Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1912-04-24
Lookouts Thrice Warned Officers
on Bridge in Last 10 Min
uteS Before Vessel
Struck.
FATED SHIPS HOLD AFIRE
Fireman Details How Flames Broke
Out in Coal Bunkers After LeaV-
ing Southampton and Steamship
Was Rushed Westward So
That Blaze Might Be Elk
tinguished in New
York Port.

NEW April AA.-F lISI O1ICGl
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 left
Southampton, passed unheeded three
warnings from the lookouts of the ice
berg ahead, the ship struck and then
the wireless operators Numbered.
Such were the developments in the
investigation Of the appalling disaster
of April Il.
Three Warnings Given.
Three warnings that an iceberg was
ahead were transmitted from the
crows nest of the Titanic to the Off
Ger on the doomed steamships bridge
Is minutes before she struck, accord
ing to Thomas Whitley, first saloon
steward, who now lies in ST. Vincent
hospital with frozen and lacerated
feet.
Whiteley reached the Carpathia
aboard one of the boats that contained,
he said, both the crows nest lookouts.
He heard a conversation between
them, he asserted, in which they dis
cussed the warnings given of the
presence of the iceberg.
mo wonder that Mr.. Murdoch shot
himself" one of them said, according
to Whitley.
Titanic Operator BIunders.
The impotence of Phillips, the wire
less operator on the Titanic, with the
receiving ability of the operator on
the North German Lloyd steamer
Frankfurt, the nearest ship at the
time of the disaster and the first to
answer the stricken liners call for
aid, caused Phillips to tell the Frank
furt operator: "You are a fool; keep
out" and probably prevented the saw
ing of many more lives from the
wrecked liner.
This was admitted by H. S. Bride,
second wireless operator of the tt
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.
J. 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 II men had sue
ceeded in making no Roadway against
it and that the talk among the stokers
was that the blaze would not be ex-
guished until the aid Of fireboats in
New York harbor was received.
Told to Keep Out.
According to Brides story, the
Frankfurt waited 20 minutes before
answering 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 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 it's spark.
Bride also admitted refusing to an
swer a call from the Californian to the
Titanic in the afternoon before the
wreck, but said he later intercepted
message from the Californian to the
Baltic, telling of three huge icebergs.
He said he handed this message to
Captain Smith.
William Marconi, inventor of the
wireless, told the committee it was
the duty Of the wireless operator on
the Frankfurt to tell his captain of
the distress signal so that that ship
might have rushed to the rescue.
Whitley, who was whipped over
board by rope while trying to lower
a lifeboat, did not know either of the
lookout mems names, and believes
they returned to England with the ma
jority of the surviving members of the
crew.
81 heard one Of them say that at
11:15 o'clock, Is minutes before the
Titanic struck, he had reported to
First Officer Murdoch that he fancied
he saw an iceberg" said Whiteley
"Twice after the lookout said he
warned Mr.. Murdoch that a berg was