Carpathia’s wireless operator, Harold Cottam, contacted Titanic at 12:15 am to relay regular private party wireless traffic from Cape Cod. The Titanic rescueĬarpathia was on its regular route between New York City and Fiume, Croatia when, early on 15 April 1912, she received a distress signal from the White Star Line ocean liner RMS Titanic, which had struck an iceberg. He rose to become the Commodore of the Cunard fleet, and retired in 1931. Congress, and in 1926, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

He was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal by the U.S. Rostron won wide praise for his energetic efforts to reach the Titanic before she sank, and his efficient preparations for and conduct of the rescue of the survivors. He is best remembered as the captain of the ocean liner RMS Carpathia, when it rescued hundreds of survivors from the RMS Titanic when the latter ship sank in 1912, after colliding with an iceberg in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. Sir Arthur Henry Rostron, KBE, RD, RNR ( – 4 November 1940) was a British sailor and a seagoing officer for the Cunard Line.

Home from the Sea by Arthur Rostron