The Arrival in New York...


Thursday, April 18, 1912 :

The weather was rainy and cold. Crowds had been forming at Cunard's Pier 54 all afternoon in anticipation of the Carpathia's arrival. Nearly 30,000 people jammed the area. Another 10,000 filled the Battery to watch while the Carpathia sailed into her berth. Nearly the entire New York City police department was on duty that night to hold back the throngs.

8:00 p.m. :

The Carpathia appears out the darkness and rain. She steams past the Cunard pier and approaches the White Star Line's pier instead. The crowd was confused until she began lowering the Titanic's lifeboats, all that remained of her. She then eased into her berth at the Cunard pier. Only occasional sobbing broke the quiet.

9:00 p.m. :

The gangplank was lowered and the disembarkation begins. The pier was lit by huge spotlights, directed onto the crowd so survivors could identify their relatives. The first-class passengers were the first to leave the Carpathia. "The relative quiet disappeared as those meeting the survivors called out names." Madeleine Astor disembarked and was met by her stepson Vincent.

"As more and more passengers disembarked, the excitement on the pier grew into confusion and near pandemonium. Names were shouted, cameras flashed, and the crush of the crowd became almost unbearable. When one man learned that all his family members on the Titanic were lost, he became hysterical, thrashing the air and reeling back and forth."

Alice Cleaver left the Carpathia still clutching baby Trevor Allison. Reporters surrounded her and she fended them off, giving her first name as "Jane" and refusing to provide a surname. No one questioned Alice's story of selfless sacrifice, and her true identity remained unknown. "The families of Hudson and Bess Allison saw nothing heroic in Miss Cleaver's behavior. They believed the nurse had panicked when she rushed on deck with Trevor, leaving Mrs. Allison in an impossible situation. She was not the type of woman to leave the ship without first knowing with absoulute certainty that her baby was safe. They held Alice Cleaver indirectly responsible for the deaths of Bess, Hudson, and their daughter, Loraine."

Survivors who had no one waiting for them were not allowed to leave unattended. Kate Buss still had to journey to California to meet her fiance. She heard a rumor that those who had no one to meet them would be taken to Ellis Island. Kate then simply walked off the ship and into the crowd as if she being met. People on the pier eyed her curiously, as she was wearing only a raincoat over her dressing gown.

"On the pier were many representatives of immigrant aid societies, so those steerage passengers who would otherwise have had no place to go found people eager to take them. To their surprise, most were driven away in automobiles, a new experience for many of them."

As the Carpathia's passengers continued to disembark, Bruce Ismay remained closeted in Dr. McGhee's cabin. His first visitor was Phillip Franklin, the White Star vice-president. Franklin warned his employer that trouble was brewing. "Senator William Alden Smith of Michigan and Senator Francis G. Newlands of Nevada were on the pier with a subpoena requiring Ismay to testify at a formal inquiry into the disaster. Only a few minutes into the conversation, the two senators arrived and served their summons."

"The number of survivors leaving the Carpathia dwindled and the crowd on the pier thinned. Among those remaining, eager looks of anxious anticipation turned to sorrow, hopelessness, and despair. The last reporters who raced from the scene with their copy were followed by sobbing men and women. By midnight the pier was empty and only the Titanics crew and a handful of passengers remained on board the silent steamer. Soon they, too, would be gone."

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