Reports From The Carmania and The Niagara

 The steamship "Carmania" of the Cunard Line reached the Port of New York on Monday April 15, 1912 and reported that she had to pick her way through some of the largest and most dangerous ice fields ever encountered by a trans-Atlantic liner.  It took the vessel four hours to pass through one field of ice on Thursday afternoon. 

Captain Dow was continually on the bridge and counted 25 icebergs, the largest he estimated to be 250 feet high.  All of the passengers in the 465 cabins and all of the 993 passengers in steerage crowded the rails to witness the sight. 

The Carmania had been in the field about an hour when the wireless operator picked up a message from the steamer "Niagara" of the French Line, stating that she was having trouble.  

The Carmania came upon the Niagara an hour later to find she had bumped into two small icebergs which punched holes in her hull.  Several of her forward plates had been sprung by the ice, but all were above the water line.  She signaled that she would be able to make it to port under her own steam.

Niagara arrived at the Port of New York with her starboard bow badly crushed. The captain reported that it happened near latitude 41:50. This was four days before the Titanic hit an iceberg in the same region.  

This photograph was taken from the deck of the Niagara at daybreak, a few hours after her collision.

Photo of the icefields, from the deck of the Niagara