Arizona republican., 1914-06-15
Related Light is Thrown Upon Wireless Mystery of Reported Stranding of Pacific Mail Steamer on May 1
MATTER OF
 DOTS AND DASHES
The Persia s Call is M. B. s. and This Might Easily Be Mistaken for the Fam ous Prayer of the High Seas
ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCH

ASSOCIATED PRESS DISPATCHl
 TOXIC, June 14.-Some light has been thrown upon the wireless mystery of the reported stranding of the Pacific mail steamer Siberia, May 1, off the coast of Formosa, vet not enough to say that the mys- terv has been cleared. While people in two hemispheres were in dread that the vessel had sunk, and d dozen warships were searching vain ly. the Siberia sailed into Manila bay, saying that there must have been some mistake, as she had had no accident whatsoever
 The company officials here believe that the confusion was caused by the signal of the Persia being mistaken for the international distress signal SOS" while the Siberia was giving her position to the Persia, and they explain in detail their reasoning. But the Japanese operator at the Ozesakl land station insists that he really heard the distress signal which CldlHleu
 He said he did not think the signal "MBS" (the name of the Persia) could be mistaken by a trained op- orator for sos"
 No word has come to Japan yet from the captain of the Siberia, giv ing his log or any theory as to the mystery Always admitting the. Si- beria log may afford light, the Pa cific Mail company officials offer this explanation, which was fist sug- gested by the wireless operator of the Persia:
 The sos" distress is: Three dots, three dashes and three lots, thus; s, --- o. $.
 The Persia call (MBS is two dashes one dash with three dots, and three dots. It would be sent this way: - NJ, -. B, S. The static condition being bad it is thought the operator at Ozesaki picked up "S," the last letter of "MBS" Then he caught the two dashes of M and joined them to the dash of the letter "B.' The final three dots of the letter "B' gave him his "S'' and he had sos" Under this theory, the spacing be- tween the dashes must have been irregular or shortened by the dots being heightened.
 Having found this explanation in an effort to get at a solution of the mystery. the steamship officials ad- init that it does not explain the si- lence of the Siberia on May 1, after | tie reported accident, when through out the day the high power appa ratus on the Japanese and Formosa coasts and on the British warships 1 Minotau' and Yarmouth, as well as on the American warships Whining | ton and Galveston. were unable to get any answer from the Siberia | It was this silence that led to the reports that the Siberia had sunk ! The company thinks it may have 1 been due to atmospheric conditions which permitted communications be-
 tween the Siberia and the Persia, 1 but not with other ships.
 ! The stories of the various persons and ships concerned with the Siberia affair form an interesting narrative. l The distress message, supposed to come from the Siberia, was received at 5:10 a. m May 1. The log of the Persia shows that at $50 a. m
 that day the Persia received a mes sage from the Siberia. At S:30 a. m she exchanged positions with the Siberia; at $50 a. m. she receievd two messages from the Siberia, and at 1885 D. m. the Persia sent two The captain of the Persia continues his narrative:
 l At two o'clock in the afternoon the two steamers passed each other at very short distance They were
 then II miles south of Cape Bojea dor, O. about 260 miles south of the position in which the Siberia was reported to be in distress Another
 message from the Siberia was ex- pected by those on the Persia at $
 o'clock that evening (May D, but this was not received.
 At 1:1O o'clock the following morn
 ing (May ? the Persia received z l wireless message from the British
 warship Yarmouth that the Siberis l was 'all right" This message natur- ally puzzled those on board the Per sia, for they could not understand why such a message should have | been considered necessary. Twenty minutes later, at half past one, thu Persia received a wireless from Nag.
 asaki saving that the Siberia was ir distress at a point 22.4O north ant
 l21.lO east, namely, 751 miles no-tf
 of Manila The Persia's officers real.
 ized that there had been some mis
 (Continued on Page Ten.)