The Marconi Room

The Wireless telegraph was invented by Guglielmo Marconi in 1910 but the true inventor of the wireless telegraph was Samuel Morse. Morse didn't only invent the telegraph, but also invented a code called Morse Code. Before the telephone, dots and dashes were how people communicated and were able to send messages faster than by mail. The differences between Morse and Marconi's designs were that Morse's telegraph needed wires to connect and Marconi's sent messages by using antennas. The wireless telegraph sent messages by sending sound waves of dots and dashes through the electric currents in wires which was sent from one antenna to another. The message then goes through the wires up to the headphones. With Marconi's version, you could also adjust the range and volume of the messages. On the night of April 14, 1912, the ship R.M.S. Californian sent an ice warning to the TITANIC but Jack Phillips the chief wireless operator on board the giant ship said "Shut up, Shut up I'm busy!" The reason for his anger was that he and junior wireless operator Harold Bride had been up the whole of the previous night working on a problem which turned out to be only a disengaged wire. The wireless operator rooms or "Wireless Shack" consisted of a wireless operator room, sound room (for controlling the range and volume and adjusting the power, and the sleeping quarters for one or the other while off duty. Jack Phillips was lost that night in the sinking of the TITANIC and Harold Bride barely made it. When the rescue ship Carpathia arrived in New York, Guglielmo Marconi and a reporter came aboard to honor Bride of his heroic service (see Wireless
Shack). In 2001, submersibles went inside the ship and found the table and a machine
still in the shack and they found the power adjusting handles where Harold Bride last
placed them because of the weakening power.

Wireless Shack

This is the only known photograph taken of the wireless telegraph on the TITANIC



Harold Sydney Bride was born on January 11, 1890 to Aurthur Bride and Mary Anne Lowe in Nunhead, London, England. After going to school, he went to college where he learned telegraphy along with Jack Phillips.

After graduating, he was telegrapher on the Haverford,Lusitania, LaFrance, and the Anselm. On the TITANIC, he was reunited with Jack Phillips. They were relating stories about their experiences between college and then.

On April 13, 1912, the telegraph broke down and it took all night to fix the problem. During that time, hundreds of messages from passengers piled up. What was more distressing, was that ships kept on sending ice warnings all the time.

On April 14, 1912, the captain gave the message for C.Q.D. (C.Q.D. is the International Distress call for help). While Phillips was sending, Bride jokingly suggested that he should send an S.O.S. which was the new call for help. Phillips replied and said "yes, and it might be our last chance to use it." They were able to get the Carpathia on the run but the Olympic wanted more details and the Frankfurt was too far away.

Soon, the power became weak and the captain released them but Phillips kept working. A stoker came in and tried to steal Phillip's life jacket when Harold held him while Phillips knocked him out. Bride ran out and helped the men get Collapsible B down when water came. Bride found himself underwater and found an air pocket where he was able to stay for half an hour before coming to the surface and was pulled aboard Collapsible B and had to sit and let his feet dangle into the water. Soon, they were rescued but Bride had to be carried aboard the Carpathia because his feet had gotten severe frostbite. He decided to later relieve Harold Cottam, the operator on the Carpathia and give him a rest.

There were offers to give details to newspapers but Bride just sent the names of the survivors. He was carried off the Carpathia where he was greeted by Guglielmo Marconi, whom was the inventor of the Wireless Telegraph.

He was later married in 1919 to Lucy Johnstone Downie and had 3 children. He later went to Scotland where he became a salesman to escape publicity. He died on April 29, 1956 at the age of 66.

At a memorial to Jack Phillips who died in the wreck, he (Harold Bride)said, "He was a brave man. I learned to love him that night and I suddenly felt a great reverance to see him standing there sticking to his work while everybody else was raging about. I will never live to forget the work of Phillips during the last awful fifteen minutes."



John George (Jack) Phillips was born on April 11, 1887 to George Phillips and Anne Sanders. They lived in Farncombe, Surrey, England in an apartment where George and Anne slept in a small room upstairs, Phillips and his sister slept downstairs, and there was a small kitchen as well.

After school and telegraphy college in 1902, Phillips worked in the Goldaming Post Office. He then worked on the Teutonic, Campania, Corsican, Victorian, Pretorian, Lusitania, Maurentania, and then worked at the Cifden, Ireland, Post Office. He went back to sea and went on the Adriatic in 1911 and the Oceanic in early 1912.

He was the Chief wireless operator on the TITANIC. On the night of the sinking, The R.M.S. Californian sent him an ice warning and the message was so loud, that Jack said "Shut up, Shut up, I'm busy!"

Jack Phillips supposedly worked at the telegraph until water started coming in. He then went to the stern where he jumped and climbed upon Collapsible B. He is believed to have later died of exposure. In any case, his body was never found.