The 3 Ships

In a world of Californians be the Carpathia

This morning I heard a story about 3 ships:

• The Titanic

• The Californian

• The Carpathia

Everyone knows the story of the “unsinkable” ship called the Titanic that sailed on its maiden voyage from England to New York City in 1912. To put things into perspective, a first class ticket on the Titanic back then is said to cost about $114k per person in 2023 dollars. It was a Who’s Who of the elite of that time on that ship. Interesting factoid that the founder of Hershey’s chocolate was supposed to be on the ship and cancelled at the last minute. Also Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel had requested to be on the ship but their boss refused to pay the high ticket prices. The hype back then about this luxury ship and the people on it was beyond anything the world had ever experienced.

We know a lot about what happened on that maiden voyage because of a schoolteacher that survived named Lawrence Beesley who wrote a book about it. And thanks to the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio that made it famous a whole generation of kids also know about it. As it sailed on its maiden voyage across the sea, the “unsinkable” Titanic hit an iceberg and started to sink. A total of 1,517 passengers died as a result.

What people might not have heard about are the two ships that made a huge difference in the outcome of that night. As the Titanic was sinking, they sent out SOS signals and fired flares into the sky with the hope that ships nearby could help the 2,240 people on the ship.

Only 4 miles away was The Californian. According to records, the Californian encountered some icebergs earlier that day and decided to anchor. They sent out notices to nearby ships including the Titanic warning them about the icebergs. The Californian’s Captain, Stanley Lord went to bed that night and after 3 attempts by his crew to wake him up because they saw the flares in the sky, he admonished them and went back to sleep AND DID NOTHING. An investigation after the tragedy concluded that all or many of the passengers on the Titanic could have been saved had the Californian responded. I can’t imagine carrying that guilt. Or the anger of the crew that tried THREE TIMES to get him to wake up and do something.

The Carpathia was a slow moving ship that could only go an average speed of 14 knots per hour. About 67 miles away on that night the Carpathia was in route to Croatia when the radio operator Harold Cottam (true hero) heard the Titanic’s distress call. He immediately went to the bridge to let them know. They were skeptical and did nothing so he ran downstairs to wake up his Captain to tell him the news. Captain Arthur Henry Rostrom was also sleeping but upon hearing the news, immediately woke up and ordered to turn his ship around to go help the Titanic. He also issued orders to cut the ship’s heating and hot water to create more steam and help the otherwise slow moving ship speed up their trip. He placed extra lookouts all around the ship to look out for icebers and had crew round up blankets and medical supplies in preparation for the rescue. They arrived in three and a half hours but the Titanic had already sunk. However, his orders helped them shave 30 minutes off their time and enabled them to rescue 705 survivors from the icy waters. Not only did this Captain make all the right decisions, but he also safely delivered all the survivors to their original destination in New York City. He and his crew received all sorts of awards and accolades but I bet that Captain went to bed each night thinking about the 1,517 that he wasn’t able to save.

I have watched the movie Titanic three times. I don’t remember seeing anything about The Californian or The Carpathia but after hearing this story this morning I went online to research it. It’s all true. And my heart hurt when I think about the difference that The Californian could have made for all those families that died that day. They were FOUR MILES AWAY. They could have gotten there in time to save just about everyone. But one guy changed the course of history because he didn’t want to be bothered.

If you got to this point in my note, I ask you to share this story with at least one person today. There are way too many people in the world today that are sleeping and don’t want to be disturbed.

In a world filled with Captain Lord’s, be Harold Cottam or Captain Rostrom. Be the Carpathia full steam ahead and make a difference.