There was nothing for the passengers to do but wait and hope someone was on their way to help.
Only three people knew the Carpathia was coming: Captain Smith, Jack Phillips, and Harold Bride. Unfortunately, Smith and Phillips went down with the ship. That left Bride with the responsibility of letting Second Officer Lightoller know help was on the way.
In the evening of Sunday April 14, a few days before the Titanic was scheduled to arrive in New York, all was calm.
There was no moon, the waters were still, and the temperature low. Ice warnings had been coming in from other ships since Friday.
The lookouts in the crows nest were aware and alert. However, at around 11:40 p.m., lookouts Fleet and Lee spotted an iceberg in the distance.
When the Titanic reached Cherbourg, France, she had to drop anchor since she was too big for the small port. So how did the passengers board, you ask?
White Star, thinking ahead, had Harland and Wolff build two small steamboats to ferry the passengers to the ship. The Nomadic carried the first and second-class passengers, while the Traffic carried the third-class passengers.
In the 1890s, Cunard and White Star — whose full name was the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company — went head to head with one another for the Blue Riband, which was an award given to the ship that made the fastest trip across the Atlantic. Being the fastest was the same as being the best. And passengers, of course, wanted to sail on the best ship.
