RMS Titanic, Harold Cottam Collection, Carpathia silver meda
R.M.S. TITANIC. THE HAROLD COTTAM COLLECTION:
Harold Cottam was the 20-year old wireless operator aboard the Cunard liner Carpathia on the night of April 14, 1912 and alongside Captain Arthur Rostron was responsible for saving the lives of over 700 of Titanic's passengers and crew. Cottam was about to go to bed when he heard the radio station at Cape Cod trying to establish contact with the Titanic in order to transmit routine radio telegrams. In what he had hoped would be his last business of the day, Cottam radioed the Titanic's operator, reminding him of the waiting messages. The response he received was a terrifying one "COME AT ONCE WE HAVE STRUCK A BERG POSITION 41.46 N 50.15 W."
Cottam raced to the bridge to tell the officer on watch, and then the two ran to the cabin of Captain Arthur Rostron to give him the startling news. Rostron gave immediate orders for the Carpathia to change course toward the Titanic. Only then did he recall the relative inexperience of his wireless operator, asking Cottam if he was sure the sinking boat was the Titanic. "Yes, sir, " said Cottam. The Carpathia was the only ship to respond to the Titanic's distress signals, arriving on the scene at 4:00 a.m. to pluck the 700 survivors from the icy waters of the North Atlantic. Though he had already worked an 18-hour day, Cottam stayed at his radio for the next three days until he collapsed from exhaustion. When he arrived in America, he was whisked directly to Washington to appear at an official inquiry held by the United States Senate, after which he was hailed by the press as a hero. Cottam never cashed in on his fame, refusing even to be interviewed about the disaster for most of his life. Despite his relative obscurity, a true hero in every sense of the word and this archive represents the vital part he played in the lives of those saved from the Titanic.
Harold Cottam's personally issued Silver Carpathia medal by Dieges and Clust of New York, obv. the Carpathia attending to Titanic's lifeboats in an ice field, within raised border depicting the crowned head of Neptune above, dolphins at sides and anchor motif below, rev. inscription in relief, Presented to the Captain and Crew of R.M.S. Carpathia, in Recognition of Gallant and Heroic Services, from the Survivors of the S.S. Titanic, April 15th 1912, with usual integral loop and ring suspension with red ribbon of issue and remarkably the Dieges and Clust box, one of only a handful of these silver medals with original box, but without doubt the most impressive
