The exhibition "Carpathia - Pride of the City of Rijeka" was opened on Tuesday in the main street Korzo in honour of the ship that was involved in the rescue of the passengers who survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912.

The crew of the RMS Carpathia included 84 Croatian sailors. The ship was on its way from the port of New York to Rijeka with 700 passengers when it received SOS signals from the Titanic on the night of 15 April 1912.

Distress signals were sent via radio, rockets and lamps, but none of the ships that responded were close enough to reach the Titanic before it sank. A radio operator on board the SS Birma, for example, estimated that it would take until 6 a.m. for the ship to arrive at the scene.

At around 4am, the RMS Carpathia arrived at the scene in response to the Titanic’s distress calls. A total of 705 people survived the disaster and were taken by the Carpathia to New York, the Titanic’s original destination, while 1,517 people died.

The exhibition was organised by an association of ship captains from the northern Adriatic region.

The Maritime and Historical Museum of the Croatian Littoral Rijeka owns a lifejacket that was used by a Titanic survivor. The item was brought to Rijeka by the sailor Josip Car, who was a member of the crew of the Carpathia.

The RMS Carpathia was used to transport military equipment during the First World War and was hit by three torpedoes from a German submarine on 17 July 1918. She sank off the Irish coast.