RMS Carpathia -- July 17, 2018

New York Tribune, 20-July-1918

RMS Carpathia was a Cunard ocean liner that went into service in 1903.  In 1912, she rescued survivors of RMS Titanic.  During World War One she carried Canadian and American troops to Europe.  One hundred years ago today, on 17-July-1918, while sailing from Liverpool to Boston, Carpathia was torpedoed and sunk by U-55.  Five crew members died.

Torpedo Sinks Carpathia Off Irish Coast 

Five on Transport Killed, but Crew Escapes and Lands in Safety 

Rescued Passengers in Titanic Disaster 

Vessel, Returning From Trip With U. S. Troops, Is Victim of U-Boat 

AN ATLANTIC PORT, July 19 -- The British transport Carpathia, bound westward, was sunk off the Irish coast some time last night by a U-boat. Five men who were in the engine room when the torpedo struck the ship were killed. All others on board escaped in lifeboats and landed at the nearest port.

Three torpedoes in all were fired at the Carpathia and all found their mark. Despite the fact that the ship sank rapidly excellent discipline prevailed and. so far as is known now, not one single accident marked the lowering of the lifeboats and the abandonment of the ship.

The Carpathia, which was of 13,603 tons gross, belonged to the Cunard Line. Prior to the war she was engaged in the transatlantic service, but was taken over by the British government immediately on the outbreak of the war and has done transport duty ever since.

Used to Carry Troops 

From the time this government began, the big rush of men across the ocean the Carpathia had been one of the ships to do valiant service. Her last departure from an American port was late in June.

The Carpathia was built in 1903. From the time she made her first trip across the Atlantic the liner enjoyed wide popularity among ocean travel1ers. This feeling became one of genuine affection for the ship following the sinking of the Titanic.

The Carpathia, 100 miles away, in answer to the calls for help sent out by the sinking Titanic, rushed through fog, mist and storm in an ocean filled with icebergs to the side of the sinking vessel. In all, she rescued 806 persons from the Titanic.

A few days later the survivors were landed in New York, and since that day the names of Carpathia and Arthur Henry Rostron. her commander, have been known in more out-of-the-way places than those of any other ship and navigator of the mercantile marine.

Honors Paid Sailors 

Britain and the United States united in showering honors on Captain Rostron and his crew. Medals and loving cups were numerous. Then he and the old Cunarder resumed their trips to and from the Mediterranean, until he left the vessel for another post.

When the war began the Carpathia, like all other vessels of the British lines, became a munition ship and transport. Since this country joined the Entente she has been almost exclusively a troopship, and little had been heard of her until the news of the torpedoing came yesterday.

Numbers of times she has escaped U-boat attacks. In March, 1915, a terrific gale encountered off New York followed her through an entire voyage and laid her on her beam ends several times. Captain William Prothero, her commander on this occasion, said it was the worst storm he had ever encountered.

Hero Is Modest 

The last heard of tfhe Carpathia, prior to yesterday, was on November 12, 1916, when she went aground off Ambrose Lightship and remained for a few hours stuck in the mud.

Of Captain Rostron hut little has been heard since the time of the Titanic disaster. He was the wearer of five medals, including one from Congress, before he left his berth as commander of the Carpathia. In his own eyes he was no hero and declared that most heroes were "accidents of fate."

"No man is a hero of his own volition," he explained. "But every man has the power to live up to the best of his manhood and duty."

215 Are Rescued 

The survivors number 215. Some who have been landed say the vessel was sunk by a German submarine at about 9:15 o'clock Wednesday morning. All of the passengers and crew were saved, with the exception of three firemen and two trimmers, who are supposed to have been killed by an explosion in the engine room.

Members of the crew say that just after the passengers had breakfasted a torpedo struck the vessel slightly forward of the engine room, and a minute or two later a second torpedo crashed into the engine room. There was no panic. Passengers and the surviving members of the crew got away in the ship's small boats without difficulty.

For a time it appeared as though the Carpathia might remain afloat, but the U-boat came to the surface and fired a third torpedo. The liner tilted rapidly and sank about two hours after being struck by the first torpedo. After her disappearance the submarine approached the Carpathian boats, hut did not fire on them.