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On 17th May 1904 the Carpathia returned to the Liverpool-New York
service. During the following years the ship would return to the
Mediterranean service every winter, beginning with a positioning
cruise from Liverpool to Naples. In 1905 the passenger accommodation
was altered to accommodate 100 1st class, 200 2nd class and 2,250
3rd class passengers. By 1909 it was spending all year on the
Mediterranean service, only returning to Liverpool at the end of
each year for an annual overhaul.
One of the most dramatic events in the Carpathia's career was the
rescue dash made to pick up the survivors of the ill-fated Titanic.
The Titanic, on April 14th 1912 at approximately 11:40pm, struck an
iceberg on her Starboard bow. The berg caused hull breaches in 5 of
the vessels "water tight" compartments, which, given time,
would cause the mighty vessel to founder.
Realizing this,
Titanic's master (Captain Smith) ordered the international distress
signal - C.Q.D to be sent from the vessel's wireless room (CQ
meaning attention all vessels and D meaning distress or danger). The
wireless operators, frustrated with the lack of responses, sent out
the then new S.O.S signal, one of the first times that this signal
has been sent.
Carpathia's
wireless operator stumbled upon the Titanic's distress purely by
accident. While listening to messages for Titanic being sent through
Cape Cod, Carpathia's operator decided to try and rouse Titanic and
alert them of these messages. His message of "I say old man do
you know there is a lot of traffic for you at Cape Cod" was
answered by Titanic, but the mood quickly changed when Titanic's
operator Jack Phillips sent back, "We are sinking, come at
once, this is CQD, old man".
Captain Rostron of
the Carpathia, immediately set a course to Titanic's last known
position, over 60 miles away, traveling at full speed. At 4.00am the
Carpathia arrived at the scene after negotiating surrounding ice
fields.
The Carpathia
picked up the 705 survivors and 20 lifeboats from the sunken
Titanic. Tragically 1,503 Titanic passengers had perished. As there
was insufficient food on board to make it to Europe, Captain Rostron
decided to sail back to New York. When Carpathia arrived at New York
the full horror of the Titanic tragedy was learnt. Amidst the
controversy and rumors that were rife over the next few months
Captain Rostron, his crew and the Carpathia itself were beyond
reproach.
Soon the Carpathia,
now a famous ship, returned to its usual service, which continued
until the outbreak of World War I. On 5 September 1914 the Carpathia
incurred the wrath of the Italian government for failing to obtain
an emigrant licence, which was required to carry their nationals,
and was subsequently fined. The Carpathia continued its commercial
service throughout the War, first operating from the Piraeus in
Greece and then, in 1915, being transferred to the New York and
Boston run from Liverpool.
On 17 July
1918 the Carpathia was traveling in convoy, bound for Boston,
when it was struck by two German torpedoes some 120 miles west
of Fastnet. A third torpedo hit the ship as the lifeboats were
being manned. Five of the crew were killed by the explosions.
The remainder of the crew and the 57 passengers on board
were picked up by HMS Snowdrop and safely brought to
Liverpool. The Carpathia sank at 12.40am that day.
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Caronia I (1905
- 1932; 19,687; First liner to own this famous name)
The first Caronia entered service for Cunard in 1905 and at
the time she and her sister, Carmania, were the largest ships
in the Cunard fleet. The two ships also formed the center of
an important experiment for Cunard, one was powered by
quadruple-expansion engines and the other by steam turbines.
As the ships were so similar this provided a good comparative
study of the two engine systems. Caronia was fitted with
the older technology; quadruple-expansion.
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The Caronia was launched in
July of 1904. She left Liverpool bound for New York, on her maiden
voyage on 25th February 1905. On her third voyage the
Caronia suffered the misfortune of being stranded off Sandy
Hook, but despite being delayed, there was no real damage to
the ship. Aside from this the ship served the Liverpool to New
York route effectively until the beginning of World War I.
When the First World War broke out,
the Caronia underwent conversion in Liverpool in order to be
employed as an Armed Merchant Cruiser. On 8 August 1914 the work had
been completed and the ship was commissioned into the Royal Navy
after being requisitioned by the Admiralty. After only two days at
sea in this role it captured the German vessel Odessa with its cargo
of nitrate. After this the ship traveled to Halifax and then from
October 1 began a six month service patrolling off the Ambrose Light
Vessel outside New York harbor.
The Caronia fulfilled this service
without major incident until April 14, 1915 when it was
involved in a collision with the schooner Edward. B. Winslow.
There were no casualties and the damage was only minimal.
In May 1915 Caronia returned to Liverpool for a complete mechanical
overhaul. After a period carrying out contraband patrols off New
York, Caronia again returned to Liverpool and was released from
British Naval service. She returned to her owners on 7 August 1916
and after a refit the Caronia was again requisitioned by the British
government this time to carry out trooping duties between Halifax
and Liverpool. At the end of the war Caronia assisted in the
repatriation of Canadian troops.
Having fulfilled
these duties, and after a post war refit to restore her to her
former glory the Caronia inaugurated the the Cunard service between
London and Canada by sailing from London to Halifax and New York on
12th September 1919. After being refurbished again in 1920, Caronia
continued to sail to Halifax and New York from both Liverpool and
London. Over the coming years the Caronia's final route changed
between London or Liverpool to New York, Boston or Quebec. In 1926
the passenger accommodation underwent a complete refit to
accommodate 452 cabin class, 365 tourist class and 650 3rd class
passengers. During the winter months this meant that the ship could
be used for cruises between New York and Havana.
By the end of 1931
the Caronia was no longer profitable to operate and with the onset
of the depression she was laid up at Sheerness. In January 1932 the
Caronia was sold to Hughes Bocklow & Co. for scrap. She was
resold to a Japanese ship-breakers who renamed it Taiseiyo Maru
for its voyage to Osaka, where it was scrapped in early 1933. ^ TOP
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