[Titanic Disaster]. Lot of Twenty Photographs Taken from the RMS Carpathia the Morning after the Titanic Disaster with related materials. The RMS Carpathia, a member of the Cunard Line, had left New York on April 11, 1912, bound for Fiume, Austria-Hungary, when, in the early morning hours of April 15, 1912, signal operator Harold Cottam received a distress call from the RMS Titanic via Newfoundland. Cottam immediately woke Captain Arthur H. Rostron who ordered the crew to head to the Titanic's last known position, some fifty-eight miles away. The Carpathia reached the spot in four hours, having traveled at maximum speed, but the ill-fated ship had slipped under the water two hours before. The Carpathia set to rescuing survivors, mostly women and children, totaling 703.

This collection comprises two photograph albums, containing approximately 260 photographs total, two loose photographs, one postcard, and one later newspaper article of the disaster. Each photograph is described on the back. The first book, labeled "Foreign Camera Pictures," begins the photographic chronicle of Carpathia passengers Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Hutchinson, recently married and setting off on their honeymoon. The couple departed from New York on a trip to Europe and Africa when it was interrupted within the first four days by the sinking of the Titanic. The first few photographs show the docks and skyline of New York as the ship set sail, followed by images of the waves and passengers on the decks. The next eight images feature icebergs and ice floes each with the label "Icebergs, Titanic Disaster." Immediately following the iceberg images is a photograph of the Russian "Ship Burma [sic] approaching the Carpathia." The SS Birma, of the Russian-American Line, had heard the first distress call of the Titanic at 11:40 p.m. and headed to the area. She arrived in the area hours after the Carpathia. Following the rescue, the ship returned to New York. The couple remained onboard and sailed on to their original destination of Gibraltar where they snapped a final image of the ship in the harbor.

In the rear of the second photograph album, are found six more images of the disaster. Two of the photographs feature life boats coming toward the ship. The first is labeled on the verso, "Last two boats picked up/April 15, 1912." The second is a postcard showing a crowd of people gathered on the deck around a life boat and is labeled, "Life-boats from 'Titanic' after having been lifted on board 'Carpathia.' Presented by U. J. Hiss of N. Y. Telephone Co....fellow passenger on Carpathia." The next two images are ocean views, also credited to U. J. Hiss, the first labeled on the verso, "Ice Flow [sic], morning after Titanic disaster, taken from 'Carpathia' as steamed about icebergs in search of more of the shipwrecked..." and the second reads, "Ocean view, morning after 'Titanic' disaster, taken from 'Carpathia.'" All remaining images are from their trip throughout the Algiers and Western Europe.

Also included is a group photograph of the crew of the Carpathia and a photograph of Carpathia Captain Arthur H. Rostron on the deck near a lifeboat. With a newspaper clipping from the Philadelphia Dispatch, March 31, 1946, giving an account of the disaster and subsequent rescue.

For their heroic efforts, the captain and crew of the Carpathia were awarded medals by the survivors of the Titanic. In addition, Captain Rostron was knighted by King George V and received the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States. Unfortunately, the Carpathia herself suffered disaster several years later when, in 1918, at the height of the First World War, she was the victim of a German submarine attack that sent her to the bottom of the Atlantic.