Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1912-05-01
Lookouts Thrice Warned Officers
on Bridge in Last IS Min
utes Before Vessel
Struck.
.FATED, SHIPS HOLD A AFR
Fireman Details How Flames Broke
!; Out In Goal Bvnkers After Leav-
Ing southampton and Steam
ship Was Rushed Westward
So That Blaze Might Be
Extinguished In New 81
I 5ef IA W York Port. 5S.s $8z FIJI

New York, April 22.-f1rst Omcer
Murdoch, on the bridge Of the Titanic,
racing to New York for assistance IN
quenching a fire aboard that had been
raging since the day the liner lett
southampton, passed unheeded three
warnings from the lookouts Of the ice
berg ahead, the ship struck and then then
the wireless operators Numbered, ,5
Such were the. developments IN the
investigation Of the appalling disaster
Of April IA Il ts a. Il
81 Three Warnings Given. n
Three warnings that an iceberg was
ahead were transmitted from the
crows nest Of the Titanic to the ofti-
Ger on the doomed steamships bridge
Is minutes before she struck, accord
ing to Thomas Whitley, a first saloon
steward, who now lies in st. Vincents
hospital with frozen and lacerated
feet
Whitley reached the Carpathia
aboard one Of the boats that contain
ed. he said, both the crows nest look
outs. He heard a conversation DO
tween them, he asserted, in which ~ Ct
they discussed the warnings given OF
the presence Of the iceberg. 3t
titanic Operator Blunders.
The impatience OF Phillips. the wire
less operator on. the Titanic. with the
receiving ability fof the operator on
the North German Lloyd steamer
Frankfurt, the nearest ship attthe
time Of the disaster and the first TO-
answer the stricken liners call for
aid; caused Phillips to tell the Frank
fort operator: N on are a fool; keep
out and probably prevented the saw.
ing of many more lives from the
wrecked liner. II ii Egg
This was admitted by II. S. Bride,
second wireless operator Of the IL
tanic, pain-racked and sitting in an in
valid chair, under the fire Of cross-ex-
animation before the senate commit
tee investigating the disaster.
], Dilley, fireman on the Titanic,
was authority for the statement that a
fire had been raging in the coal bunk
ers since the day the Titanic left
Southampton, that 70 men had sue
ceeded in making no Roadway against
1t and that the talk among the stokers
was that the blaze would not be ex-
tinguished until the aid fireboats In
New York harbor was received
Told to Keep Out.
According to Brides story, the
Frankfurt waited 20 minutes before
answ ering the &c. @. d. call Of the
Titanic, and then asked what was the
trouble Meantime the Titanic had
raised the Carpathia. Phillips called
the frankfurt operator a fool and told
him to keep out, but did not tell him
the Titanic was sinking. Bride and
Phillips both judged the Frankfurt
was the nearest ship because OF the
strength OF its spark. .5
Bride also admitted refusing to an
swer call from the Californian to
the Titanic in the afternoon before
the wreck, but said he later intercept
ted message from the Californian
to the Baltic, telling Of three huge
icebergs He said he handed this
message to Captain Smith.
Senator Smith established by
Guglielmo Marconi, inventor Of the
wireless system bearing MS name,
that the Titanic and the Frankfurt
operated virtually the same type OF in
strument.
Both Bride and Thomas Cottan,
wireless operator on the Carpathia,
were mere boys, neither being over
twenty-three years old.
= Neither had any telegraphic expert
ence previous to taking up wireless
telegraphy and both while on the
sand told tales of long hours at low
wages and days and nights spent
without sleep. 5t III
Operators Were inexperienced.
This inexperience and the mental
condition of the young operators were
the two points on which Senator
Smith bore persistently. He had put
Cottan through gruelling examina-
ton, in which the youth testified, that
he had not slept more than eight or
ten hours between Sunday night,
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