The crew of the RMS Carpathia included 84 Croatian seafarers. The vessel was on its route from the Port of New York heading for Rijeka with 700 passengers, when in the night of 15 April 1912, it received SOS signals sent by Titanic.
Distress signals were sent by wireless, rockets, and lamp, but none of the ships that responded were near enough to reach the Titanic before it sank. A radio operator on board the SS Birma, for instance, estimated that it would be 6 am before the liner could arrive at the scene. Around 4 am, 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 conveyed by the Carpathia to New York, Titanic's original destination, while 1,517 people died.
The exhibition was organised by an association of sea captains of the northern Adriatic region.
The Maritime and History Museum of the Croatian Littoral in Rijeka has a a life vest used by a Titanic survivor. The item was brought to Rijeka by sailor Josip Car, who was a member of the Carpathia crew.
The RMS Carpathia was used to transport military equipment in WWI and on 17 July 1918, it was hit by three torpedoes from a German submarine. It sank off the Irish coast.