|
|
"Wavescan" is a weekly program for long distance radio hobbyists produced by Dr. Adrian M. Peterson, Coordinator of International Relations for Adventist World Radio. AWR carries the program over many of its stations (including shortwave). Adrian Peterson is a highly regarded DXer and radio historian, and often includes features on radio history in his program. We are reproducing those features below, with Dr. Peterson's permission and assistance.
Wavescan N538, June 16, 2019
David Sarnoff and the Titanic Wireless Messages
It is acknowledged that the Russian migrant David Sarnoff has made a significant contribution to the development of radio and television in the United States, and hence throughout the world also, during the first quarter of the 20th century. However, over the years there has been considerable discussion, and at times controversy, as to the actual participation of David Sarnoff in the transmission and reception of wireless signals in association with the tragic sinking of the majestic White Star passenger liner, the RMS Titanic. In our program today we examine some of these matters.
It is established, that the earliest message received in North America from the stricken Titanic-MGY was the first sending of the distress signal CQD, at 9:20 pm (New York time) on Sunday, April 14, 1912. This message was heard by Cape Race-MCE on the southern edge of Newfoundland, and obviously the information was soon afterwards transmitted and retransmitted to other land- based stations along the eastern seaboard of North America.
In addition, the Marconi station MCC at Cape Cod, out from Boston, also heard this original CQD call from the Titanic. Obviously, MCC also would have been transmitting and retransmitting this information around North America.
However, disbelief at the possibility of such a monumental tragedy to the mighty Titanic, and lack of direct confirmation from ships nearby to the Titanic, impeded the acceptance on land of this apparently impossible event. The subsequent flashing hither and yon of wireless messages from ships and land-based stations that carried conflicting details only added to the confusion of information that was flooding the whole widespread area.
However, around daylight on Monday morning (April 15), North America was becoming painfully aware that something terrible had happened to the Titanic, and citizens in the nearby cities were beginning to awaken to the rapidly spreading rumors of just what might have happened. Every morning newspaper throughout the United States (and much of Canada) on that Monday morning carried some form of Titanic information on its front page.
At 6:55 am on Monday morning, April 15, 1912, the first flash to North America confirming that the Titanic wireless station MGY was indeed silent, came from the SS Olympic-MKC. In their message to Sable Island-MSD, they quoted information that they had received from the Cunard liner Carpathia-MPA.
Then, in a subsequent message 55 minutes later, the Olympic-MKC confirmed TO Sable Island-MSD the message that the Titanic was indeed gone. That mighty passenger liner was already broken and lying on the ocean floor, two miles down.
The question remains: What then was the real participation on the part of David Sarnoff? In choosing the best available information, this is what we discover.
David Sarnoff was born on February 27, 1891, to a Jewish family in the small Russian village of Uzlian in what is now the country of Belarus. His father migrated to the United States five years later; and then four years later again, the mother and their three sons joined the father in New York City.
In June 1906, the 15 year old David Sarnoff began work as a messenger boy with a commercial cable company. Three months later he transferred to the Marconi Wireless Company in New York as an office boy.
He began to rise with various promotions, first as a junior wireless telegraph operator, and then as an Assistant Telegraph Operator at SC, the Marconi station at Siasconset on Nantucket Island, and then Senior Operator at this same wireless station. At the age of 19 (in 1910), he was appointed Night Manager at the Marconi Wireless Station SE at Sea Gate on Coney Island in Brooklyn (New York).
Later in that same year (1910), the Marconi company in New York contracted with John Wanamaker for the installation of two promotional wireless stations, one in each of his large company stores, in Philadelphia and in New York. Young David Sarnoff, still not yet out of his teens, was appointed manager for this project.
Perhaps there was some personality friction between Sarnoff and Wanamaker, because soon afterwards Sarnoff left the Wanamaker facilities and took employment as the Marconi operator on two ships in the Arctic, consecutively, the Beothic, with wireless callsign ZL, and the Harvard, with wireless callsign RH. That was during the year 1911.
Then, when young David Sarnoff returned to New York at the beginning of the next year (1912), he took employment with the Marconi Institute as Radio Station Inspector and as Instructor for new wireless operators. At this stage he returned to work at the two Wanamaker stations, New York and Philadelphia, but not as manager at station HI on top of the Wanamaker store in New York, as is often claimed. Newspaper reports state quite clearly that Jack Binns was the newly appointed manager for the Marconi station HI at Wanamaker, New York.
Then came the Titanic tragedy. Two weeks from now we plan to unravel the David Sarnoff story here in Wavescan with our next topic in this series under the title, The Mystery of the Overlooked Marconigrams.