Marconi International Marine Communication Company
In 1900 the inventor of wireless communication, William Marconi, founded the Marconi International Marine Communication Company, which built coastal radio telegraph stations and supplied ships with equipment and radiotelegraphers. Very soon the new invention proved to be extremely useful, as in January 1903 a Russian icebreaker rescued 50 fishermen in the Baltic Sea who had managed to send out a distress signal before it was too late. However, Marconi’s invention has mainly been associated with the sinking of the Titanic.
On April 14, 1912, the day of the Titanic’s sinking, four telegrams were sent from nearby steamships warning of icebergs in her path. The captain and especially the telegraph operator of the Titanic ignored the telegrams and at 22:13 the Titanic struck an iceberg. At 22:25 the radio telegrapher, who had ignored the warnings, sent out a distress signal: “CQD. Struck iceberg, come to our assistance at once”. Although “SOS” had been established as an international distress signal since 1906, the British Navy still used the older signal “CQD” which stood for “General Call Distress”. The Titanic’s second telegraph operator jokingly suggested that they should also send the new distress signal, ‘SOS’, as it might be their last chance to use it.
The Telegraphist & the rescue
“Ti dobbiamo la vita”
This is the signal the Carpathia telegraph operator heard just before he took off his headset and went to sleep. The captain of the Carpathia immediately decided to rush to the aid of the Titanic. It took the Carpathia three and a half hours to cross the 100 km separating her from the Titanic. She was able to rescue 706 of the 2,223 passengers. On the Carpathia’s arrival in New York, when the rescuers spotted Marconi on the dock, they thanked him, saying “Ti dobbiamo la vita” (thanks to you, we are alive). Marconi’s invention had saved 706 people and would save many more in the decades to come
