TITANIC CALLING
The poignant news of the tragedy as it was first heard was relayed by Marconi wireless operators
“I was in the boat and the boat was upside down and I was under it. And I remember realizing ... that whatever happened I must not breathe, for I was under water” (The New York Times, April 19 1912).
Just minutes after arriving in New York, this was how Harold Bride, junior wireless operator on RMS Titanic, recalled the moment he was washed from the deck of the sinking ship into the upturned lifeboat which was to save his life. Eventually managing to drag himself on top of the lifeboat, Bride and around 30 other men struggled to keep it afloat in the increasingly rough water until they were finally picked up by the RMS Carpathia at dawn. This was not the end of his ordeal. Despite having temporarily lost the use of both legs from exposure, Bride was carried to the Carpathia wireless room to assist its only operator, Harold Cottam. Together, they worked without rest, sending vital communications including lists of survivors and messages to friends and relatives of Titanic’s passengers, until the Carpathia docked in New York on the evening of April 18.
