Arthur Rostron

Sir Arthur Henry Rostron, KBE (* May 14, 1869 in Astley Bridge, Lancashire, † November 4, 1940 in Chippenham, Wiltshire ) was a British captain. As captain of the steamer Carpathia he gained great fame by rescuing more than 700 survivors of the Titanic disaster of 15 April 1912.

Family

Rostron was the son of James Rostron (1839-1911) and his wife Nancy Lever (ca. 1843-1888 ). On September 14, 1899 he married Ethel Minnie Stothert in Atherton, who died on 7 July 1943 at the age of 69 years. The marriage produced four children: Harry Maxwell (1900-1979), Robert James (1903-1984), Richard Arnold (1907 - ) and Margaret Ethel ( 1915-2005, later Mrs. John F. Howman ).

Training

After visiting the Astley Bridge High School Rostron hired on the training ship Conway of the British Merchant Navy at the age of 13 years. After two years of training, he went to the Waverley Line of Messrs. Williamson, Milligan and Co. in Liverpool on the clipper Cedric of Saxon. After three years of travel to all parts of the earth Rostron was driving on the Bark Red Gauntlet same company. After two years of experience as a Second Officer, he moved to the Bark Camp Hill, which was used on the route to the west coast of South America.

In 1894 he moved to the steamship Concord, where he was the extra master 's certificate.

In the service of the Cunard Line

In January 1895 Rostron went to the Cunard Line, where he held the position of Fourth Officer on the RMS Umbria. In the following years he served on various steamers of the Cunard Line.

As captain

As first officer he should accompany the beginning of September 1907, the maiden voyage of the Lusitania. Just a day before he received his first command as captain on the Brescia, a freighter on lines in the Mediterranean. In the coming years Rostron commanded freighters like the Verria and Pavia. As a member of the Royal Naval Reserve, it was Rostron allowed, limited to leave the Cunard Line, to serve in the Royal Navy during the Russia -Japan war. The command of his first passenger ship he received in 1911 on the Pannonia, between New York City and the Mediterranean wrong. Following this, he joined on 18 January 1912, the steamer Carpathia, with which he was able to rescue 705 survivors of the Titanic disaster in April 1912, during a trip from New York to Fiume. Because of its seemingly inexhaustible energy during the action, he received the nickname " The electric sparks."

After a year on the Carpathia Rostron was transferred to the Caronia. Between 1913 and the end of 1914 he commanded the Carmania, Campania, Lusitania and Aurania. The First World War broke out when Rostron was captain of the Aulania. The ship was quickly converted into a troopship and sailed under his command with the first Canadian troops to Plymouth. The ship then ran to India.

Between September 1915 and April 1916, he commanded the Mauretania. This passenger steamer was then used as a hospital ship. He then moved to the Ivernia, which was used in the Mediterranean. Towards the end of 1916 left Rostron in Marseille the Ivernia and took over the Mauretania again. He then went on Andania, Saxonia and the Carmania, before he again took over the Mauretania. The ship was in 1919 dismissed from the military service and returned to the rightful place in the North Atlantic service. Rostron remained until July 1928 on the Mauretania, with the he set several speed records.

Arthur Rostron dissolved in 1928 from James Charles as Captain of Berengaria. In addition, Rostron was appointed Commodore of the Cunard fleet. In May 1931 Rostron put the last time with the Berengaria in Southampton, for he was retired. In retirement he wrote his biography "Home From The Sea ".

Captain Rostrons died at the age of 71 years in the Cottage Hospital of Chippenham from pneumonia. His grave in the old cemetery ( Old Burial Ground ) of West End, Hampshire County, a suburb of Southampton, has been preserved.

Sources and Literature

• Lord, Walter: Titanic - How it really was, Paperback from the Heyne No.: 10658, 1998
• Lynch, Don: Titanic: An Illustrated History. Hyperion 1993. ISBN 0-7868-8147- X.