Titanic’s final destination was to be Pier 59 in New York City, owned by the White Star Line and located in what is now the city’s Chelsea neighborhood. Instead, Titanic’s survivors arrived in New York aboard Carpathia, a passenger steamship owned by White Star’s biggest rival, the Cunard Line. After a brief stop at Pier 59 to drop off Titanic’s lifeboats, Carpathia traveled just a few blocks south to the Cunard mooring at Pier 54 in Greenwich Village, where an anxious crowd numbering in the thousands awaited news of loved ones. Just three years later, Pier 54 played a pivotal role in another maritime disaster as the departure site of the Cunard ship Lusitania, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the coast of Ireland on May 7, 1915. Lusitania sank in less than 20 minutes, killing nearly 2,000 passengers and crew, and contributed to America’s eventual entry into World War I.
Pier 54 continued operations for much of the 20th century, serving as a dock for luxury liners, World War II transport ships and freight lines. Cunard’s lavish passenger depot, designed by the same firm that built New York’s Grand Central Station, later fell into disrepair and was demolished in the 1990s. However, the original pier and entry archway used by Titanic’s survivors in April 1912 are still standing and are now part of Hudson River Park, a popular recreational area.
Credit : History
Picture Credit : Google
