Titanic - Carpathia
Naziv
Titanic - Carpathia
Kategorija
Klasifikacija prema RKD
Vrsta baštine
Opis
In April 1912, the largest ocean liner in the world at that time, the White Star Line’s RMS Titanic, embarked on her maiden voyage to New York. None of the passengers or crew had any idea what awaited them. On 14 April, just before midnight, the Titanic struck an iceberg and sank within two hours, becoming a grave for about 1,500 people. More than 700 passengers were rescued, but the casualties were still enormous for what was thought to be an unsinkable ship. Disbelief reigned in Europe and America. The hopes of the passengers and their families for a better future were suddenly dashed. In this tragedy, a much smaller Cunard Line steamship appeared as a hero at dawn the next day
on 15 April 1912. The RMS Carpathia, a ship of 170 metres in length, and not so capable of fast speeds, was the only vessel to take the iceberg warnings seriously and its captain and crew bravely deviated from their intended course by nearly 60 miles to try and rescue survivors from the Titanic. They did not care about the social status or origin of the passengers, but set out on a journey into the unknown, despite being burdened by a number of passengers and risking their own lives. Among the crew members, there were more than eighty sailors from the Croatian Littoral, Istria and Kvarner regions. One of them, the young waiter Josip Car, kept a Titanic lifejacket and donated it to the History and Maritime Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka after the Carpathia returned to Rijeka in May 1912. It can be said that the Carpathia, as the ship whose lights that night illuminated the faces of the tormented souls in the water, connected the two cities of Rijeka and New York, and made proud all the members of the crew, their families and our littoral region.
