Children Arriving at Carpathia

B

Ben Lemmon

Member
Ok, I heard somewhere, though I can't remember where, that children were carried on board the Carpathia in mailbags. Is there any truth to this statement, or am I wrong in this regard. If there were children carried on board in such a manner, how old were the oldest children carried aboard in this manner?
 
Howdy Ben.

I think Walter Lord mentioned this in ANTR. At least that's where I remember reading of this happening. I don't really actually know myself of any other statements or fact of how the Children got aboard the Carpathia. I think it was only younger Children who were too little to get aboard on the Chairs they rigged up to assist older Children and Women. Michael Standart is pretty familiar with the inquiry transcripts, both British and American. I hope he or anybody else familiar with the American or British Inquiries sees this. Hopefully someone could shed some light on this or at least give us some information on the source of the rumor or fact of how the younger children did get aboard the Carpathia. Of course Walter Lord might of got this information from a survivor or News Paper. Good Luck!
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Wish I could given you more information.
 
From Captain Rostron's testimony at the US Inquiry:

"... Pilot ladders and canvas ash bags to be at each gangway, the canvas ash bags for children. I may state the canvas ash bags were of great assistance in getting the infants and children aboard."
 
Thanks Bob. That's what I remember from the ANTR and let's not forget the TNLO. Walter Lord goes into more detail about Capt Rostron and mentions the orders Capt. Rostron gave his crew which is word for word what the American Inquiry said.
 
The story is going OK. I just finished the first chapter. I'm giving it to my boss, who is an English major, to proofread. Meanwhile, I will start the second. Thanks for your interest.
 
I see that Bob beat me to it. Good thing since I'd forgotten where the ash bags had been mentioned.

I don't recall seeing any mention of the age range in any source. I would think that the older children would have made it up the ladders just fine but it would have been risky in the extreme to try a stunt like that with infants and toddlers.
 
I've often wondered how hoisting the children up would have been accomplished, since it seems like they would have been bumping against the side of the ship the whole way up. Guess they just took it slow and managed as best they could.
 
Rostron mentioned also that canvas slings were rigged, again with block & tackle to lift them. Presumably these were for adults who were injured or infirm. I imagine that these rigs would have lifted their loads with a reasonable clearance from the ship's side.
 
Captain Rostron's testimony begins HERE for the U.S. Senate and HERE for the Mersey dog and pony show.

Lord Mersey appeared to be primarily interested in the navigation aspects but it was the Senate Inquiry where he gave the details of the preperations he made. Rostron had quite a few tools available and he made the most of them.
 
Probably they used the type of canvas sling which most ships kept in stock for hoisting cargo (and sometimes live animals). These were made from canvas sewn onto a framework of ropes. They looked like this when flattened out:

124075.jpg
 

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