Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-01-24
&c 0 D" DISTRESS CALL
Republics Wireless Cry for
Help Through Air.
SIASC0MSET HEARS 1T
Operator There Echoes Appeal for
Aid in Stronger Waves.
SHIPS HASTEN TO RESPOND
Progress of Rescue Recorded at
Station on Nantucket Island and
Allays Fears of World.
SHIPS HASTEN TO RESPONI
Special Dispatch TO The Star.

| GU Will wire COILS ana cnOkeO WIN the
bulks Of dusty battery cases in a little
shack down on sand spit that points
out in the Atlantic ocean beyond the viii
lage of Siasconset, on the south shore of
| Nantucket Island. 's
| He fingered a key. Flashes of blue
light that jumped from the hammock of
wires high over his head outside streak
| ed the blackness of the window pane.
| This MANA II. Gilman Is his name
was talking with the ships out some
where beyond where the waves piled up
on the sand spit. That was his busi-
ness.
| Suddenly there came break in the
| measured cadence of his tap-tapping on
the key. Through the thin rubber disc
| Of the telephone receiver harness he had
clamped around his head and over his
cars there sounded an interrupting chat
| ter.
| 1t was this: "Ta-a tat-ta-a tat-tat
tat ta-a tat---ta-a tat tat" That meant
simply these three letters: &c @ D."
In the Continental Morse code used
| by ships and Marconi stations these
| three letters mean what three 9s" mean
to Chief Croker of the city's fire depart
| ment; what the collision signal means
on a battleship. Those three letters are
absolutely imperative.
Echoes Cry for Help.
! When this operator caught the sense Of
| those three letters, instinctively he reach
| ed for his key and sent rushing through
| the dawn for 200 miles on every side of
| him. landward and seward message
| that travelled at the rate of 10000 miles
| a second.
The message read: &c O D Here sc. G.
| According to the code the dots and
dasfes that were being recorded on rub
| her discs somewhere out beyond the surf
| line and back in the navy yard at Charles
| town were interpreted to read:
Distress signal received at Siasconset
wireless station. Go ahead.
| Then I'm minute came another message
| to the operator a Siasconset. 1t was:
I'VE were struck by an unknown boat
| engine room flled-passengers all safe
| can stay af1oat-Lat. 4O-17. long. 20. Re-
public.
Mechanically the operator took down
soon as he had put down the final word
he reached for his key again.
The hard and fast regulations OF the
| Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of
America read that whenever an operator
shall receive the &c Q D. signal of a
| ship in distress he shall Immediately. upon
| ascertaining her locality and extent of
her damage, send out to every ship and
| station that may be In the zone of 200
miles radius about his station word of her
| distress, even though ships may have
caught themselves the original message
| that had passed from the crippled ship
| to the shore.
| So Gilman prefaced his message with
| the c @ D of alarm. then carefully re-
| peated the message that had come to him
| from the Republic. That done, he sat
back and waited.
| All Done in a Moment.
This all occurred in less time than It
| takes to read these paragraphs. From
| out of the dark at 4:1O o'clock in the
morning had come the distress signal of
| the White Star liner, Mediterranean
bound and twenty-six miles south of
Nantucket lightship. Only the time that
was occupied by the swift movements of
! the opera tors finger at Siasconset station
| hindered the electric message on it's flight
| from ship to shore and from shore away
out again to all the spots on the moving
ocean, where rows of lights marked
| ship equipped with wireless.
There was a ship at sea that was filling
| with water. Aboard her an operator
| named Binns had sat and tapped key
at the dictation of the captain. The wire
| less between the two masts had sputtered
| and hummed.
| Over forty miles away, Gilman. OPP
orator at Siasconset on the Sandspit, had
heard. With the greater force of bat
| teries slowed away In his shack he had
hurled the message from the crippled
vessel back and out to be caught by
chance reScuerS.
The operator at Siasconset did not have
| long to wait before messages from shore
ward side and ships began to drum Into
| his ears. First came messages from
| Charleston navy yard Newport. Boston,
| Vineyard Haven and Woods Hole. sta
lions which had caught the alarm sent
out from SiasconSet.
| Woods Hole said that the revenue cutter
| Acushnet had started out on the rescue
From Boston came the report that the
| revenue cutter Gresham had the news and
was leaving for the spot where the Re-
public drifted The Mohawk and Seneca
| told Gilman they had picked up his flash
| off coast and were off for Nantucket
| light
J Another Call From Republic.
| Before the wires over Ginman's head
| had ceased their landward conversation
out of the fog beyond the surf line came
another message from the Republic. This
was from Capt Sealby, In command. and
| was addressed to the White Star offices
| in New York. 1t was simply a dupli-
cate of the message that had first come
to the Siasconset operator after the first
| startling &C. .. d.
This message was put on the land
| wires to New York. and reached the
White Star offices at Broadway long
before they were opened
| Later another message sifted in through
| the fog. This read:
| Baltic 10 miles east of Ambrose chan
| mel, going to assistance OF Republic"
! The message, signed by the name of
Capt. Ransom was put on the wires by
| the Siasconset operator. A messenger
| boy ambled into the White Star Offices
with it five minutes after Vice President
p. A. s. Franklin Of the International
Mercantile Marine Company had received
the telegram from the Republic.
| Binns at His Post.
Soon again the hammock of wires over
the head of the operator on the sand
spit began to catch code out of the air
| The dots and dashes that sang through
| the magnetic detector and into the ear
piece clamped to the side OF Ginman's
head were from the hand Binns on the
| Republic.
Whatever might have been happening
on board the sinking liner, Binns was
glued to his seat in the wireless cabin
| Whether he had to get his power from
the energy generated by the donkey en-
| CINE or by reserve storage batteries on
| the boat, he was sending evenly, calmly
| This message was addressed to the
| White Star Offices and read:
| Able to keep afioat: engine room full. :"
| Somewhere out in the fog was the Lor-
| raine of the French line steaming west
| ward. She had caught the alarm sent
| out by the Republic and again the warm
| ing message from Siasconset
Capt. TOurnier sent a wireless to the