Sligo role in Titanic rescue

BALLYMOTE NATIVE WAS ON BOARD SHIP THAT WENT TO THE RESCUE OF THE TITANTIC WHICH SANK 112 YEARS AGO THIS WEEK

At sunrise on the 15 th April 1912, the RMS Carpathia came across the small lifeboats containing the 750 survivors of the Titanic which had sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic only hours earlier.

While other ships had been closer to the Titanic’s position that night it was the Carpathia, a passenger liner on its way from New York to the Mediterranean that had picked up its distress calls over wireless.

Carpathia’s Captain Arthur Roston immediately ordered his ship to make maximum revolutions towards the Titanic’s position some 58 miles away.

Heading directly through a dangerous ice field and at full speed the Carpathia had to slow down a number of times after a number of close calls with the bergs.

Soon the ship could see a green light in the distance. Believing this to be the Titanic’s masthead light, Roston ordered flares to be launched every fifteen minutes to let them know they were on their way.

However, to the shock of Carpathia’s Captain and crew they soon realised that there was no ship waiting for them to be saved, the light was from a flare from one of the lifeboats.

The Carpathia’s sailors were mustered on deck to keep an eye out for ice while the crew prepared hot coffee and soup for survivors all the while doing this quietly not to alarm the Carpathia’s own passengers.

Carpathia’s arrival on the scene was around 4am and it would spend four hours searching the area where the Titanic had sunk, in all recovering 705 survivors including Sligo native Margaret Devaney from Kilmacowen.

Of the 1500 passengers of the RMS Titanic who died that night six were from County Sligo, Mary Delia Burns, Kilmacowen, Catherine ‘Kate’ Hargadon, Carraroe; Henry Hart, Ballisodare; Janie Carr, Castlerock, Aclare, John Meehan, Carrowhuane, Curry, and Engineer/Electrician Alfred Middleton, of Ballisodare.

It was Alfred and his colleagues who stayed at their positions keeping the Titanic’s power working that allowed its wireless operators to get the message out to ships like the Carpathia to come at once.

There was another Sligo native who played a part in one of the most remembered tragedies of the 20 th century.

Onboard the RMS Carpathia was Ballymote born Christopher Lewin who was serving as a second class cabin pantry steward.

Christopher born in 1883 to Christopher Lewin Snr a railway porter and English born mother Margret Reynolds, was 29 years old on that faithful night.

By the time the Carpatia had reached New York three days later, $10.000 Dollars had been raised by First and Second Class survivors of the Titanic who had formed a ‘ ’ Titanic Survivors Committee’’ to help the Third class survivors who in most cases had lost all their worldly possessions.

The Chair of this committee was the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown of Colorado.

The committee also arranged for medals to be made and presented to the captain, sailors and crew of the Carpathia. Gold for Captain Roston, silver medals for officers and bronze for the crew. Most likely Christopher would have received the bronze medal which today at auction can fetch up to £5,000.

After his time serving on the Carpathia Lewin continued to work at sea for many years and served with the merchant fleet during WWI. He later relocated to Southampton where he worked as a steward aboard the Queen Mary.

Christopher Lewin died in Southampton in 1957 and is buried at St Mary’s Extra Cemetery not far from the docks were the Titanic had set sail on her fateful maiden voyage.