Much has been written and re-enacted about the wreck of R.M.S. Titanic on April 14, 1912, off the coast of Newfoundland. Several movies have been made attempting to capture the drama of the ill-fated ship. But relatively little has been made known about the relief effort that swung into action after the ship was stricken.
There Was No Mayhem as the Ship Sank: Contrary to what we saw in movie versions of the sinking, the passengers and crew by and large acting calmly while the disaster unfolded. As confirmed by reports from survivors, the loading of the lifeboats took place under an eerie calm. Crowds of passengers were up on deck, perhaps in a state of denial, waiting patiently for the next orders from the ship’s officers. The major reason for the prevailing calm was the effort by the crew to downplay the danger and to spread the word that rescue ships were on their way. They further stressed that the lifeboats were being loaded merely as a safety precaution. Some passengers in the lifeboats wanted to stay close to the sinking ship believing that she wouldn’t sink after all, and they would be safer closer by. The steerage passengers were not prevented from going up to the decks—instead some stayed back afraid of losing their belongings that could constitute all they had in the world. Others were confused or left in the dark owing to language barriers. In any case, the third-class passengers were required to wait until the first and second-class passengers had been accommodated.
Some reports of shots being fired and passengers jumping into the water surfaced during the hearings after the disaster, but most were not confirmed. One officer explained that he fired his pistol into the air just to try to get passengers’ attention and not shoot anyone. As the ship began to sink by the bow, she raised up by the stern causing some panic as deck and interior furniture began to slide and fall off. The trapped air in the stern seemed to keep it afloat momentarily, but after a short time the ship broke into two pieces and the descent continued.
The Distress Signals: Marconi’s wireless technology was still relatively new in 1912, and the protocols and requirements for operators at sea were still something of a work in progress. Certain messages of extreme importance bore a code at the top that required the message to be delivered to the ship’s captain. Such a message warning of icebergs was sent to Titanic, but ignored. When it was determined that the Titanic was damaged to the extent that it needed to be evacuated, the wireless operators began sending out distress signals. The ship’s distress signals were widely picked up by a range of ships in the general area and relayed by a shore-based station on Prince Edward Island. However, they were not picked up by the S.S. Californian, the ship that was the closest to Titanic at the time of the disaster.
The Californian: The S.S. Californian, a freighter, was anchored out amid the icebergs approximately eleven miles away from Titanic. Earlier in the evening the wireless operators on both Titanic and Californian had been exchanging communications about the conditions including iceberg sightings. But Titanic’s wireless operators were overwhelmed with messages from passengers to friends and family awaiting arrival in New York, and subsequently cut off the communications from other ships. The wireless operator on the Californian then went to bed along with most of the crew to wait until daylight for the ship to resume navigation through the icebergs. Later that night the ship’s deck watch noticed a passenger ship sailing past at a great distance, and later noticed white rockets being fired into the sky. They notified the captain who told them that red rockets were the ones that signaled distress. The captain then ordered the watch to attempt to contact the ship via Morse light signals, however, the range was apparently too far, and the signals were not acknowledged. In a major failing, the captain did not order the wireless operator to open up the wireless for any distress communications.
The Carpathia: An outmoded passenger ship, the Carpathia, received the distress signal from Titanic and redirected immediately to the given co-ordinates at top speed. However, the Carpathia was over forty miles away, and it took until daybreak before they could reach the site. As it turned out, it was the only ship to find and retrieve survivors, who were either in the lifeboats or riding on top of floating debris. Carpathia had to resort to such unusual means as hauling survivors up in makeshift chairs, or putting children into canvass bags for lifting. Approximately 700 survivors were loaded on board Carpathia, many of which were traumatized by the disaster or hysterically looking for loved ones. Carpathia had three doctors on board, who set up makeshift first aid stations to treat minor injuries suffered by the survivors. Most of the injured had broken bones or bruises, but there were also numerous cases of people suffering from delirium owing to the trauma. A few days later, Carpathia made it to New York City.
Disaster Relief in New York City: When the news of the disaster reached New York, the disaster relief effort began immediately. When Carpathia arrived at Manhattan’s Pier 54 on April 18, a newly formed women’s relief committee was already there with food, clothing, and emergency funds for the Titanic’s survivors. Other relief organizations were likewise participating in the general relief effort. Twenty ambulances were stationed to transport the injured to local hospitals, along with a ferry boat that was converted to act as a hospital ship.
Recovering the Casualties: Many of the victims of the disaster died of hypothermia in the icy seas while floating in a life jacket. A further effort was made to retrieve the bodies of these casualties out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, the closest major seaport to the disaster site that also had a railroad connection. The C.S. Mackay-Bennett, a cable ship, went to the site equipped with coffins, canvas body bags, tons of ice, and embalming supplies, along with an undertaker and a chaplain. The Mackay-Bennett was able to recover 306 bodies, but 116 of that number had to be buried at sea owing to insufficient embalming supplies. A total of fifty-nine of the recovered bodies were identified and returned by train to the passenger’s home towns. The remainder were buried in three of Halifax’s cemeteries.
Conclusions: This is the third of a 3-part series on the Titanic. For the other two parts, please copy the following links and paste them into your browser:
Part I: A Deeper Look Into the Titanic’s Sinking
Part II: The Titanic Part II: Discovering the Wreckage
Sources: History.com, Titanic Rescue Effort: 5 Ways the World Tried to Help, By Elizabeth Yuko, June 21, 2023.
History.com, Titanic: The Surprising Calm Before the Chaotic Sinking, By Greg Daugherty, June 22, 2023.
Wikipedia, Titanic.