The Carpathia

The Twin Screw Cunard steamship Carpathia was laid down at the Wallsend-on-Tyne works of Swan & Hunter in 1901. She was launched on August 6, 1902 and, after fitting out, registered a gross tonnage of 13, 603. She was 558 feet in length with a breadth of 64 feet 3 inches and depth 40 feet. Her eight cylinder quadruple-expansion engines installed by the the Wallsend Slipway Co. gave her a service speed of 14 knots. On May 5th, 1903 Carpathia left Liverpool on her maiden voyage, travelling via Queenstown to New York. She could carry 100 first class passengers, 200 second class passengers, and 2,250 third class passengers. On the night of April 14th, 1912 Carpathia received a distress call from the RMS Titanic. She raced toward the location of the Titanic, and arrived there well after the ship sank. By that time, anyone in the near freezing water would be dead. She rescued the survivors of the RMS Titanic. However, on July 17, 1918 Carpathia was travelling in a convoy, bound for Boston, when she was struck by two torpedoes some 120 miles west of Fastnest. 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 aboard were picked up by H.M.S. Snowdrop and safely brought to Liverpool. The Carpathia sank at 12:40 AM that day.