Cottam took the message and coordinates to the bridge, where the officers on watch were initially skeptical about the seriousness of the Titanic's distress call. Agitated, Cottam rushed down the ladder to the Captain's cabin and awakened Captain Arthur Henry Rostron, who immediately sprang into action and gave the order to turn the ship around, and then asked Harold Cottam if he was absolutely certain it was a distress signal from the Titanic. Cottam said that he had indeed received a distress signal from the "Titanic", which required immediate assistance, and Cottam gave the "Titanic" position, saying that he was absolutely certain of the seriousness of the message. Whilst dressing, Rostron set a course for the "Titanic", and sent for the chief engineer and told him to "call another watch of stokers and make all possible speed to the "Titanic", as she was in trouble." Rostron later testified that the distance to the "Titanic" was , and it took the "Carpathia" three and a half hours to arrive to the RMS Titanic's location, by which time she had already sunk.