[MAB Note: The New York Times of 24 January contained several pages of articles about the Republic-Florida collision of the day before. The following are the first three of those; they began on the first page and continued inside.]
The New York Times, 24 January 1909
LINER REPUBLIC RAMMED AT SEA; FOUR LIVES LOST?
---
Florida Hit Her in Fog Off Nantucket While Her 461 Passengers Were
Asleep
---
SURVIVORS ALL TAKEN OFF
---
Transferred to the Florida, Then to the Baltic, Which Heads in at 1 A. M.
---
REPUBLIC ADRIFT HELPLESS
---
A Whole Company of Mighty Ships, Called by Wireless, to Her Aid
---
SKIPPER TRIES TO SAVE HER
---
But Is Reported to Have Left Her Early This Morning---The Rescued Will
Be Here To-day
**********
THE BALTIC REPORTS LOSS OF LIFE
---
By Marconi Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times
---
Steamship Baltic, via Siasconsett, Mass., Jan. 24, 1 A. M.---The
steamship Florida collided with the Republic 175 miles east of the
Ambrose Lightship at 5:30 A. M. on Saturday. The Republic's passengers
were transferred to the Florida.
The Republic is rapidly sinking. It is doubtful if she will remain
afloat much longer. The Baltic is now taking all the passengers aboard.
The Lucania, Lorraine, and Furnessia are standing by to render
assistance and convoy the Florida to New York.
It is reported on board that four passengers on the Republic have been
killed.
The weather is threatening, and the Florida is seriously damaged. We
hear that assistance is coming from New York.
MARCONI OPERATOR
**********
Out in the fog-hidden waters of the Atlantic, some 250 miles from this
city, and 26 miles southeast of the Nantucket Lightship which guards the
Nantucket shoals, the White Star liner Republic, outward bound from this
city for Mediterranean parts, and laden with 461 passengers and supplies
for the United States battleship fleet, met in collision early yesterday
morning an incoming steamer, now known to be the Florida of the Lloyd
Italiano Line, bound for this port from Italian waters.
Fifteen hours or so later Capt. William I. Sealby of the Republic still
stuck to his ship with his crew, but every one of the Republic's
passengers had been transferred to the steamer Florida, still afloat,
although her bow was caved in. It was this damage to the Florida which
soon afterward decided Capt. Ransom of the White Star liner Baltic,
which had arrived at the scene in response to wireless appeals from the
Republic, to remove all the passengers from the Florida into his own
boat, including in the number the Florida's contingent as well as the
men and women who had been transferred to her from the Republic.
Transferring the Passengers
A wireless message from Capt. Ransom, received at the office of the
White Star Line here at 11:40 last night, said that only the desperate
condition of the Florida had persuaded him to the move and he added that
he had begun the work of transfer with twenty boats, each capable of
carrying ten persons besides the crew that manned it.
The message stated also that the vessels lay about a mile apart, and it
was estimated for this reason that the Baltic could hardly accomplish
the transfer of all the passengers before morning. The Baltic had on
board 90 first-class passengers, 170 second-class passengers, and 220
steerage passengers. This number is far below her capacity, and Capt.
Ransom wired that he would have no difficulty in caring for the 210
first-class passengers of the Republic as well as the 250 steerage
passengers and the contingent from the Florida, which brought the total
number added to his own list up to 1,242.
In the same message Capt. Ransom stated that the Republic was still
afloat and had drifted sixteen miles nearer to the Nantucket Lightship,
lying then about ten miles southeast of the Nantucket Beacon.
Survivors on Baltic---Republic Abandoned
The transfer of the passengers to the Baltic was accomplished speedily
and without Incident, and shortly before 1 o'clock this morning both
the Baltic and Florida started for this city. If the Baltic proceeds at
her usual speed, not delaying for the Florida, she should reach here
this afternoon.
A wireless message from the Baltic at 2 o'clock this morning, after many
contradictory reports about the Republic had left her condition very
much in doubt, said that she had been abandoned and that Capt. Sealby
and his crew were aboard the Baltic.
At 2:30 o'clock this morning, a dispatch from Nantucket said:
"It is learned definitely that Capt. Sealby and a boat's crew still
remain at the scene of the wreck. No one is on board the Republic, but
the Captain is in a small boat with a few men alongside. It is supposed
that he awaits the final plunge of his vessel beneath the
waves."
This was the news which reached this city in a series of fragmentary
wireless messages yesterday and last night, and seafaring men declared
that had it not been for this same wireless the story of the accident,
when it finally reached this city, might have been far different.
The collision occurred at 5:30 in the morning when many of the
Republic's passengers were still in their berths. Capt. Sealby was on
the bridge. Ahead and upon all sides was an almost impenetrable fog. The
Republic was coasting slowly along. She was a little off the beaten path
for ocean liners, having turned a little north to get a start on the
long sweep into the Mediteranean. [sic]
Suddenly there came a dozen quickly repeated blasts on a fog siren,
apparently close at hand. Almost at the same instant a hazy shape loomed
up in the mist bearing down on the Republic. There was no time to stop
or reverse the engines. The oncoming steamer crashed into the Republic,
lurching her over to one side as the sharp prow of the colliding vessel
gouged through the iron plates into the engine room of the White
Star liner. Then the vessel pulled away, righted herself, and staggered
off into the fog.
In a moment Capt. Sealby had called his crew to quarters and had the
collision bulkheads closed down, shutting off the engine room from the
rest of the ship. All that he could do himself had then been done, and
he turned to the last hope that remained, the wireless instrument. The
operator needed no orders. Already his fingers were pressing the key,
and out from the masthead leaped the ambulance call of the sea, the
signal, "C. Q. D.," which, translated from the code, means, " All ships.
Danger."
Call for Help Heard
Then message after message was flashed away from the stricken vessel,
carrying the word that the Republic had been in collision, that she was
in danger, and that she lay in latitude 40.17, longitude 70. On the
steamer Baltic, on the French liner Lorraine, at the Nantucket wireless
station, at the naval stations at Newport, Woods Hole, and Provincetown
the message was picked up.
Each ship which got the message turned in her tracks and sped toward the
stricken ship. The revenue cutters Acushnot and Gresham started toward
the scene, and the Lucania, incoming, notified from the shore, also
turned off her course to hunt the Republic.
Then messages were exchanged with the shore. Capt. Sealby got into
communication with the White Star offices in this city, notifying his
owners of the accident, but conveying the welcome news that there was no
danger to life, and that his vessel would float for some time at least.
With the sending of these messages all that could be done on board the
ship had been done, and there remained to Capt. Sealby, his passengers,
and his crew, nothing to do but wait until they could be transferred to
the Florida, which was quickly done.
A late wireless report from Capt. Ransom stated that No. 1 hold on the
Florida had been found to be filled with water.
Prior to the discovery of this fact it had been agreed that the Florida,
which had already taken oft the Republic's passengers before the
arrival of the Baltic, should carry them to this port, the Baltic
standing by as a convoy.
**********
STORY OF THE DISASTER
---
Crash Came in Thick Fog When Passengers Were Asleep
---
Full details of what occurred aboard the Republic when out of the fog
off Nantucket the Florida, as it is supposed, smashed into her engine
room amidships early yesterday morning will only be known when her
passengers arrive here, probably to-day. Here is the story of the
collision as it appears from the facts reported in brief wireless
dispatches and from a knowledge of conditions aboard the liner:
The Republic, out-bound, with her 250 cabin and 211 steerage passengers
asleep in their berths, was groping slowly along through the dense fog
about twenty-six miles east of the Nantucket Lightship, in the early
morning. From out of the murk ahead came the little Florida, only half
the size of the big White Star liner.
If she sounded a warning on her whistles it was too late. The officers
on the Republic's bridge saw the other vessel looming in the mist ahead,
bear down upon them, and the next moment they were struck amidships on
the starboard side. There must have been a terrific roll to port, as the
Republic's side plates were torn asunder by the sharp prow of the
colliding steamer. Iron and wood were rent apart, and the steel-clad bow
of the Florida bored its way into the White Star liner's engine room,
immediately to back out again and stagger off out of sight into the fog,
while tons of water plunged through the hole, putting out the fires.
Engine Room Flooded
The engine room force tumbled up the ladders to the decks, soaked,
gasping, and frightened. From the bridge the crew were called to
quarters, and the collision bulkheads closed. With the vessel between
seventy and eighty miles from the nearest land---for the Nantucket
Lightship is fifty miles from shore---with water enough in the hold to
sink the steamer with its cargo of human beings unless the bulkheads
held, the wireless apparatus was then called upon to find the means of
safety.
The operator had stuck to his post---he was sending a message when the
collision occurred---and soon from the masthead of the Republic a
message went out telling all who could understand within 200 miles, as
concentric circles of little waves spread from a spot in the water in
which a stone is dropped, that the Republic needed aid.
Response to Wireless Call
The passengers who hurried on deck when the crash came were told to
prepare to take to the boats if necessary, while being assured of the
Captain's belief that the watertight compartments would hold and prevent
the Republic from sinking. And it was soon seen that the bulkheads were
performing their work while the wireless was sending out the distress
call, which no ship would pass unheeded.
It was not many hours before it was known that the Baltic, 100 miles
from Sandy Hook, had turned in her tracks and was making for the
stricken Republic at full speed; that the Lorraine, 75 miles away from
Ambrose Channel, was also coming full speed ahead through the fog, and
that all there was to do was to wait.
The vessel rolled in the seas, powerless to turn this way or that. The
engineroom bulkheads still held, and there was now little doubt of the
safety of all on board.
A Rescuer Appears
At 10 o'clock the colliding steamer, which proved to be the Lloyd's
Italian liner Florida, with her bows smashed in, reappeared. She
announced herself able and willing to take the Republic's passengers,
and the transfer was begun.
It was 12:30 o'clock when the last of the passengers left the stricken
ship. Still Capt. Sealby and the crew stayed, hoping to save the vessel,
now sinking lower and lower in the water.
Capt. Sealby and the crew stuck to the wrecked vessel through the
afternoon. At 7:30 o'clock the Baltic found the Republic and stood by
her and the Florida, on which were the rescued passengers. The
Republic's crew were transferred, but still Capt. Sealby refused to
leave his vessel.
**********
HOW WIRELESS SAVED A SHIP
---
The Call Which Turned Other Liners to the Rescue of the Republic
---
This is what happened in the Marconi wireless service when the first
news of the accident to the Republic flashed across the ocean at 7
o'clock yesterday morning:
The steamships Baltic and Republic of the White Star line, Pennsylvania
of the Hamburg-American line, incoming from Hamburg; the Furnesia of the
Anchor line, from Glasgow; the French liner Lorraine from Havre, the
Cunarder Lucania from Liverpool, and the Atlantic Transport liner
Minneapolis from London, were all within the wireless zone of the shore
stations along the coast.
The Lorraine end the Lucania were furthest in, and, with the Republic,
were holding communication with the station at Siasconsett; the Baltic,
some ninety miles in toward New York, was just passing into the zone
covered by the station at Sagaponack.
Each ship has an Individual call letter---K. C. for the Republic, B. C.
for the Baltic, L. I. for the Lorraine, and L. A. for the Lucania. The
land stations take messages in order of priority. To avoid a babel of
messages the land station in communication with the vessels calls the
particular vessel It wishes to receive from or send a message to, and
tills call gives that particular vessel the "right of way." The others,
all tuned alike, keep silent and listen to the messages, or when needed,
pass them along to others further out at sea.
The Republic was in commercial communication at the time of the
accident. She had been "talking to the station," and A. H. Ginman, the
operator, was clicking off a message to the vessel. He was well under
way, and everything was in working order, in spite of the fog, when
suddenly the operator on the Republic broke in sharply, and there began
to come into the station the letters "C. Q." This is the signal of the
wireless code meaning that something important has happened and that all
other shore stations and vessels in the wireless zone must instantly
stop sending and give attention.
Distantly the operator on shore stopped his message and waited with some
anxiety for the next flash. On each ship the operators were watching,
for something of moment had plainly happened to cause the operator on
the Republic to violate the etiquette of wireless and break in thus on
the sending man ashore.
" C Q D " Out of the Fog
There were just a few seconds of waiting and then the Republic began to
send in haste, repeating over and over again the letters " C Q D."
The added " D " meant danger, and the three letters together are a cry
for help---a general ambulance call of the deep sea.
" C Q D---C Q D." called the wireless out of the fog, and then came the
Republic's identification letters and next the wireless instrument
ashore and on the other steamers began to deliver this, the first
message telling of the accident:
6:40 A. M.-Rammed by unknown ship 26 miles south of Nantucket. Latitude
40.17, longitude 70.
Immediately the shore operator sent out nother [sic] " C Q D " call, and
then repeated the message, letting all other vessels within the zone,
200 to 300 miles from the station, know what had happened and the
steamship Republic's need for help. The shore instrument is capable of
covering a greater zone than the Republic, and could reach other vessels
which might not have heard the call of distress from the Republic. It
was an indirect appeal to every steamer within reach to make for the
scene of the collision without delay.
First Response from Baltic
At this moment the Baltic was in communication with the Sagaponack
Station on Long Island, some hundred miles west of Siasconsett. It was
from the Baltic that the first answering message came. She sent word
that she had picked up the call, and began to sound off a message
telling both shore and ships that she was turning back on her course,
and would make all speed to find the Republic in the fog.
Then from all the other vessels in range---the Lorraine, the Lucania,
the New York---came wireless notice to the shore that they had heard the
message and were also turning toward Nantucket to help.
Then came other responses. The Revenue Cutter Service has just made
Wood's Hole a cutter station. As soon as Ginman received his warning of
trouble he forwarded it to the cutter Acushnet there. She at once got
out and steamed away in the fog.
The revenue cutter Mohawk was off the coast on a derelict search. She,
too, caught the message and hastened away.
And so it went. From time to time came to the wireless stations ashore
messages from the rescuing ships; from the revenue cutter Acushnet,
which got first to the disabled
liner, and more faintly as the hours went on and the batteries on the
Republic began to fail from the ship herself telling that the passengers
were safe aboard the Florida, herself partly disabled, and that there
was a rescue fleet around doing all that could be done.
Late in the evening, when wireless messages from the Republic seemed to
have failed, the White Star Line received a wireless from Capt. Ransom
of the Baltic telling that the Lucania and the Baltic were within reach
of the Republic and she was directing their movements by her own
wireless, which was found to be of use only within a limited area.
The Value of Wireless Shown
"The accident," said John Bottomly, Vice President and General Manager
of the Marconi system, last night, "has demonstrated the working of the
Marconi system in case of danger. We are much pleased with the way the
affair has been managed and the saving of life. We have sent a letter to
A. H. Ginman, the operator at Siasconsett, thanking him for his
promptness."
Mr. Bottomly said that the Marconi Company had recently given to the
United States Government the call letters of all of the 180 vessels
equipped with its system. Especial attention has been called to the " C
Q D " call, which is only used in extreme cases. Fifty out of the 180
stations are equipped with long distance apparatus, which will reach
2,000 miles from high power stations.
-30-
The New York Times, 24 January 1909
LINER REPUBLIC RAMMED AT SEA; FOUR LIVES LOST?
---
Florida Hit Her in Fog Off Nantucket While Her 461 Passengers Were
Asleep
---
SURVIVORS ALL TAKEN OFF
---
Transferred to the Florida, Then to the Baltic, Which Heads in at 1 A. M.
---
REPUBLIC ADRIFT HELPLESS
---
A Whole Company of Mighty Ships, Called by Wireless, to Her Aid
---
SKIPPER TRIES TO SAVE HER
---
But Is Reported to Have Left Her Early This Morning---The Rescued Will
Be Here To-day
**********
THE BALTIC REPORTS LOSS OF LIFE
---
By Marconi Wireless Telegraph to The New York Times
---
Steamship Baltic, via Siasconsett, Mass., Jan. 24, 1 A. M.---The
steamship Florida collided with the Republic 175 miles east of the
Ambrose Lightship at 5:30 A. M. on Saturday. The Republic's passengers
were transferred to the Florida.
The Republic is rapidly sinking. It is doubtful if she will remain
afloat much longer. The Baltic is now taking all the passengers aboard.
The Lucania, Lorraine, and Furnessia are standing by to render
assistance and convoy the Florida to New York.
It is reported on board that four passengers on the Republic have been
killed.
The weather is threatening, and the Florida is seriously damaged. We
hear that assistance is coming from New York.
MARCONI OPERATOR
**********
Out in the fog-hidden waters of the Atlantic, some 250 miles from this
city, and 26 miles southeast of the Nantucket Lightship which guards the
Nantucket shoals, the White Star liner Republic, outward bound from this
city for Mediterranean parts, and laden with 461 passengers and supplies
for the United States battleship fleet, met in collision early yesterday
morning an incoming steamer, now known to be the Florida of the Lloyd
Italiano Line, bound for this port from Italian waters.
Fifteen hours or so later Capt. William I. Sealby of the Republic still
stuck to his ship with his crew, but every one of the Republic's
passengers had been transferred to the steamer Florida, still afloat,
although her bow was caved in. It was this damage to the Florida which
soon afterward decided Capt. Ransom of the White Star liner Baltic,
which had arrived at the scene in response to wireless appeals from the
Republic, to remove all the passengers from the Florida into his own
boat, including in the number the Florida's contingent as well as the
men and women who had been transferred to her from the Republic.
Transferring the Passengers
A wireless message from Capt. Ransom, received at the office of the
White Star Line here at 11:40 last night, said that only the desperate
condition of the Florida had persuaded him to the move and he added that
he had begun the work of transfer with twenty boats, each capable of
carrying ten persons besides the crew that manned it.
The message stated also that the vessels lay about a mile apart, and it
was estimated for this reason that the Baltic could hardly accomplish
the transfer of all the passengers before morning. The Baltic had on
board 90 first-class passengers, 170 second-class passengers, and 220
steerage passengers. This number is far below her capacity, and Capt.
Ransom wired that he would have no difficulty in caring for the 210
first-class passengers of the Republic as well as the 250 steerage
passengers and the contingent from the Florida, which brought the total
number added to his own list up to 1,242.
In the same message Capt. Ransom stated that the Republic was still
afloat and had drifted sixteen miles nearer to the Nantucket Lightship,
lying then about ten miles southeast of the Nantucket Beacon.
Survivors on Baltic---Republic Abandoned
The transfer of the passengers to the Baltic was accomplished speedily
and without Incident, and shortly before 1 o'clock this morning both
the Baltic and Florida started for this city. If the Baltic proceeds at
her usual speed, not delaying for the Florida, she should reach here
this afternoon.
A wireless message from the Baltic at 2 o'clock this morning, after many
contradictory reports about the Republic had left her condition very
much in doubt, said that she had been abandoned and that Capt. Sealby
and his crew were aboard the Baltic.
At 2:30 o'clock this morning, a dispatch from Nantucket said:
"It is learned definitely that Capt. Sealby and a boat's crew still
remain at the scene of the wreck. No one is on board the Republic, but
the Captain is in a small boat with a few men alongside. It is supposed
that he awaits the final plunge of his vessel beneath the
waves."
This was the news which reached this city in a series of fragmentary
wireless messages yesterday and last night, and seafaring men declared
that had it not been for this same wireless the story of the accident,
when it finally reached this city, might have been far different.
The collision occurred at 5:30 in the morning when many of the
Republic's passengers were still in their berths. Capt. Sealby was on
the bridge. Ahead and upon all sides was an almost impenetrable fog. The
Republic was coasting slowly along. She was a little off the beaten path
for ocean liners, having turned a little north to get a start on the
long sweep into the Mediteranean. [sic]
Suddenly there came a dozen quickly repeated blasts on a fog siren,
apparently close at hand. Almost at the same instant a hazy shape loomed
up in the mist bearing down on the Republic. There was no time to stop
or reverse the engines. The oncoming steamer crashed into the Republic,
lurching her over to one side as the sharp prow of the colliding vessel
gouged through the iron plates into the engine room of the White
Star liner. Then the vessel pulled away, righted herself, and staggered
off into the fog.
In a moment Capt. Sealby had called his crew to quarters and had the
collision bulkheads closed down, shutting off the engine room from the
rest of the ship. All that he could do himself had then been done, and
he turned to the last hope that remained, the wireless instrument. The
operator needed no orders. Already his fingers were pressing the key,
and out from the masthead leaped the ambulance call of the sea, the
signal, "C. Q. D.," which, translated from the code, means, " All ships.
Danger."
Call for Help Heard
Then message after message was flashed away from the stricken vessel,
carrying the word that the Republic had been in collision, that she was
in danger, and that she lay in latitude 40.17, longitude 70. On the
steamer Baltic, on the French liner Lorraine, at the Nantucket wireless
station, at the naval stations at Newport, Woods Hole, and Provincetown
the message was picked up.
Each ship which got the message turned in her tracks and sped toward the
stricken ship. The revenue cutters Acushnot and Gresham started toward
the scene, and the Lucania, incoming, notified from the shore, also
turned off her course to hunt the Republic.
Then messages were exchanged with the shore. Capt. Sealby got into
communication with the White Star offices in this city, notifying his
owners of the accident, but conveying the welcome news that there was no
danger to life, and that his vessel would float for some time at least.
With the sending of these messages all that could be done on board the
ship had been done, and there remained to Capt. Sealby, his passengers,
and his crew, nothing to do but wait until they could be transferred to
the Florida, which was quickly done.
A late wireless report from Capt. Ransom stated that No. 1 hold on the
Florida had been found to be filled with water.
Prior to the discovery of this fact it had been agreed that the Florida,
which had already taken oft the Republic's passengers before the
arrival of the Baltic, should carry them to this port, the Baltic
standing by as a convoy.
**********
STORY OF THE DISASTER
---
Crash Came in Thick Fog When Passengers Were Asleep
---
Full details of what occurred aboard the Republic when out of the fog
off Nantucket the Florida, as it is supposed, smashed into her engine
room amidships early yesterday morning will only be known when her
passengers arrive here, probably to-day. Here is the story of the
collision as it appears from the facts reported in brief wireless
dispatches and from a knowledge of conditions aboard the liner:
The Republic, out-bound, with her 250 cabin and 211 steerage passengers
asleep in their berths, was groping slowly along through the dense fog
about twenty-six miles east of the Nantucket Lightship, in the early
morning. From out of the murk ahead came the little Florida, only half
the size of the big White Star liner.
If she sounded a warning on her whistles it was too late. The officers
on the Republic's bridge saw the other vessel looming in the mist ahead,
bear down upon them, and the next moment they were struck amidships on
the starboard side. There must have been a terrific roll to port, as the
Republic's side plates were torn asunder by the sharp prow of the
colliding steamer. Iron and wood were rent apart, and the steel-clad bow
of the Florida bored its way into the White Star liner's engine room,
immediately to back out again and stagger off out of sight into the fog,
while tons of water plunged through the hole, putting out the fires.
Engine Room Flooded
The engine room force tumbled up the ladders to the decks, soaked,
gasping, and frightened. From the bridge the crew were called to
quarters, and the collision bulkheads closed. With the vessel between
seventy and eighty miles from the nearest land---for the Nantucket
Lightship is fifty miles from shore---with water enough in the hold to
sink the steamer with its cargo of human beings unless the bulkheads
held, the wireless apparatus was then called upon to find the means of
safety.
The operator had stuck to his post---he was sending a message when the
collision occurred---and soon from the masthead of the Republic a
message went out telling all who could understand within 200 miles, as
concentric circles of little waves spread from a spot in the water in
which a stone is dropped, that the Republic needed aid.
Response to Wireless Call
The passengers who hurried on deck when the crash came were told to
prepare to take to the boats if necessary, while being assured of the
Captain's belief that the watertight compartments would hold and prevent
the Republic from sinking. And it was soon seen that the bulkheads were
performing their work while the wireless was sending out the distress
call, which no ship would pass unheeded.
It was not many hours before it was known that the Baltic, 100 miles
from Sandy Hook, had turned in her tracks and was making for the
stricken Republic at full speed; that the Lorraine, 75 miles away from
Ambrose Channel, was also coming full speed ahead through the fog, and
that all there was to do was to wait.
The vessel rolled in the seas, powerless to turn this way or that. The
engineroom bulkheads still held, and there was now little doubt of the
safety of all on board.
A Rescuer Appears
At 10 o'clock the colliding steamer, which proved to be the Lloyd's
Italian liner Florida, with her bows smashed in, reappeared. She
announced herself able and willing to take the Republic's passengers,
and the transfer was begun.
It was 12:30 o'clock when the last of the passengers left the stricken
ship. Still Capt. Sealby and the crew stayed, hoping to save the vessel,
now sinking lower and lower in the water.
Capt. Sealby and the crew stuck to the wrecked vessel through the
afternoon. At 7:30 o'clock the Baltic found the Republic and stood by
her and the Florida, on which were the rescued passengers. The
Republic's crew were transferred, but still Capt. Sealby refused to
leave his vessel.
**********
HOW WIRELESS SAVED A SHIP
---
The Call Which Turned Other Liners to the Rescue of the Republic
---
This is what happened in the Marconi wireless service when the first
news of the accident to the Republic flashed across the ocean at 7
o'clock yesterday morning:
The steamships Baltic and Republic of the White Star line, Pennsylvania
of the Hamburg-American line, incoming from Hamburg; the Furnesia of the
Anchor line, from Glasgow; the French liner Lorraine from Havre, the
Cunarder Lucania from Liverpool, and the Atlantic Transport liner
Minneapolis from London, were all within the wireless zone of the shore
stations along the coast.
The Lorraine end the Lucania were furthest in, and, with the Republic,
were holding communication with the station at Siasconsett; the Baltic,
some ninety miles in toward New York, was just passing into the zone
covered by the station at Sagaponack.
Each ship has an Individual call letter---K. C. for the Republic, B. C.
for the Baltic, L. I. for the Lorraine, and L. A. for the Lucania. The
land stations take messages in order of priority. To avoid a babel of
messages the land station in communication with the vessels calls the
particular vessel It wishes to receive from or send a message to, and
tills call gives that particular vessel the "right of way." The others,
all tuned alike, keep silent and listen to the messages, or when needed,
pass them along to others further out at sea.
The Republic was in commercial communication at the time of the
accident. She had been "talking to the station," and A. H. Ginman, the
operator, was clicking off a message to the vessel. He was well under
way, and everything was in working order, in spite of the fog, when
suddenly the operator on the Republic broke in sharply, and there began
to come into the station the letters "C. Q." This is the signal of the
wireless code meaning that something important has happened and that all
other shore stations and vessels in the wireless zone must instantly
stop sending and give attention.
Distantly the operator on shore stopped his message and waited with some
anxiety for the next flash. On each ship the operators were watching,
for something of moment had plainly happened to cause the operator on
the Republic to violate the etiquette of wireless and break in thus on
the sending man ashore.
" C Q D " Out of the Fog
There were just a few seconds of waiting and then the Republic began to
send in haste, repeating over and over again the letters " C Q D."
The added " D " meant danger, and the three letters together are a cry
for help---a general ambulance call of the deep sea.
" C Q D---C Q D." called the wireless out of the fog, and then came the
Republic's identification letters and next the wireless instrument
ashore and on the other steamers began to deliver this, the first
message telling of the accident:
6:40 A. M.-Rammed by unknown ship 26 miles south of Nantucket. Latitude
40.17, longitude 70.
Immediately the shore operator sent out nother [sic] " C Q D " call, and
then repeated the message, letting all other vessels within the zone,
200 to 300 miles from the station, know what had happened and the
steamship Republic's need for help. The shore instrument is capable of
covering a greater zone than the Republic, and could reach other vessels
which might not have heard the call of distress from the Republic. It
was an indirect appeal to every steamer within reach to make for the
scene of the collision without delay.
First Response from Baltic
At this moment the Baltic was in communication with the Sagaponack
Station on Long Island, some hundred miles west of Siasconsett. It was
from the Baltic that the first answering message came. She sent word
that she had picked up the call, and began to sound off a message
telling both shore and ships that she was turning back on her course,
and would make all speed to find the Republic in the fog.
Then from all the other vessels in range---the Lorraine, the Lucania,
the New York---came wireless notice to the shore that they had heard the
message and were also turning toward Nantucket to help.
Then came other responses. The Revenue Cutter Service has just made
Wood's Hole a cutter station. As soon as Ginman received his warning of
trouble he forwarded it to the cutter Acushnet there. She at once got
out and steamed away in the fog.
The revenue cutter Mohawk was off the coast on a derelict search. She,
too, caught the message and hastened away.
And so it went. From time to time came to the wireless stations ashore
messages from the rescuing ships; from the revenue cutter Acushnet,
which got first to the disabled
liner, and more faintly as the hours went on and the batteries on the
Republic began to fail from the ship herself telling that the passengers
were safe aboard the Florida, herself partly disabled, and that there
was a rescue fleet around doing all that could be done.
Late in the evening, when wireless messages from the Republic seemed to
have failed, the White Star Line received a wireless from Capt. Ransom
of the Baltic telling that the Lucania and the Baltic were within reach
of the Republic and she was directing their movements by her own
wireless, which was found to be of use only within a limited area.
The Value of Wireless Shown
"The accident," said John Bottomly, Vice President and General Manager
of the Marconi system, last night, "has demonstrated the working of the
Marconi system in case of danger. We are much pleased with the way the
affair has been managed and the saving of life. We have sent a letter to
A. H. Ginman, the operator at Siasconsett, thanking him for his
promptness."
Mr. Bottomly said that the Marconi Company had recently given to the
United States Government the call letters of all of the 180 vessels
equipped with its system. Especial attention has been called to the " C
Q D " call, which is only used in extreme cases. Fifty out of the 180
stations are equipped with long distance apparatus, which will reach
2,000 miles from high power stations.
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