Sending a telegram

[Mette McCall]

I'm wondering what kind of procedure the passengers had to go through in order to send a Marconigram aboard Titanic. Edwina Trout says this about Jacob Milling:

"During the whole Saturday he was occupied by sending telegrams. He told me that he had to wait until the boat was in communication with Cape Race. During dinnertime on the Sunday he told me: 'Today I managed to send a telegram to my wife'."

Does this mean that Jacob perhaps walked back and forth to the telegraphist office - or would he fill out a form somewhere and hand it to a steward to deliver it?

 

[Bob Godfrey]

This is a cut & paste from one of my postings in another thread:

You took your message to the Purser's enquiry office, where it was written onto a Marconigram form and you paid the fee. From there the form was sent direct to the wireless room through a delivery system which used pneumatic tubes. Incoming messages for passengers followed the opposite route and were delivered from the Purser's office to the passenger's cabin by a bellboy. The charges were quite high, by the way. A 15-word ship-to-ship Marconigram cost about ten shillings - a week's wages for the bellboy who delivered it.

 

[Mette McCall]

Thanks - as always Bob! Where was the purser's inquiry office located?

 

[Mette McCall]

Found part of the answer, would Jacob Milling 2nd class passenger have gone to the 1st or 2nd class purser - probably the latter right?

The R.M.S. Titanic’s Pursers Office was arranged on two decks, “C” deck would consist of the Chief Purser’s own office and a large enquiry office, and also Hugh had his own cabin which was next to C53, on “C” Deck starboard of the first class forward entrance.

On E” Deck it would include the Second Class or Assistant Purser’s Office, which was located on “E” deck opposite the Aft Staircase, which was organized by the 40 year old Assistant Purser Reginald L. Baker, this was next to his own cabin, and the Purser’s clerks office which was about 20 feet to the starboard side of the Aft Staircase, this office was run by the 28 year old Pursers Clerk Ernest W. King, along with 28 year old Mr John Reginald Rice, 26 year old Mr A. Ashcroft and 28 year old Mr Donald S. Campbell.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Yes, you have the right location for 2nd Class. My account above was of the procedure in 1st Class, and it would have been a bit more basic on E Deck. The procedure for the passenger filling in the form and paying was the same, but there were no pageboys so delivery of incoming 'grams would have been by a clerk or steward, probably with rather less sense of urgency. I don't think the pneumatic tube system stretched that far, in which case it's likely that a purser's clerk would from time to time take completed forms up to the main office and bring any incoming messages back. Again slower than the 1st Class service, but in view of the high cost I imagine there would have been much less demand in 2nd Class.

 

[Bob Godfrey]

Only the E deck counter could have been used because 2nd Class passengers had no right of access to 1st Class areas. Or to 3rd Class, for that matter.