A Night to Remember (1958) #25 - The Carpathia (#1)

[wilhelm-zt]

One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite films. As others have properly noted, Sir Arthur Henry Rostron was a great man. RIP Sir Arthur!

[DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

Captain Arthur Henry Rostron was a brave, caring, selfless, loving gentleman. He immediately sprang into action upon being informed about the Titanic’s distress call, gave orders to turn the Carpathia around and made great efforts to reach the Titanic as quickly as possible as well as made great preparations for the hospitality of the survivors. He was definitely a real captain!

[thatguyinelnorte]

The Captain of the Carpathia was a real man...

[Trek]

I like Rostron's expression here because it changes in a millisecond.

The _Carpathia_ 's wireless operator bursts into his cabin and he is utterly furious - he's still furious when the sparks tells him of a distress call... He instantly gets concerned before anything else is said

Damn good bit of acting

[darthstarkiller]

"Carpathia" was built for Cunard, White Star Line's main rival. Ismay was hoping to outshine Cunard with "Titanic", only for her to sink and being rescued by a Cunard ship. Ironic,  don't you think?

[DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

The Titanic and Carpathia were really built by companies that were bitter rivals at the time of the Titanic disaster, but that sure didn't stop the Carpathia from making making an extremely mad dash to the Titanic's rescue. It's so great that the brave, generous, hard working crew of the Carpathia payed absolutely no attention to the White Star Line/Cunard Line rivalry throughout the time of that disaster since they knew that saving the lives of those in danger really overcomes corporate competition.

[detectivestorm]

The wireless operator on the RMS Carpathia is so kind

[eileencoffey]

In actuality it didn't happen quite like this. Cottom was waiting for an answer to a message he had sent. He and the officer of the watch both went charging into Rostron's cabin with the news. He did react exactly as shown. So many other captains would have questioned Cottom first, he told the officer to turn the ship around and head towards Titanic, then questioned Cottam. As Walter Lord says in his excellent sequel book, The Night Lives On, it was the utter total competence that Captain Rostran showed that set him apart. He took his ship on an incredibly dangerous trek, at night and at beyond full speed for his ship, actually hitting 18 knots during it. He gave all the orders you see him give, he thought of everything. The entire crew rolled out for this without question. Another item not shown was that he also placed extra lookouts, 2 up at the bow. They actually spotted Ice before the lookouts in the crows nest. Rostran and his crew were feted by Cunard and the survivors. Rostran ended up becoming Commodore of the Cunard Line. Definitely a man you wanted to sail with.

[alinagordelli]

Captain Arthur Rostron's reaction is amazing. His nickname in Cunard was "Electric spark", well deserved! A real hero.

[XJIcequeen]

That man is Harold Cottman! His quick reaction to the SOS helped save hundreds of people

[bodieofci]

Captain Rostron... what an incredible man.

[DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

I wish there were movie scenes of Harold Cottam after the Carpathia rescued the survivors. He was good friends with the Titanic's wireless radio operators Jack Phillips and Harold Bride long before the Titanic's sinking happened and I can't imagine how Cottam and Bride must have felt to have been seeing each other again after that tragic sinking and about how their work is what got the Carpathia into action to save as many of the Titanic's people as possible. It was also great of Bride to have been working together with Cottam to transmit messages about the sinking during their journey to New York City, even though he had badly injured his feet in the disaster.

[Jhihmoac]

Oh, even back when this all happened, the formal inquiry in London afterwards didn't miss a beat when it came to the _Californian_ : "You were a fair distance, yet within plain eyesight of the _Titanic's_ ship lights! Even with your wireless switched off, you would have STILL seen any emergency flares the _Titanic_ would've launched into the air! Now, exactly _WHAT_ do you have to say about all _THAT?"_

[Burninhellscrootoob]

I think this as perhaps the greatest scene in film history. Its full of emotion and completely believeable. The heroism and selflessness depicted makes for one unforgettable scene.

[gftyhify]

Kudos to Harold Cottam and Arthur Rostoron for their quick reactions to the situation. It takes balls to break into the captain’s cabin without knocking and also how quickly Rostron was able to let his anger go after being rudely woken up

[jerrystuch]

What’s amazing to me is Captain Rostron risked the safety of his ship’s crew and passengers by running Carpathia’s engines harder than they ever had been before. He did everything humanly possible to rescue as many people as he could. Sadly they couldn’t reach the titanic before it sank. The Carpathia had a Captain who was definitely a Captain of integrity, courage, and honor to do what he did that night along with his crew as well. It’s sad that just a few years later during the war Carpathia met the same fate as titanic from a torpedo from I think a German u boat. The people aboard her are resting at peace at the bottom of the sea with all those innocents who lost everything in the titanic disaster. I’m glad that major shipping changes resulted after titanic and the Olympic underwent some very serious and awesome changes that had the titanic had I do believe we wouldn’t have to live with knowing she’s on the bottom of the North Atlantic deteriorating away. why does it always take some terrible horrible tragedy resulting in unthinkable loss of life for change to happen. 9/11 should have never even been a possibility. How the heck do terrorists hijack 2 passenger airline jets using just box cutters and fly them into 2 110 story tall buildings resulting in their collapse. I think near 3000 people died that day. And it was after the 9/11 attacks they decided oh shit were better beef up security??? You think!!!!???? It’s a little late now!!!! Although it prevented future disasters of that nature from happening. Anyway love the history of the titanic❤️❤️❤️

[walterwishmaster]

Sparks' actor did a terrific job. He enters the room unbothered, unbottons his jacket and, just as he starts loosening the tie, he gets concernced about what sounds to be a distress call. He then slowly realizes what's happening and he rushes back to the door. The change in facial expression and body language from calm and a little bored to panic without a single line being said is outstanding and far from simple

[jimmywrangles]

I think this may be my favorite scene in any movie ever.

[razorshark]

This is one of my favorite scenes of this film.

[johnpatrick]

That wireless operator saved hundreds of lives, as did the crew of the Carpathia they put there lives at risk to save others please dont take the micky