5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship - History in the Headlines 5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship April 10, 2012 By Steven Cohen Arthur Rostron, captain of Carpathia, receives a trophy from Titanic survivor Molly Brown in May 1912. Share this: 5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship Author 5 Things You May Not Know About Titanic’s Rescue Ship URL Google As we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the most famous of all maritime catastrophes—the sinking of the White Star liner Titanic early in the morning of April 15, 1912—the heroic and perilous rescue effort that took place in response remains something of a footnote. Titanic, after all, was the largest and perhaps most opulent ocean liner of its day, while Cunard’s Carpathia was a relatively modest ship launched 10 years earlier that was coasting toward eternal obscurity when disaster struck. Explore five things you may not know about the only vessel to rescue any Titanic survivors from the icy waters of the North Atlantic. 1. The Titanic disaster launched Carpathia’s captain on a trajectory to a distinguished career.

Captain Arthur Henry Rostron—who was sufficiently anonymous at the time for many newspapers to misspell his name as “Rostrom”—spent virtually his entire life at sea after turning 17. Born near Liverpool in 1869, Rostron embarked on his maritime exploits just after completing high school, joining the ranks on a naval school ship. After serving on a variety of vessels including barques and iron clipper ships, Rostron joined the Cunard Line in 1895, soon serving as fourth officer on RMS Umbria. He then served on a number of Cunard ships and worked his way up to first officer before becoming captain of the Brescia. Leaving Cunard in 1904 for service in the Royal Navy, he returned in 1905 and became captain of the then 3-year-old Carpathia. Rostron achieved universal praise and celebrity as a result of his legendary efforts to rescue survivors of Titanic’s sinking, testifying in the British Board of Trade inquiry, traveling to the United States to appear before the Senate and receiving the Congressional Gold Medal from President William Taft.

Rostron went on to command some of Cunard’s most illustrious ships, including Mauritania and Lusitania, and in 1928 he was made commodore of the Cunard fleet. He was named a commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1919, and in 1926 became Sir Arthur as a knight commander of the Order of the British Empire. 2. The most prestigious captain in the history of the Cunard Line was a firm believer in sea serpents. Captain Rostron wasn’t shy about his affinity for cryptozoology, the study of creatures whose existence has not been proven. (Think of Sasquatch or the Loch Ness Monster, among many others.) In fact, while serving as chief officer on Campania in 1907, Rostron claimed to have sighted a sea serpent, which he later wrote about in detail in his memoir “Home from the Sea.” On the bridge while steaming off the Irish coast, Rostron warned his junior officer to steer clear of an object in the water but, he recounted, “gradually drew nearer so that we were able to make out what the unusual thing was.

It was a sea monster!” Lamenting his lack of a camera, Rostron began to sketch what he saw. “I was unable to get a clear view of the monster’s features, but we were close enough to realize its head rose eight or nine feet out of the water, while the trunk of the neck was fully twelve inches thick,” he wrote. Rostron never backtracked on his account, but it certainly did not appear to impede his career advancement in any way. Today’s airline pilots reporting on UFOs might not be so fortunate. 3. Carpathia’s rescue preparations were a masterpiece of multitasking. From the moment Captain Rostron was informed of the distress messages received from Titanic, every order he issued was intended to get to the stricken ship as quickly as possible, all the while preparing his own ship to receive the survivors and give them the care they needed. Top speed for Carpathia was about 14.5 knots, but Rostron ordered extra stokers to create the additional steam that would accelerate the ship to more than 17 knots. Rostron even ordered a reduction in the ship’s heating system so that more steam could be diverted to the engines.

This extra speed was not without a significant degree of peril, however, as Carpathia endured its own hazards, dodging icebergs along the entire 58-mile route. Much later Rostron noted that the safety of his crew and passengers, and the survival of any Titanic survivors they might reach, “depended on the sudden turn of the wheel.” As Carpathia steamed through this obstacle course, Rostron assembled all of his officers and issued a myriad of orders. He had his ship’s lifeboats lowered in case they were needed to assist in the recovery of survivors. He assigned the three doctors under his command to specific stations in order to administer medical care. He oversaw the conversion of public areas on the ship, as well as the officers’ cabins, into spaces where survivors would be provided with blankets and hot drinks while they recovered from their ordeal. Finally, he saw to it that chair clings and other apparatuses were constructed in the gangway to hoist aboard children and the injured. These efforts were almost immediately acknowledged by those rescued.

Even as Carpathia was returning to New York with the 705 Titanic passengers who had been plucked from the sea, the survivors formed a committee, which included the “unsinkable” Molly Brown, to collect funds to distribute to the crew. Later each crew member would receive a commemorative medal from a grateful group of survivors. 4. Titanic was not the first ship to issue an SOS message when it signaled its distress to Carpathia and other vessels. By 1912 many ships carried wireless equipment, but it was intended to serve mostly as a convenience to passengers who wanted to send communications to shore rather than as a navigational or safety device. All ocean-going vessels would be required to have wireless capability not long after the Titanic disaster, just as they would famously be required to carry enough lifeboat capacity for every “soul” on board. In April 1912, however, the optional wireless operators on board ocean liners were not even members of the crew; instead, they were employees of Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company, whose founder, Guglielmo Marconi, the great long-distance radio pioneer, would attend the U.S.

Senate inquiry to hear the testimony of Harold Bride, one of Titanic’s wireless operators. (Some of Bride’s distress dispatches to other ships were intercepted by a young Russian immigrant named David Sarnoff on the roof of New York City’s Wanamaker’s department store. Sarnoff, destined to become one of America’s seminal personalities in the history of broadcasting, eventually became president of the Radio Corporation of America, the enterprise that founded the National Broadcasting Company.) Contrary to popular myth, Titanic was not the first ship to send an SOS call; they were in use perhaps since 1908 and certainly by 1909. In the early part of the emergency, the troubled liner’s radio operators used the more conventional CQD message, which combined CQ, representing a general call to all stations, with the D for distress. (The message is often erroneously thought to stand for “Come Quick Danger.”). As precious time ticked away, the operators switched over to the relatively new SOS call, which does not stand for “Save Our Ship” but instead is simply three letters that are easily transmitted and received and cannot be misinterpreted: three dots, three dashes and three dots.

Titanic sent the distress signal to multiple ships shortly after midnight on April 15, 1912; Carpathia arrived on the scene four hours later. 5. Carpathia successfully dodged icebergs in its rescue efforts but ultimately could not evade German torpedoes. Twelve years into its transatlantic career, and only two years after its heroic rescue of the only survivors of the Titanic disaster, Carpathia was requisitioned by the British government for use as a troopship during World War I. On July 17, 1918, Carpathia was part of a convoy headed for Boston when it was attacked by a German submarine 120 miles west of Fastnet. All of the ship’s 57 passengers escaped in lifeboats and all but five of its 223 in crew survived, with the only casualties perishing on impact of the three torpedoes that ultimately sent Carpathia to the bottom.

For the next 82 years Carpathia remained undisturbed in a watery grave, not unlike Titanic, until its remains were discovered by a team led by author Clive Cussler in 540 feet of water some 220 miles off the east coast of Ireland. The Carpathia is largely intact, upright where it sank 94 years ago in the service of its country. Tags Titanic: Never Before Seen Rescue Photos Photos - ABC News ABC News Titanic: Never Before Seen Rescue Photos + − Never Before Seen Titanic Images This extremely rare collection of photographs comes from the descendants of Titanic survivors John and Nelle Pillsbury Snyder. Philip Weiss Auctions was handling the collection's sale planned for Oct. 21, 2011. It's estimated to go for $50,000 to $75,000. This photo shows the Snyders, taken April 18, 1912, the day they disembarked from the ship Carpathia after surviving the sinking of the Titanic. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This extremely rare collection of photographs comes from the descendants of Titanic survivors John and Nelle Pillsbury Snyder.

Philip Weiss Auctions was handling the collection's sale planned for Oct. 21, 2011. It's estimated to go for $50,000 to $75,000. This photo shows the Snyders, taken April 18, 1912, the day they disembarked from the ship Carpathia after surviving the sinking of the Titanic. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This letter written by John Snyder on R.M.S. Titanic stationary was addressed to a proprietor of a London tobacco shop. "While I sit here at the writing desk peacefully and complacently smoking 'one of your best cigars' I just want to thank you," the letter says. It's dated April 10, 1912. The Titanic struck an iceberg on the evening of April 14, 1912. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images In this original photo, a few survivors from the Titanic can be seen in lifeboats out in the open ocean, rowing towards the rescue ship, the Carpathia.

After the Titanic sent out its distress call, the Carpathia, which was also sailing for New York, steamed ahead to pick up survivors. Of the 2,228 people on board the Titanic, only 705 passengers survived. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This original photo shows another lifeboat with its sail up full of Titanic survivors as it makes its way to the rescue ship, the Carpathia. The Titanic sank at 2:20 a.m. on April 15, 1912. The Carpathia arrived at 4:00 a.m. that same morning. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This original 3-by-5 1/2-inch photo was taken on the desk of the Carpathia, and shows an ice field looping in the distance over the ocean. The water's temperature was around 28 degrees Fahrenheit on the night of April 14, 1912.

Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This original 3-by-5 1/2-inch photo was taken on the desk of the Carpathia, and shows icebergs in the distance off to the far right-hand side of the frame. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This original 3-by-5 1/2-inch photo was taken on the desk of the Carpathia, and shows chunks of ice dotting a flat open ocean. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This original photo shows what appeared to be the S.S. Californian heading towards the Carpathia. In a series of images, the Californian appears progressively larger. After the Carpathia had picked up survivors, the Californian arrived at 8:30 a.m. on April 15, 1912 and searched through the wreckage. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This original photo taken from the deck of the Carpathia shows a close image of S.S. Californian, a single stack, four mast ship.

Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images John Snyder wrote this letter, dated April 24, 1912, to his father Frank. It gave a harrowing first-hand account of being on the sinking Titanic. "We were both asleep when the boat hit."... "We were almost the very first people placed in the Lifeboat ... Finally the bow went under -- the finest boat in the world was doomed." Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Never Before Seen Titanic Images This typed letter, dated April 18, 1912, is from John Snyder's father, Frank, to his brother, Fred, detailing the aftermath of the historic sinking of the Titanic. "As you can imagine we have been under a pretty severe strain for the past three or four days on account of the wrecking of the Titanic on which boat John and Nelle sailed," the letter says in its opening sentence. Courtesy Philip Weiss Auctions Titanic Exhibit A commemorative photograph of "The S.S. Titanic," a designation its owners at the White Star Line did not use during its short life. Launched on May 31, 1911, it was lost on its maiden voyage less than a year later.

Its lifeboats, complying with regulations at the time, had space for 1,178 passengers. Only 705 of the 2,223 people on board were saved. null Titanic Exhibit Captain E.J. Smith (second from right in front row with white beard) and the officers of the Titanic. They pushed the new ship to set a speed record for a transatlantic crossing on its maiden voyage, after which Smith intended to retire. He and most of his senior officers died when the ship hit an iceberg in the dark. The seniormost officer to survive was Second Officer Charles Lightoller. Courtesy National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) and the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Titanic Exhibit One of Titanic's second class cabins. Courtesy National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) and the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Titanic Exhibit A second-class cabin on the Titanic. Adult men in first class had a better chance of surviving the sinking than children in steerage. Courtesy National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) and the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Titanic A first-class passenger list includes Mrs. D.S.

Peel of Atlanta, who was reported save on board the Cunard liner Carpathia, the only ship to come to the rescue after the Titanic's distress call. This list, which included some of the most prominent names in society in 1912, fetched $48,000 at auction in 2007. Christie's Images Ltd 2007 Titanic Exhibit The Titanic docked in Belfast, February 1912. It underwent sea trials before setting sail from England to New York in April. Courtesy National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) and the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Titanic Exhibit A Marconi wireless telegram from the RMS Olympic, Titanic's sister ship, reports the Carpathia's rush to the site where the Titanic went down. "Found boats and wreckage only," it says in part.

"About 675 souls saved crew and passengers." Courtesy National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) and the Ulster Folk & Transport Museum Titanic artifacts in the Museum's collections | National Museum of American History Titanic artifacts in the Museum's collections Introduction The White Star ocean liner Titanic set off on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York, on April 10, 1912 with 2,227 passengers and crew aboard. At 11:40 p.m., the night of April 14, the ship struck an iceberg at full speed, on its starboard bow. The iceberg scraped along the starboard side of the hull below the waterline, slicing open the hull between five of the adjacent watertight compartments. If only one or two of the compartments had been compromised, Titanic might have stayed afloat, but with so many damaged, the watertight integrity of the entire forward section of the hull was fatally breached. Less than three hours later, at around 2:20 a.m., Titanic sank approximately 13.5 miles east-southeast of the position from which its distress call was transmitted. More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished.

Over 700 surviving passengers and crew, afloat in the ship’s 20 lifeboats, were rescued within a few hours by the Cunard Liner, Carpathia. A few of the Titanic’s passengers were some of the wealthiest and most famous people of the era, including John Jacob Astor IV and Benjamin Guggenheim. However most of the ship’s passengers were immigrants, headed for the United States. Some 150 bodies were recovered from the North Atlantic, but about half were never identified. The deepwater wreck of the Titanic was located by a French and American scientific expedition team September 1, 1985, approximately 350 miles southeast of Newfoundland, Canada. In 1986, another expedition documented the shipwreck more thoroughly. Collections The National Museum of American History has acquired a few items related to the sinking of the Titanic through donations to the museum. The items are held within a number of the museum’s divisions. A selection of the artifacts can be viewed in the On the Water exhibition.

In the Photo History collection: Bernice Palmer Ellis' Kodak Brownie camera Sometime around her 17th birthday, Canadian Bernice Palmer Ellis received a Kodak Brownie box camera, either for Christmas 1911 or for her birthday Jan. 10, 1912. In early April, she and her mother boarded the Cunard liner Carpathia in New York, for a Mediterranean cruise. Carpathia had scarcely cleared New York when it received a distress call from the White Star liner Titanic on April 14. It raced to the scene of the sinking and managed to rescue more than 700 survivors from the icy North Atlantic. With her new camera, Palmer Ellis took pictures of the iceberg that sliced open the Titanic’s hull and also took snapshots of some of the Titanic survivors. Lacking enough food to feed both the paying passengers and Titanic survivors, the Carpathia turned around and headed back to New York to land the survivors. Unaware of the high value of her pictures, Palmer Ellis sold publication rights to Underwood & Underwood for just $10 and a promise to develop, print, and return her pictures after use.

In 1986, she donated her camera, the pictures and her remarkable story to the National Museum of American History. Photograph: Titanic honeymooners Mr./Mrs. George A. Harder This picture identifies the young facing couple as honeymooners Mr. & Mrs. George A. Harder of Brooklyn, NY. The woman with her back to Palmer Ellis' camera is Mrs. Charles M. Hayes; her husband was President of the Grand Trunk Railway. He died in the shipwreck, but Mrs. Hayes and her two daughters were rescued by Carpathia. Photograph: The iceberg that sank Titanic The Cunard Liner RMS Carpathia arrived at the scene around two hours after Titanic sank, finding only a few lifeboats and no survivors in the 28 degrees Fahrenheit water. Bernice Palmer Ellis took this picture of the iceberg identified as the one which sank Titanic, almost certainly identified by the survivors who climbed aboard Titanic. The large iceberg is surrounded by smaller ice floes, indicating how far north in the Atlantic Ocean the tragedy struck.

Photograph: Titanic survivors wearing borrowed clothes When RMS Carpathia arrived at the spot where Titanic sank, all the rescuers could see by the light of the moon was some wreckage and lifeboats with passengers. Many of the passengers had come up on deck in their nightclothes and they were totally unprepared for the weather. The survivors were struck by the cold outdoor temperature, suffering from exposure, extreme stress and shock. Carpathia was able to pick up more than 700 survivors. As they boarded, they tossed their life vests into piles on the deck and were handed heavy, warm clothes by Carpathia's sympathetic passengers. Bernie Palmer Ellis' Titanic contract with Underwood & Underwood The captain of the Titanic's rescue ship Carpathia, imposed a news blackout on all communications from his ship until all of the Titanic survivors had disembarked in New York. The demand for stories was unparalleled, and journalists swarmed Carpathia looking for firsthand accounts of the shipwreck and rescue.

An unnamed newsman for Underwood & Underwood, a New York photography agency, scored one of the most valuable scoops when he met 17-year-old Bernice Palmer Ellis, a passenger on Carpathia who happened to have a Kodak Brownie box camera. She had taken pictures not only of the Titanic survivors on Carpathia's deck, but also of the actual iceberg that sank Titanic. The newsman offered to develop, print and return the pictures to Palmer Ellis, along with $10. Not realizing the extraordinary value of her photos, Palmer Ellis readily agreed, and Underwood and Underwood obtained unique images of the Titanic shipwreck for a pittance. This is the contract between Palmer Ellis and the Underwood & Underwood newsman transferring rights to the pictures. In 1986, Palmer Ellis gave her camera, Titanic photographs, and other associated materials to the Smithsonian. In the Work and Industry collection: Titanic life vest Chicago physician, Dr. Frank Blackmarr, was a passenger on Carpathia who helped rescued survivors suffering from hypothermia, exposure and shock. He collected a Titanic life vest during the voyage as a souvenir, and later donated it to the Chicago Historical Society.

In 1982, the Chicago Historical Society donated it to the Smithsonian’s National Watercraft Collection held at the museum. Photograph of Titanic clearing the port of Southampton, England, April 10, 1912 Because Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, few original pictures of the ship exist. Most of the photographs were taken in the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, while the ship was under construction. There is one that shows the new ocean liner entering the port of Southampton, England, with the help of tugboats several weeks before the ship was to take on passengers. There are also a few taken of Titanic as it cleared that port on its maiden voyage April 10, 1912 with a full load of passengers. The museum owns one of the last of these photographs, showing the starboard or right side of the ship against the wharf. The wave at the bow of the vessel indicates that it is already picking up speed, as it readies for the open ocean. Harry Cheetham 1911 radio operator's license Harry Cheetham was one of the pioneers of early radio in the United States.

His 1911 radio operator's license was issued shortly before Titanic sank, and the Boston Globe newspaper hired him to listen for and intercept radio communications messages from Carpathia while it steamed back to New York with the Titanic survivors aboard. Although Carpathia's captain had imposed a general radio blackout, it did communicate the names of survivors for the benefit of the families ashore, who were anxiously awaiting news of their relatives' fates. Cheetham intercepted one of the survivor messages and sold the information to the Globe for $175. Harry Cheetham's Leyden jars Shortly after RMS Carpathia's rescue of Titanic survivors, the ship visited Boston, Mass. There Marconi Wireless Radio employee Harry Cheetham boarded Carpathia to service the radio, which had been damaged during the Titanic operations. He replaced two Leyden jars used for storing electric charges. One is intact and the other is broken. Fortunately the broken one shows how the jars were constructed inside to store and relay an electrical charge. Cheetham kept these artifacts as Titanic souvenirs, and donated them to the Smithsonian in 1930.

Cheetham antenna breaker: RMS Carpathia's wireless radio was damaged during the rescue of Titanic's passengers, and the next time the ship was in Boston, Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company employee Harry Cheetham went aboard Carpathia to service the wireless. At the time, shipboard radios belonged to the radio company, not the shipping lines. One of the items Cheetham replaced was this lever. Analysis of photographs of contemporary radio rooms indicates that it most likely was a manual breaker for the antenna connection to the radio, which would have been opened in storms to prevent lightning from striking the radio. Picture of Cheetham next to Mass. Volunteer soldiers Harry Cheetham was President of the Somerville High School Wireless Society from 1906-1909, after which he went to sea briefly. This photograph taken shortly before World War I shows Harry in civilian clothing, to the right of the radio among other members of the Massachusetts Volunteer Militia. Langdon Carpathia image Both the British and the Americans held formal inquiries and hearings on the Titanic loss.

The investigations revealed that although several vessels heard Titanic's distress call and one was closer even than Carpathia when the call went out, only Carpathia responded in time to rescue survivors. As a result, Carpathia saved more than 700 Titanic passengers. The ships that returned to the area of the wreck site later only found bodies and debris that had floated up from the depths. Titanic Sheet Music (two pieces are reference materials in Work & Industry) Shortly after the loss of RMS Titanic, piano sheet music was sold in major cities to capitalize on the catastrophe. In the days before television, widespread movies or even radio, people gathered around the pianos in their parlors or living rooms and sang songs. These social and musical gatherings presented opportunities to think and talk about contemporary events in the recent news. The sheet music covers often had scenes evoking emotional reactions from their users. In the Archives Center: The Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated American Sheet Music The DeVincent collection was donated to the National Museum of American History by Sam DeVincent in March 1988. DeVincent started collecting sheet music from an early age and the collection he amassed was one of the largest American sheet music collections in private hands.

The collection contains many pieces of sheet music with illustrated covers related to the sinking of Titanic. The collection is housed in the museum’s Archives Center and contains the following items: “As The Titanic Sank Beneath The Waves,” 1928,composed by Mrs. Howard McCarty, in Perry’s Musical Magazine “The Band Played ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ As The Ship Went Down,” 1912,words by Mark Beam and music by Harold Jones “Carpathia Grand March,” 1912,by E. Moore “The Fate of the Titanic,” 1912, words and music by Delbert Rhoades “The Great Titanic Wreck,” 1915, words by Robert Malcom and music by Carl Heil “I Just Cannot Say Goodbye (Memorial Edition),” 1912, words by John G. Knight and music by A. D.

Magbee “Just As The Boat Went Down – The First Titanic Song (Souvenir Edition),” 1912, words and music by Marvin Lee “Just As The Ship Went Down,” 1912, words by Edith Maida Lessing and music by Sidney Gibson and Bernie Adler “My Sweetheart Went Down With The Ship,” 1912, words by Roger Lewis and music by F. Henri Klickmann “Titanic,” 1982, by Robert W. Thuggerson “Nearer, Nearer God To Thee,” 1912, words by Ida. A. Long and music by Paul Eugene “Oh! Mister Captain,” 1915, words and music by Clarence A. Stout ”The Sinking of the Titanic March,” 1913, by Mrs. Lulu Wills\ “Titanic for Pianoforte,” 1912, by N. Bek Amir-Khan “The Titanic,” 1980, words and music by Howard Crockett and John Whitten “Titanic Disaster,” no date, by Jessie Bailey “Titanic Heroes,” 1912, words by C. P.

Nedergard and music by A. Reuterdahl “Titanic In The Shadows Of The Deep,” 1912, words by John Boland and music by W.M. Held “The Titanic’s Disaster,” 1912, (Title also in Hebrew) words by Soloman Small, arranged for piano by H. A. Russotto “The Wreck Of The Titanic,” 1912, by William Baltzell “The Titanic’s Doom,” 1912, words by Washington Sherman and music by Hazel Fem Sherman “Wreck Of The “Titanic” in Characteristic and Descriptive Pieces for the Piano,” 1912, by Jeanette Forrest “The Band Was Playing As The Ship Went Down,” no date, by Robert Donnelly “Be British! Descriptive Song and Recitation,” 1912, by Paul Pelham and Lawrence Wright “Death Song of The Titanic,” 1912, words by Mrs. C.W. Hea and music by L.F.

Malkemus “The End Of The Titanic In The Sea,” 1912, by Jackson and Wright “Heroes Of The Titanic,” 1912, by Signora Peppina Muratori Greeley “A Hero Went Down With The Monarch Of The Sea,” 1912, words by J.W. Willis and music by M.C. Hanford “The Hidden Side,” 1912, by John E. MacCallum “Men Be British”(Solo), 1912, by C. A. Fram “Our Sea Heroes,” 1912, words by Miss E. J. Thibaut and music by Charles J. W. Jerreld “The Parting Of The Ways,” 1912, words by Geraldine B. O’Connor and music by R. Graham Harvey “The Ship That Will Never Return (The Loss Of The “Titanic”),” 1912, by F. V. St. Clair “The Shipwreck Song,” 1912, words by Ludwig Olson and music by Charles J. W.

Jerreld, “The Sinking Of The Titanic,” 1912, by Marcellus O. Ruch “The Titanic,” 1912 by Louis S. Florence “The Titanic That Never Returned,” 1912, words by Mrs. E. S. Potter and music by M. C. Hanford “The Wreck Of The Titanic A Descriptive March,” 1912, by John J. Thomas “The Wreck Of The Titanic Descriptive Musical Sketch For The Piano,” 1912, by Haydon Augarde “Nearer My God To Thee” – The collection contains 27 copies of this piece, including a variety of musical arrangements. In the Numismatics collection: Titanic gold medal Founded in 1904 by wealthy financier Andrew Carnegie in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission (CHFC) exists to honor acts of individual civilian heroism in the United States and Canada. It is still active today; recipients include both the living, the dead and persons directly affected by the loss of a heroic relative.

The emotional impact on the general public of the April 1912 loss of Titanic was astonishing, and the continually updated story lasted for months in the contemporary newspapers. In Pittsburgh, Penn., the Commission felt compelled to honor all the heroes who had risked their lives in the rescue of the more than 700 passengers, so at their April 26, 1912 meeting they authorized a nine-oz. 22-k gold medal to be struck, mounted in an elaborate bronze base, inscribed and presented to the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian accepted the gift and displayed it before adding it to the Numismatics Collection in the National Museum of American History. What is on view? The following items are currently on display in the On The Water exhibit at the National Museum of American History: Photograph: The iceberg that sank Titanic Photograph: Titanic survivors wearing borrowed clothes Bernice Palmer Ellis' Kodak Brownie camera Titanic life vest Titanic Sheet Music (two pieces from Work and Industry collection) Constitution Avenue, NW Between 12th and 14th Streets Washington, D.C.

Titanic | National Museum of American History Titanic Titanic Clearing Southampton, SI Negative #34,460 Since the ocean liner Titanic sank on its maiden or first voyage, there are very few original pictures of the ship in existence. Most of the photographs that do exist were taken in the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast, Ireland, while the ship was under construction. There is one that shows the new ocean liner entering the port of Southampton, England with the help of tugboats, several weeks before the ship was to take on passengers. There are also a few taken of the huge new ship as it cleared that port on its maiden voyage on 10 April 1912 with a full load of passengers. The Smithsonian owns one of the last of these photographs, showing the starboard or right side of the ship against the wharf. The wave at the bow of the vessel indicates that it is already picking up speed, as it readies for the open ocean. Carpathia, the ship that rescued the Titanic survivors Both the British and the Americans held formal inquiries and hearings on the Titanic loss.

The investigations revealed that although several vessels heard Titanic's distress call and one was closer even than Carpathia when the call went out, only Carpathia responded in time to rescue survivors. As a result, Carpathia saved more than 700 Titanic passengers. The ships that returned to the area of the wreck site later only found bodies and debris from the Titanic that had floated up from the depths. "Titanic - Introduction" showing 9 items. Titanic Survivors Titanic survivors Welcome to the History of the Titanic. How many Titanic survivors were there? Related article: Titanic passenger list Sources disagree on the actual number, ranging from 705 to 713. But the odds of surviving were definitely higher for upper-class women and children, and female crew members. The rescue of first class passengers was not a general priority; although all but four of the 140 women traveling first class survived, only 57 of the 175 men were saved. There were 80 female survivors out of 93 traveling second class, but only 14 out of 168 men.

Third class survival rates were even worse; 76 of 165 women were rescued, but the list of survivors shows only 75 out of 462 men. A video of titanic survivors. Oldest, youngest and longest-lived passengers The Titanic passengers ranged in age from 71 years to 73 days. The two oldest women, Mary Compton and Catherine Crosby, both aged 64, survived. The three oldest men, Ramon Artagaveytia, George Goldschmidt and Henry Mitchell, all aged 71, did not. The youngest passenger was 2-month-old Elizabeth Gladys Millvina Dean. Although almost all 30 of the children traveling in first and second class survived, only 27 of the 79 children in third class were rescued. Millvina Dean and her brother, Bertram, who was a few weeks short of his second birthday, were among them. Their mother also survived, but their 25-year-old father did not. Coincidentally, Millvina Dean was the last of the Titanic survivors; the 97-year-old spinster died in 2009. Bertram Vere Dean also made the list of longest-lived survivors.

He died at age 81 on the 80th anniversary of the sinking: April 14, 1992. A Titanic Story of the Dean Family's Loss and Survival Millvina Dean was the last surviving passenger of the ill-fated passenger ship. She was lowered into a lifeboat inside a mail sack on the fateful night that the ship sank into the depths and took so many lives with her. Millvina Dean passed away at the age of 97 in a nursing home that was located in Southampton, England. Southampton was the same English port that the RSM Titanic launched from on it's voyage into history. Ms. Dean was only 9 weeks old when she was lowered to safety onto lifeboat number ten along with her mother Mrs. Eva Georgetta Light Dean. Mrs. Eva Dean was aged 32 at the time of the disaster. She and her daughter, Miss Elizabeth Gladys Dean, who was later known as Millvina, was traveling in 3rd class when they were placed into lifeboat number 10. Mrs. Dean became separated from her young son, Master Bertram Vere Dean, who was but one year old at that time.

She comforted herself with the thought that her son and her husband were together on board the Titanic and would be able to get into another lifeboat and join herself and her daughter upon rescue. While the mother, baby sister and young brother were reunited on board the Carpathia, Mrs. Deans husband, Bertram Frank Dean was numbered among those lost at sea. Miss Dean never married and lived quietly without much thought to that fateful night until the world found her after a renewed interest in the disaster surfaced upon the popular movies premiere in 1996. The movie starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet as passengers of the Titanic. Miss Dean survived her brother Bertram Frank Dean, who died on April 14 in 1992. Her mother, Eva Dean, preceded her in death on September 13 in 1975. Millvina's father, Mr. Bertram Frank Dean was only 25 years old at the time of his death aboard the Titanic. His occupation was listed as a farmer and his last residence was listed as Bartley Farm in Hampshire, England. All four members of the Dean family shared ticket numbers 2315 on their fateful trip.

In a twist of fate, this last surviver of the Titanic passed away on the anniversary that would be number 98 of the great ships launching. photos of titanic survivors on way to carpathia The story of Charles John Joughin is but one of the many survivor stories. Mr. Joughin was born on August 3 of 1879 and was 32 years old at the time of the Titanic sinking. His occupation was that of Chief Baker aboard the great ship. Some attribute his survival to the ingestion of not just one but two bottles of whiskey before the boat slipped beneath the frigid waters of the ocean. Mr. Joughin rode the ship into the water much like the characters of Rose and Jack did in the movie. He stepped into the ocean and did not even get his head wet on the ride. He was rescued after 3 hours in the icy, cold water by lifeboat B and boarded the Carpathia. He died on December 9 of 1956 and is buried in Patterson, New Jersey in the United States at Cedar Lawn Cemetery. Joughin performed his duties and carried the supplies to the lifeboats.

He has been depicted as a simple drunk in some renditions of the story of the Titanic but, in truth, he helped people into the lifeboats, insured that they had supplies for survival and tossed items that he thought might float in an effort to give people who might end up in the ocean water something on which to hold onto. He did imbibe in large amounts of alcohol but that has been attributed to his surviving the icy water while many others did not. Joughin's first voyage aboard a ship was in the capacity of Cabin Boy in 1896 on the SS Melbourne. He traveled aboard that ship to South America on his first journey. Joughin was said to enjoy drinking alcohol his entire life. The Habitual Survivor Miss Violet Constance Jessop was another on the list of Titanic survivors. She was a nurse and stewardess on the ocean liner. Violet was a surviver three times over. She also survived, in 1915 the sister ship of Titanic, the Britannic tragedy. Violet was also on board the RMS Olympic at the time that is collided with the HMS Hawke. She was aged 24 years at the time of the sinking of the Titanic.

Violet passed away on May 5 of 1971 and is buried in Hartest in Suffold, England. There are 710 stories of the survivors who lived on that fateful night. They are all as interesting and compelling as the individuals who survived that night in history. ✖ RMS Titanic Collectibles (sunken Ocean Liner Memorabilia) RMS Titanic collectibles (sunken ocean liner memorabilia) 0 0 RMS Titanic collectibles comprise a range of memorabilia items salvaged from the wreck following – and also other items relating to – the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the Belfast-built ocean liner which sank on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 15 April 1912. Items with a direct link to Titanic are becoming increasingly rare on the open market. The disaster The ship, carrying 2,200 people, sank in 1912 in the Atlantic Ocean during its maiden voyage between the British port of Southampton and New York, after it struck an iceberg. At least 1,496 people were killed in the world's greatest maritime tragedy, and some 306 bodies were recovered.

Titanic survivors’ collections Millvina Dean In April 2009, the Titanic’s last living survivor Millvina Dean, then aged 97, auctioned her memorabilia from the sinking ship to pay her nursing home fees. Dean was lowered from the deck of the sinking ship as a two-month-old baby. A canvas mailbag stencilled I.S. New York, used to carry the family's belongings back from New York after the tragedy, and a collection of her Titanic-related photographs, altogether raised £5,000. Barbara Dainton-West A large collection owned by another passenger Barbara Dainton-West, who was only ten months old when the Titanic sank, made £60,000. Ms Dainton-West passed away in October 2007. Flask Among her lots was a treasured flask which was handed to her mother in a lifeboat, full of hot milk. Key A hefty key to a door on the ship's E deck made £60,000 and was sold to a collector. Letters and documents A letter from First Class passenger Adolf Saalfeld - the first letter to be sent from a paying passenger - fetched £30,000.

It reads: ''I just had an hour's roaming about on this wonderful boat. I like my cabin very much-its like a bed-sitting room and rather large. I am the first man to write a letter on board. They are still busy to finish the last things on board''. Meanwhile, a letter by Chief Officer Henry Wilde made £26,000, and a launch ticket made £23,000. Notable sales Wallace Hartley's violin The world's most expensive piece of Titanic memorabilia ever sold is the violin played on the ship by band leader Wallace Hartley. The tale of how the band played on to calm the passengers as the ship sank has passed into legend, with a newspaper at the time stating "the part played by the orchestra on board the Titanic in her last dreadful moments will rank among the noblest in the annals of heroism at sea." All eight members of the band including Hartley remained at their posts, knowing there would be no lifeboats to save them. Hartley's body was recovered from the ocean along with his violin, which was strapped to him in a leather case. It was later returned to his fiance Maria Robinson, who had gifted him the violin as an engagement present.

It was later given to the Salvation Army by Robinson's sister in 1939, and then passed into the hands of a family who stored it for 70 years. Auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son spent seven years researching the instrument, after it was rediscovered in an attic. This included a CT scan of the violin, scientific testing by the Gemological Association of Great Britain, research by Wallace Hartley's biographer Christian Tennyson-Ekeberg and a host of international Titanic experts. In March 2013 the company announced that the violin was the genuine article, and after a three-month exhibition in the U.S it was sold on October 19, 2013 for the record price of £900,000. Crow’s nest key In September 2007, Henry Aldridge auctioneers of Devizes, Wiltshire, auctioned the key which opened the binoculars store aboard the Titanic. The key was tagged "Crows Nest Telephone Titanic” – but was not on the ship when it sailed from Southampton. It was in the pocket of an officer transferred off the vessel days before its maiden voyage.

He forgot to hand it to his replacement as he left – and as a result lookouts had to rely on the naked eye. The key (or absence thereof) is regarded as playing a key role in the ship’s sinking. One lookout, Fred Fleet, who survived, told the official inquiry that if they had had binoculars they would have seen the iceberg sooner. When asked how much sooner, Fleet replied: "Enough to get out of the way." In the end, it fetched £90,000 at auction, sold to an anonymous telephone bidder. Record sale of Adolphe Saafeld’s letter In April 2010, a letter from a first-class passenger on the Titanic fetched £55,000 at auction - a record price for a piece of written correspondence from the ship. It was one of 350 lots of White Star Line memorabilia sold by auctioneer Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire. The letter was written by first-class passenger Adolphe Saafeld. Explaining the appeal of the artefact, auctioneer Andrew Aldridge said: 'The content is superb.

It gives a real first person perspective of what life was like onboard, through the eyes of a first-class passenger, right down to the food, the size of the cabin and the decoration. While other letters exist, this is the best example of its kind due to the depth of its detail.' Alfred Rowe’s ‘premonition’ letter An apparent premonition of the Titanic disaster was written in a letter by a passenger on board the doomed liner that set sail from Southampton in 1912. The letter emerged nearly 100 years after the ship's sinking. In it, a businessman named Alfred Rowe described the ship as "too big" and a "positive danger" in a letter home to his wife Constance. The letter, on Titanic headed notepaper, was made available for auction by Mr Rowe's family in March 2007. It was sold alongside a diary account by his widow, written after she heard news of the sinking. Tommy Knowles’s discharge certificates A November 2010 auction of Titanic memorabilia in Southampton, United Kingdom, was predicted to spark a “international bidding war” after collectors from the USA, a number of European countries and the UK expressed strong interest prior to the sale.

Lots which inspired strong interest included three discharge certificates belonging to the late, Tommy Knowles of Lymington, who twice survived being shipwrecked during his sea career. Knowles was an engine room storekeeper on the White Star liner, Titanic, when it sank after striking an iceberg on her maiden crossing from Southampton to New York in 1912. Other notable sales Letters In January 2009, two letters from Titanic passengers appeared for sale in New York - one of them featuring an excited description of the doomed ship just moments before setting sail. Letters on White Star Lines stationary inscribed with "On board RMS Titanic" are "extremely rare and are among the most prized artifacts from the disaster," said Robert Litzenberger, a specialist at Spink Smythe auction house, when interviewed before the sale. The letters were estimated at $10,000 to $20,000 dollars each, and were auctioned online. Telegrams A collection of Titanic Memorabilia was auctioned on Thursday 4th March at Cheffins Auctioneers in Cambridge, United Kingdom.

The collection included a rare gestetner Marconigram from the SS Virginian to the Captain of the Olympic, date 16th April 1912, received at 8.45am. It reads: ‘HEAR RUMOURS THAT WE HAVE SURVIVORS ON BOARD THIS IS NOT SO I HAVE NONE AT 10am YESTERDAY WHEN 30 MILES FROM POSITION OF DISASTER RECEIVED MARCONI FROM CARPATHIA AS FOLLOWS;-TURN BACK NOW EVERYTHING OK WE HAVE 800 ABOARD RETURN TO YOUR NORTHERN TRACK—I CONSEQUENTLY PROCEEDED…’. Other items such as rare postcards from survivors and telegrams reporting the disaster were also sold in this collection, with estimates ranging from £50 to £2,000. Postcard A POSTCARD from a Glaswegian mum who died on the Titanic was auctioned for s12,000 in October 2010. Third class passenger Eliza Johnston told her father-in-law of her children's excitement as they prepared for a new life in America.

She sent the card to Aberdeen from Cobh in Ireland while the vessel was docked there on its maiden voyage in April 1912. Blood-stained lifejacket A blood-stained, oily lifejacket from the Titanic sold for £34,000 at a New York auction in June 2009. It was sold by Christie’s . The cork-filled jacket, which is also torn in parts, is believed to be one of only six still existing from the doomed ocean liner. It was found by farmer John James Dunbar after the ship hit an iceberg and sank off Newfoundland in April 1912. Christie’s said it was thought Mr Dunbar had been aboard one of the ships sent out to search for bodies after the tragedy. It was possible the lifejacket had been on someone pulled from the water, reported United Kingdom newspaper the Daily Mail. Picture frame In 2005, Bonhams sold a picture frame made from Titanic driftwood by Bertram T King of the SS Minia, who helped save survivors.

It brought $16,450, whilst a rare original White Star Line Titanic Return Poster (cancelled when she did not return) brought $28,200. Food menu A menu of the meals for third class passengers on board, which survived in the handbag of Sarah Roth, a Third Class Passenger who was rescued by the Carpathia in lifeboat C, brought $44,650 at Bonhams in 2005. Steward Edmund Stone’s rusty key In April 2009, UK newspaper the Telegraph reported that a rusty key from the Titanic was expected to bring £50,000 at auction. It sold at Henry Aldridge & Son for £84,000. The key enabled the Titanic's crew to try to rescue hundreds of mail bags from the sinking ship. It was for the door of a staff stairwell which was opened so that the crew could start unloading the mail from the bowels of the ship. It belonged to Edmund Stone, 33, a first-class bedroom steward, who perished when the Titanic sank. The brass tag on the key is engraved "SERVICE FORd 'E' DECK".

Attempts to rescue the mail failed and all of the bags were lost when the ship went down. However, by using his key to unlock the door to the stairwell, Mr Stone may have enabled passengers and crew to use the exit to go on deck and get into lifeboats. The key and other artefacts were recovered when Mr Stone's dead body was recovered from the water. 2008 auction of Mr Stone’s artefacts In October 2008, eight of Mr Stone's artefacts raised £235,000 at auction, including his watch which fetched £94,000. The silver-plated watch, which did not work, had its hands frozen in time at 2.16 - four minutes before the ship went down. It is thought the watch was either slow or Mr Stone fell into the water four minutes before the ship went down. Withdrawal of pocket watch from auction In March 2008, a collector who was selling a pocket watch found on the frozen body of the last victim to be recovered from the Titanic had a change of heart and cancelled the auction.

The watch, which had belonged to Dumfries-born steward Thomas Mullin, was put up for sale on internet auction site eBay on March 13 with a starting bid of only $100 (£50). With 36 hours to go, and bids having reached $23,000 (£11,500), East Grinstead collector Paul Thorpe, 48, cancelled all bids. At the time, he said: "I have decided not to sell it for the moment because I had some interest from a television production company that wants to do a documentary. So at the moment it's still locked away in the safety deposit box." Mr Thorpe had been hoping to cash in on the item he bought with a friend from another collector two years ago, but said he was likely to hold on to it for another four years - until 2012 and the 100th anniversary of the sinking. His white-faced watch, damaged beyond repair and without any hands, had been offered on eBay with a certificate of authenticity and documents detailing the life and family of its owner.

Mullin’s crew badge A crew badge belonging to Mr Mullin, a third-class steward who signed on just four days before departure, was sold at auction for £28,000 almost four years ago. Mr Mullin was only 20 when he died in the north Atlantic after the Titanic struck an iceberg. Items found by 1985 American-French expedition In 1985, a joint American-French expedition discovered the Titanic’s wreck, and in 1994 a company named RMS Titanic Inc was awarded ownership and salvaging rights to the vessel and its contents. It has since recovered 5,500 historic objects including a 17-ton section of the hull, many or most of which have been included in travelling exhibitions. These have been seen by over 16 million people around the world, everywhere from Manchester in England to Tokyo in Japan, and various US cities. The memorabilia include all kinds of collectibles from coins and jewellery to personal effects and paper items. To date, none have appeared for sale.

Coins and currency The coins and currency hails from various countries, some of the best preserved items including a 20 Franc coin from France (1907), an 1891 Indian Head cent from the US and an 1876 five Para coin from Turkey. There are also various American banknotes, although even American passengers relied on British pounds when intending to trade with Europeans, as such a variety of US banks made banknotes at the time that British banks could not tell them from forgeries. Cigarettes Of personal effects, two would impress smoking fans: a set of cigarettes from Turkey and Egypt were recovered with some of the contents still present, and even a pipe with some tobacco inside. Children’s marbles A set of children's marbles, presumably belonging to one of the 113 children known to have been on board (just over half survived) were also among the pieces uncovered by the exhibition. Franz Pulbaum’s immigration form A form signed by German passenger Franz Pulbaum declaring his intention to become a US citizen was also found by the exhibition. His signature and personal information is still legible on the form, which was found in his trunk.

Returning from a visit to Europe following his earlier emigration to New York, the 27-year-old died in the sinking. The longtitudinal sectioned ship plan In May 2011 a 32ft plan used during the British inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic was sold at an auction by Henry Aldridge and Son in Wiltshire. The plan was drawn in Indian ink and featured red and green chalk markings indicating where ice was thought to have penetrated the bulk heads. It sold for £220,000, almost double its pre-sale estimate. Related Wikicollecting articles

Question: I Which ocean liner rescued the majority of the Titanic's survivors?
Answer: The Carpathia