Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index The Carpathia was a transatlantic passenger steamship launched in 1903 by Cunard Steamship Lines. The ocean liner is most famous for rescuing 703 people who survived in lifeboats after the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on the night of April 14, 1912. The Carpathia was sailing from New York City when Captain Arthur Henry Rostron (1869 -1943) received distress signals from the RMS Titanic. Captain Rostron immediately set a course at full speed towards the Titanic's last known position more than 60 miles away. At 4 o'clock in the morning, the Carpathia arrived at the scene after working her way through dangerous ice fields and was able to save 703 people. For his rescue work, Captain Rostron was awarded a silver cup and gold medal by survivors, the presentation made by Molly Brown. He was later a guest of President Taft at the White House and was presented with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest honor the United States could confer upon him. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.