The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-01-04

car Is running, when a heavy limited ex-
press bears down upon 1t. The only thing
to do. obviously. Is to get out of the way.
There is. besides. danger of actually in
juring the delicate mechanism of the wire
less apparatus with which the steamers are
now equipped by allowing 1t to transmit
the too powerful currents Of the transat-
lantic messages.
Long before success was attained with
the transatlantic messages. and while the
greatest secrecy was being maintained as
to the results of the experiments, the status
Of the work was known to scores OF thu
wireless operators posted on the various
, passenger teamer ~
The wireless station at the Lizard was IN
the habit of sending out as a call the sig
nal &C. B." 1t is safe to say that every
Atlantic liner carrying the wireless system
has at one time or another received this
| signal.
A score Of steamer have, besides. re-
| piled to the great station back of. the
Lizard. giving their names and asking what
| the &C. B." might mean.
They got little satisfaction for their
| trouble.
The station would invariably reply that
they were calling the Carlos Oberta, an
| italian warship. This reply satisfied for
some time.
When. however, It was known that the
warship was out of all possible range the
operators looked about for some other ex-
plantation.
1t was soon found that the mysterious
&c. B." which kept constantly mixing with
their regular messages all over the Atlantic
was nothing less than the official call for
Cape Breton, repeated endlessly from the
western extremity Of England. 3
1t Is amusing to reflect that with all the
progress Of science. human nature remains
about the same, ard that the fb flashed
across hundreds. even thousands, of miles
OF wild waters was Illustrating a very an
Gent human weakness.
Blu the experience was. nevertheless. Of
the utmost Importance, since it established
the fact beyond all question that a ship
may communicate with land from any point
In The broad Atlantic.
The great transatlantic wireless message
was overheard by steamers separated by
hundreds Of miles Of sea and MANY hours
distant from land.
Their inquiries, flashed back a few Sec,
onds later, were heard and understood with
equal clearness at the other end of the y.
wireless line.
To those on board the steamers the sta
tion on shore seemed very uncommunica-
tive.
At the same time. to those in the sta
ton, straining TO catch some whisper Of a
response from America. 5000 miles distant. 4
the interruption Of the steamers seemed an.
extraordinary piece of impertinence. If the
reply OF the wireless station was without
doubt the longest distance fb on record.
the case of the steamer was certainly the
most unprecedented case of eavesdropping. +.
The practical Importance of such COM
with: ships at sea can scarcely
be oyerestimated.
For years great financiers, great states +,
men, every one, in short, who desires 10
Keep within instant touch of the world on
both sides of the Atlantic, have found it a
great loss to be completely isolated for a.
week or more in crossing. 1t is not too
much to say that history. even in the re-
cent century, would have been very diff
ferently written had wireless communities
ton with ships at sea been possible. Great
battles would not have been fought, and .
financial panic would perhaps have been
by this invisible agent.
The wireless communication would, be-
sides. have saved many thousands Of livc3
In the last century by a~verting shipwrecks
on by enabling those in peril at sea to be
ee3cued