RMS CARPATIA, Rescue Operation
On April 15, 1912, the RMS Carpatia ship received a SOS message. At that time he was in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean on his routine journey from New York to Fiume and his radio operator prepared to sleep, but for some wonderful reason he decided to keep the communications open a few extra minutes. At 12:26 AM, Harold Cottam had forgotten the duration of his turn and was running in the direction of Captain Arthur Rostron to inform him of the aid signal that he had captured from the RMS Titanic, 58 miles away.
Carpatia made all the necessary preparations for a rescue operation. Carpatia lifeboats were prepared for deployment. Barriles of oil approached the sides of the ship to pour them into the sea in case it was agitated so that the oil calms the water, making it safer for the lifeboats that would be approaching. Rostron ordered that lights, networks, stairs all ready to drop when possible to get as possible of survivors rose at the same time be installed. While the staff ran to the other making these preparations, the noise woke the passengers. Upper, middle and low class were rushed to the three dining rooms of Carpatia their own blankets and coat clothes to distribute. They prepared soup, tea, coffee, hot chocolate and assigned doctors for different areas. Even the way to carry a recourse from the rescued was organized.
But even at the maximum absolute speed of the fourteen knots, it would be impossible to save someone. And it was full closed night, surrounded by icebergs and fog, it was unthinkable to arrive in less than four hours. In addition, RMS California was closer to Titanic. It was illogical to think that Carpathia would be some help, and everyone present knew it. That did not stop the crew.
Captain Rostron knew the limits, and that was why he woke up all engineers, all fogoneros and firefighters, and diverted all the steam towards the engines. He turned off any non -essential mechanism that consumed energy and forced the ship to go a faster knot. And when he succeeded, he demanded another knot. It should be noted that boosting a ship beyond its nominal speed not only difficult to maneuver, but also exerts incredible pressure on engines. The ships are not designed to overcome their maximum speed even a knot. They can’t do it. But that morning the carpatia reached a speed of almost seventeen knots and a half. No one would have asked a steam ship something that way. The only responsibility of Carpatia was to respond to the sign of aid or at least broadcast it to other ships;It was not her duty to do the impossible. Nor would it have been criticized for taking more time to confirm the seriousness of the Titanic accident or simply be more cautious. No one would point them as guilty of any death, except their own consciences.
In total, 705 people from the original Titanic were taken to Carpatia with life. They reached the last known coordinates of Titanic just three hours after receiving the message. They found the first of the lifeboats half an hour later, at four in the morning, and they did not stop until 8:30 am to climb survivors. Carpatia passengers universally delivered their bunk beds, cabins and clothing to the survivors, helped the crew at each step and even sat next to those rescued to offer them Consuelo. No other ship would find survivors, and RMS California did not attend the signal. All these lives were saved only because from 2:20 am on the morning of April 15, 1912 a crew of people looked into each other and decided that he would move heaven and earth to help all the strangers who could, although they did not even know each other or had any role established in the small steamboat that was carpatia.
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