Before the Carpathia sailed once again on her sadly interrupted voyage to the Mediterranean, Captain A. H. Rostrom made public the report he has sent to the Cunard Company telling an unvarnished tale of the rescue of the Titanic survivors. The report written on the regular stationery of the Carpathia, reads:
R. M. S. Carpathia,
April 19, 1912.
General Manager Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd., Liverpool.
Sir: I beg to report that at 12.34 A. M. on the 15th inst. I was informed of urgent distress message from Titanic, with her position. I immediately ordered ship turned around and put in course for that position; we being then fifty-eight miles S. 42 E. (T) from her. Had heads of all departments called and issued what I considered the necessary orders to be in preparation for any emergency.
At 2.40 A. M., saw flare half a point on port bow, taking this for granted to be ship. Shortly after we sighted our first iceberg (I had previously had lookouts doubled, knowing that Titanic had struck ice, and so took every care and precaution).
We soon found ourselves in a field of bergs, large and small, and had to alter course several times to clear bergs; weather fine clear, light airs, calm sea, beautifully clear night, though dark.
We stopped at 4 A. M., thus doing distance in three hours and a half, picking up the first boat at 4.10 A. M.; boat in charge of an officer and he reported to me that Titanic had foundered.
At 8.30 A. M. last boat picked up. All survivors aboard and all boats accounted for, viz fifteen lifeboats alongside, one lifeboat abandoned, two Berthon boats alongside (saw one bottom upward among wreckage) and according to second officer not been launched, it having got jammed, making sixteen lifeboats and four Berthon boats accounted for.
By the time we had cleared first boat it was breaking day, and we could distinguish the other boats all within an area of four miles. We also saw that we were surrounded by icebergs, large and small, and three miles to the N. W. of us a huge field of drift ice with large and small bergs in it, the ice field trending from N. W. round by W. and S. to S. E., as far as we could see either way.