2024 marks 112 years since the sinking of the Titanic. A Tiffany pocket watch presented to Captain Rostron, the hero who saved the 706 survivors, is on display in Belfast, Ireland. This precious artifact commemorates the courage and compassion shown in the midst of tragedy and symbolizes the timeless lessons that the story of the Titanic offers us.
Edited by Takashi Tsuchida
[Article published on January 17, 2024]
The Carpathia's heroic rescue: a miracle that saved 706 lives
The Titanic Belfast Museum in Belfast, Ireland, is hosting a special exhibit featuring a gold Tiffany pocket watch given to Captain Arthur Rostron of the Carpathia, a hero who saved many lives during the Titanic tragedy. This precious artifact will be on public display until the end of October 2024.
While the tragedy of the Titanic is widely known, some of the more interesting stories about the rescue efforts are less well known, including the Carpathia, which rescued 706 survivors.
The Carpathia was equipped with a radiotelegraph, a technology only recently developed in the early 20th century. When it received a distress signal from the Titanic, it was sailing from New York to Fiume, then an Italian colony (now Rijeka, Croatia). Captain Rostron immediately set course for the Titanic and headed at full speed. At this point, the ship was 58 miles (93.3 kilometers) away from the Titanic's estimated position, as determined by the last distress signal received. Although the Carpathia's normal speed was 14 knots, it was able to achieve 17 knots, matching its maximum speed when newly built. At approximately 4:10 a.m. on April 15, 1912, the Carpathia navigated the treacherous icebergs and arrived at the wreck site, successfully rescuing 706 people.
Captain Rostron was given a Tiffany pocket watch as a token of appreciation. This golden watch features an elegant design with Breguet hands and a small seconds at 6 o'clock. However, its true value lies in the inspiring words engraved on the inner case.
The inscription reads, "To Captain Rostron, with heartfelt gratitude and admiration from three survivors of the Titanic, April 15, 1912," followed by the names of Marian Longstreth Thayer, Madeline Talmage Astor, and Eleanor Elkins Widener, wives of businessmen John B. Thayer, John Jacob Astor, and George Danton Widener, who died in the tragedy.
After the exhibition ends, this historic watch will embark on a new journey: it will be auctioned by Henry Aldridge & Sons on November 16, 2024. Auctions of Titanic artifacts attract a lot of attention, and just this April, a Waltham watch owned by John Jacob Astor, the wealthiest passenger on board, was sold for an astonishing 137 million euros (approximately 222.75 million yen, as of October 16, 2024).
The story of the Titanic has had a unique impact on the watch industry. In 2007, the watch brand Romain Jerome released a model called "Titanic DNA." This watch uses steel actually recovered from the Titanic. A part of the tragic ship that sank in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean just four days after setting sail from Southampton, England on April 10, 1912, has been reborn as a wristwatch 100 years later.
The Titanic was once known as an unsinkable ship, the largest and most advanced passenger ship in the world at the time. Approximately 1500 lives were lost when it sank. The massive hull that still lies on the ocean floor at a depth of 3784 meters quietly speaks to the arrogance of mankind and the threat of nature.
This special exhibition was a valuable opportunity to convey to the modern day the tragedy of the maritime accident and the courage and compassion of the people who faced it.
