April 18, 1912: Titanic Survivors Arrive in NYC



RMS Carpathia in New York, following the Rescue (pd) 



April 18, 1912
It was another momentous day in the tragic saga of the Titanic.  It was the day that those who had survived the horrific events of the night of April 14-15 finally set foot on land again.

It was due to the heroic efforts of Arthur H. Rostron, Captain of the Carpathia, and the crew of the Cunard liner, that the souls who had been helplessly adrift in lifeboats in the icy North Atlantic survived at all.    Reaching the site of the sinking in record time had taken quite an effort, with the ship being pushed to sail beyond her rated speed.

The story of the remarkable voyage of mercy by the RMS Carpathia is well worth reading.  You can do so by following the above link - or this one.

One Month and Counting

"Titanic Sinking," (PD-US, PD-1923)
by German maritime artist, Willie Stower

A month from now, we'll be commemorating the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.  You'll be hearing plenty about the fateful voyage of the luxury ocean liner between now and then. 

Chances are, you'll be party to some conversation, somewhere, during which the subject may come up.  It's timely, and it's an historical event with which many people are utterly fascinated.  If you'd like to familiarize yourself with some of the details, you might want to browse through several easy to read articles about several different aspects of what happened during and as a result of the events of the night of April 14 - 15, 1912, beginning with Pictures of the Titanic. 

For example - is it just a myth that the band went down with the ship, and played until the end?  No, not really!  They did go down with the ship, and played until they could no longer.   Wallace Hartley and the Titanic Band were hailed as heroes.

Do you know the name of the ship that came to the rescue of the 700+ passengers who survived the sinking of the Titanic?  Captain Rostron of the RMS Carpathia pushed his ship to her limits to get her swiftly to the site of the tragedy.

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Sometimes, in the Wake of a Tragedy

Tragedies at sea cause us to take a closer look at some of the factors involved, and to make changes.   Admitted, it's a reactive process, but that's reality.

So far, two changes - regarding mustering and saluting -  have been made following the sinking of the Costa Concordia.

There had been a muster drill scheduled for the morning of January 14, 2012.  But, the emergency occurred on the evening of the 13th.  Passengers who had not yet been required to assemble at their assigned muster stations to recieve their safety briefing lacked crucial information.  Yet,  Concordia was in compliance with regulations requiring that muster be held in the first 24 hours.  

It's now required that Muster Drill be performed before departure. This new rule was put into place by  Cruise Lines International Association, the European Cruise Council and the Passenger Shipping Association.

As you can read in a story in the New York Times, last week the government of  Italy passed a law banning cruise ship salutes of islands and coastal towns.  Captain Schettino was performing a close sail by or salute to the island of Giglio when the Costa Concordia got too close, and tragedy ensued.  In a salute, the officer at the helm is basically deviating from the planned course, and coming close to land.  This had been being done, on occasion, apparently in order for the ship to 'wave' to those on shore, to give the passengers a closer view, and to generate a little publicity.

Remind you of anything?  Yep.  Titanic immediately springs to mind.

A century ago, the world became accutely and painfully aware that, even though RMS Titanic carried more lifeboat 'seats' than required by law, she still had  enough to accomodate only about 1/3 of her possible passengers + crew.  Though slightly over 700 Titanic survivors were rescued by RMS Carpathia, the lifeboats weren't even filled to capacity.   Following the convention of women and children first, many men stood by while seats went unfilled.  After Titanic, the lifeboat laws were changed.