S O S - Titanic Exposed!

S O S

The first wireless operator on the Titanic, Jack Phillips, quickly jotted down the message coming in over his headphones. "Another iceberg warning," he said wearily to his young assistant, Harold Bride. "You'd better take it up to the bridge." Both of them had been in the Titanic's radio room for hours, sending out a large number of personal messages. In 1912, passengers on ocean liners thought it was a real novelty to send postcard-style messages to friends at home from the middle of the Atlantic.

It was a cold but sunny Sunday morning, the fourth day of the Titanic's maiden voyage, as Bride stepped out onto the Boat Deck. The ship was steaming at full speed across a calm sea. Captain Smith was on duty in the bridge, so Bride handed the message to him. "It's from the Caronia, sir. She's reporting icebergs and pack ice ahead." The Captain thanked him, read the message and then posted it on the bulletin board for other officers on watch to read. On his way back to the radio room, Bride thought that the Captain seemed quite unconcerned by the message. But then again, he had been told that it was not unusual to have ice floating around in the sea lanes during an April crossing. Besides, what danger could a few pieces of ice present to an unsinkable ship?

Elsewhere on board, passengers relaxed on deck chairs, reading or taking naps. Some played cards, some wrote letters, while others chatted with friends. Some preferred walking about the decks, getting some fresh air.As it was Sunday, church services had been held in the morning, the first-class service led by Captain Smith.

Around lunch time, two more ice warnings were received from nearby shps. In the chaotic radio room, Harold Bride only had time to take one of them to the bridge. The rest of the day passed quietly. Then in the late afternoon, the temperature began to drop rapidly. Darkness approached as the bungle call announced dinner.

At 7:30 p.m., the radio room received three more warnings of ice about fifty miles ahead. One was from the steamer Californian, reporting three large icebergs. Bride took this up to the bridge and again, it was politely received. Captain Smith was attending the dinner party being held for him when the warning was delivered. He never got to see it. Around 9:00 p.m., the Captain excused himself and went up to the bridge. He and his officers talked about how difficult it was to spot icebergs on a calm, clear, moonless night like this with no wind to kick up white surf around them. Before going to bed, Captain Smith ordered the lookouts to keep a sharp watch for ice.

After trading stories with Milton Long, a passenger on board, Jack Thayer (another passenger) put on his coat and walked around the deck. "It had becomed very much colder, he said later. "It was a brilliant starry night. There was no moon and I have never seen the stars shine brighter...sparkling like diamonds....It was the kind of night that made one feel glad to be alive." At eleven o'clock, he went below to his cabin, put on his pajamas and got ready for bed.

In the radio room, the two operators were expected to keep the radio working twenty-four hours a day. Harold Bride was exhausted. He laid down and took a much-needed nap. Philips was so busy with the passengers ' messages that he actually brushed off the final ice warning of the night. It was from the Californian. Trapped in a field of ice, she had stopped for the night at about nineteen miles north of the Titanic. She was so close that the message literally blasted in Phillips' ears. Annoyed by the loud interruption, he cut off the Californian's radio operator with the words, "Shut up, shut up. I'm busy."

The radio room had received a total of seven ice warnings in one day. It was clear that floating icebergs lay ahead of the Titanic.

High up in the crow's nest on the forward mast, Fred Fleet had passed a quiet watch. It was now 11:40 p.m., and he and his fellow lookout were waiting to be relieved so that they could head below for a hot drink before hopping into their warm bunks. The sea was dead calm. The air was bitterly cold.