The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1912-05-09
To The DEM0CG
Of W" IP.,
port Wedneadav mnrninr

April 17th. 1927 p. M.-"Chris-
Jensen south Wellfleet. MASS
C3rpathia In communications (Sign-
ed) MarcOni Company"
April 18th, $40 L. M.-"ATarconi
station. Siasconsett.-Do all possible
I'd ascertain IL Aston on Carpathia.
lSiEned) +. NJ. Sammis."
April nth. 6:26 L. M.-NfarcoDi
station, agaponnack.-Tug Saiuta-
ton cau X fitted plain aerial Ieav-
lns New London. (Signed) Marconi
Company"
Another telegram Of the 18th asked
Tor information concerning Isidor
Stfaus, and was signed by Sammis
Ahotner from the Marconi Com
pahy. or the 18Th, said: Make every
effort 10 learn if Charles M. Uavs
president Grand Trunk, is on Carpa-
h1:.. Wire me quick. (Signed Sam
BY Senator Smith:
. HOW do you account for your
inability to get any reply from the
Carpathia of these numerous mes
saScS. sent by the chief officers of
me Marconi Company between Mon
10y ana the day the Carpathia ar
rived IN New York;
~ nave no explanation to give
except believe the operators were
busy an the time transmitting mes
| SdSeS Tor the survivors on the Carna
thia 20 their families. I do not know
II the captain OF the Carpathia had a
reason or intention of not transmit
ung the Information which he had
Il do, said Senator Smith ''T lnov.-
that the captain did not have any
such disposition OF desire. and he spe- :
clhcalIy disclaimed any responsibility |
| therefor
@. If. as a matter Of fact. the oDor-
/ ators on the Carpathia were busy
! transmitting other business so that
I lneN couib not answer messages from
the MANAGER of the company. is there
not some means 20 ascertain that facf
definitely by checking up the amount
of business done2
a. Yes. but that would require time.
because the Carpathia has left with
all messages received and transmitted /.
Senator Smith said that If rnessapee /
were transmitted to the Astors. Gug-
genheims or others. the public would
have had the information.
Mr. Sammis interrupted to saw that
he handled the message regarding MIR.
Hays and that the officials of the
Grand Trunk had two or three mes
sages from the Carpathia saying he
was not aboard, but that thew had
urged him TO get information.
4 Know said Sammis, that forty
OF hIty messages an hour were sent .
and not less than 5000 words of per
sonal kilograms from survivors vvere
handled. and we have copies of them
Ihey were messages from the Car .
pathia. The Carpathia did not wish
10 handle messages coming in. be
cause they thought people on board
any complaint from any survivor on
sages ashore"
.! have spoken to Bride" said Mar
COM, and he tells me that four or
five hundred messages were trans
mitted from the Carpathia and ac-
knowledged by the land stations They
were al messages to relatives and sur
vivors."
Q. How can we ascertain whether
any messages were transmitted bv
Olympic, and from the Olympic to tn.
White Star office in Liverpool
Marconi said it could only o. had
by going through the messa-rs: and
the English law forbids giving them {
up. The operators were very tired
and 1t was possible that some OF the
messages might not have been re-
corded, as is done in the usual course
OF business.
VIII Produce Messages.
Would you not regard it as sin
gular that the sinking of the Titanic I
should not have been received until
they got Ii from the Olympic, well on I
toward midday on Monday? {
If the facts are as reported to me I
the explanation is easy The Car :
pathia reached the position Of the {
wreck early in the morning and pick
ed up the survivors. Her insulation :
is not powerful enough to reach shore
stations from there in such manner g
=
In answer TO further questions on =
this subject Marconi said the Car
pathia's insulation was good only for o.
zOO miles, while the Olympic, with n
much stronger insulation, picked up Z
the news 800 miles away. and trans -
mitted it. If. as Senator Smith said p
the Carpathia transmitted messages
900 miles. that was unusual and could 81
not be relied upon. q
Then followed an interchange OF =
opinion between former Governor Z
John w. Griggs, representing the Mar :
COM company; Marconi. Senator Smith a.,
ana tranklln. OF the White Star Line Ia
regarding the production Of MESSAGES / l.
received from the Carpathia. p
GrgSs pointed out that the law for T
bade revealing the contents of these Z
messages, but they were willing TO 80
as tar as they could i'm this direction "
and at least give the volume of them =
Franklin agreed TO produce any +
messages which We're received or | n
transmitted by lsmay. voluntarily, and Z
II was finally agreed, after a long dis Y
cussion, that everything that could be =
would be done TO produce all mes 5
sages.
Senator Smith called attention to !
the fact that the United States was
not party as yet TO the Berlin con- 7
NentlOn, which imposed restriction on
puonclty OF messages, and Griggs
pointed out the Carpathia was a for ,
eiSn snip IN foreign waters. and con-
saSes by this Government, but he Z
agreed to do what he could to pro- J
duce them.
Marconi said a business engage
ment in England made it imperative ,
that he sail tomorrow, and he re-
ceiNed permission, after Chairman
smith had thanked him for his testi-
mony.
Before Senator Smith proceeded \,
with Sammis he read into the record !
a fr,r,
OF the steamer Frankfort dated
Bremen, April 29th in which they
advised Chairman Smith that the first
advice from the Titanic was received
by the Frankfort at 1910 O'Clock
Sunday evening. New York time, Civ
ing the Titanic's position as S9:47
north, 1921 west.
+. Nj. Sammis, chief engineer OF
the American Marconi Company. then
took the stand and declared that as
such official of the company he has
jurisdiction over the United States and
Its possessions, and upon shiDs of ;