Titanic Remembered

TITANIC Remembered
1912 - 2003

"There are many things that have happened through my life that I will never forget, the great war, mans attempt to fly, the birth of television and the sounds of over a thousand dying throats"

"What time is it?". The question is simple but to the rest of the people who's ears fall on the comment, stark and vivid, "2.20" comes the answer. Suddenly silence falls all around them,  the sight that had greeted them for over an hour had gone, the night sky lit with millions of stars, moonless, looked upon them. Haunting sounds that had filled the cold night air moments before had ceased, but for a very short time. Suddenly, like a huge explosion of human voices, a thousand throats awoke the silent air. They came from over a great distance of ocean surface, an ocean now below freezing, these sounds of pain, these sounds of anguish. Nearby, some 20 lifeboats floated. There occupants sitting at the oars, scared, cold and unable to do anything as fifteen hundred men, women and children perish all around them.

The people in the boats, now survivors of the greatest disaster at sea can only do but wait, wait for help. After a short while, the throats of the dying begin to fade as the cold takes another soul.  

Shortly after 4.10am, a rocket is sighted on the horizon. Hope is only moments away as a huge liner comes into view. She is the Cunard ship CARPATHIA who has raced some 48 miles and entered an ice covered sea. Her decks are filled with crew and passengers, lifeboats are swung out, hatchway doors are open and her lights sparkling in the early morning sunrise. From below, the 20 lifeboats pull alongside the little ship as eager faces of survivors look up as the Carpathia's crew start to bring them aboard. Each survivor is wrapped in a bed covering, given hot soup or tea and taken to one side. There faces are full of fear and terror, the sights and sounds of a few hours earlier will not leave them, not until there dying day.  A surviving bridge officer from the wreck is taken to the Carpathia's bridge. The liners Captain asks the officer were his ship is "She's gone sir", suddenly he breaks down into tears "And she's taken thousands with her".

Just after 8.00 am another ship comes into view, she is the Leyland liner CALIFORNIAN. She was stranded in the ice field over 19 miles away. Her captain asks if there is anything they can do to help, "NO" is the reply from the Carpathia.
After four days at sea, the Carpathia arrives in New York with not only her passengers but survivors too. Within hours, the survivors are left to leave the liner as Carpathia's crew members start to lower the sunken liners lifeboats. From the 20, only 13 were bought back to New York, reminders of an era ready to change. Crew members began to empty the lifeboats of personal artifacts and remove the name plates from the boats side. To some of the crew members, these items became there own personal mementoes. They would go home, place the item on the table "I was there when this happened". Now, they too are a part of history, another chapter in life's book.

Too many of the crew members of the Carpathia, the events of April 15th 1912 will last only a brief while, but to the survivors, this is an event they will never forget. From the 2,207 passengers and crew who boarded the liner at Southampton, only 705 survived, a total of 1,503 souls lost. Decades have now pasted, but the memories are still there, fueled by photos and that name plate the Carpathia crew member bought back home which has been handed through generations. It sits on display for all to see, and the wording stamped onto the plate :

S . S . T I T A N I C