100 Years Ago Today-April 14, 1912-2012

100 years ago today was Titanic's last glimpse of daylight. It was the 16th birthday of 3rd class passenger Alfred Rush who got trousers for the occasion. Later the next morning, the sailors would try and get Alfred Rush into one of the last lifeboats on the ship. Alfred pulled back and said, "No! I'm staying here with the men!" Alfred stayed with the men and died like a man that night. It was Sunday, so the passengers had church services. 1st class passengers had services in the 1st class Dining Saloon officiated by Captain E.J. Smith. 2nd and 3rd class had their services in their Dining Saloons and officiated by priests and preachers who were passengers and had volunteered. That afternoon was lovely for a stroll and other recreational activities like exercise. At 5:50, Captain Smith heeded the ice warnings and changed the course to a more southerly route. Little did anyone realize that this decision would prove fatal. In the Marconi Room, Jack Phillips having fixed the machine with Harold Bride was back at the key, sending messages and receiving messages, some of them ice warnings from ships ahead. Suddenly, the Californian's ice warning came blasting through Phillips' headset. Phillips replied, "Shut up, shut up, I am working Cape Race." The Californian would play a large and shameful role in the sinking later. Dinner in 1st class was interesting. The Wideners had a party in honor Captain Smith whose voyage was to be his last before retiring. The party held the creme of the crop of American and British society including the Thayers, Astors, Strauses, J. Bruce Ismay, and some other notable people.

At 11:40 P.M., the Frederick Fleet and Reginald Lee high in the crow's nest spotted an enormous iceberg looming in the distance. Fleet saw it first and rang the bell 3 times. He then proceeded to call the Bridge. 6th Officer James Paul Moody answered the phone and said, "What do you see?" Frederick Fleet replied, "Iceberg dead ahead sir!" and Moody said, "Thank you." 1st Officer Murdoch now saw the iceberg and ordered Quartermaster Robert Hichens who was at the wheel to turn the wheel Hard a Starboard. Then he told the bridge to reverse the engines. The Titanic kept going slowly towards the iceberg. Then, she slowly but surely turned. The iceberg was too close and the iceberg scraped the side of the Titanic. She could float with 2-4 of her compartments flooded, but the iceberg opened up 5. The water came rushing into the Boiler Rooms and Mail Room. The mail clerks worked to get the mail to the next decks, trying to beat the rising water. Neither the mail nor the clerks survived the disaster. Captain Smith came onto the Bridge right after the iceberg struck and asked Murdoch, "What have we struck?" Murdoch answered, "An iceberg, sir." In the passenger areas, the men enjoying some last card games or cigars felt or heard what was going on, and came out on deck to see an enormous iceberg just behind them. Those inside that felt it said that it was a bump, a shudder, or a heave of the engines. Captain Smith sent for Thomas Andrews, the ship's chief designer and told the wireless operators to get ready to send the call for assistance. When Andrews got there, the two of them explored the damaged part of the ship. Thomas Andrews told Captain Smith that the ship would sink in an hour or two. Captain Smith then told the wireless operators to send the international call for help which was C.Q.D. Then Captain Smith told the stewards to arouse the passengers, get them to put on the lifebelts, and get them on deck. He then told the officers to ready the lifeboats for lowering. The 1st class passengers began congregating in the Lounge where it was warmer while the band assembled and started playing cheery ragtime music to keep the passengers calm. In the Marconi Room Jack Phillips at 12:07 contacted the Carpathia. The operator on the Carpathia rushed to the Bridge with the news. The officer thought he was joking and proceeded to force him off the bridge. The operator opened the door to the Captain's room and then the officer realized it was serious. The Captain, Rostron, made all possible speed for the Titanic. They would reach the site 4 hours later, too late for over 1,500 people. 5th Officer Harold Lowe had readied some of them and waited for orders to lower. Ismay came out and asked why the boats weren't being loaded and lowered. Lowe, not recognizing him, said that he hadn't been ordered to. Ismay went to the Bridge and asked Smith about it. The order then came to load and lower the lifeboats. The first lifeboat that was lowered had 12 where there was room for 40. Among these first survivors were the Duff Gordons whose behavior was wrongly subjected to criticism later. At 12:55 A.M., 4th Officer Boxhall launched the first white rocket which was supposed to be a call to those that could see them that they needed assistance. Several miles away, the Californian saw a big steamer firing rockets but did nothing. The Wireless Operator was asleep. At the time the first rocket was launched, Margaret Brown who helped put other women into the lifeboats was going to stay and see what was going on when a sailor picked her up and placed her into a lifeboat. Later, Hichens who was at the wheel when the iceberg and was now in charge of the lifeboat used fear like the possibility of the ship sucking them down to motivate the rowers. Later, he wouldn't go back to the people in the water because he feared that those in the water would capsize the boat. Brown tried to get them to go back, but most of those in the boat wouldn't.

What would have happened?

Here is what might have happened if the TITANIC had not sunk:

TITANIC
The TITANIC would have gone into military service during WWI and would have either become a troop ship (like the Olympic) or had her fittings taken out and become a hospital ship (like the Britannic). After the war, she would resume as a passenger ship. She would have been scrapped after the Cunard merged with the White Star Line.

Joseph Bruce Ismay
Ismay would have been chairman until he retired at an old age. He died in 1937.

Thomas Andrews
Andrews would have gone on as chief designer for the White Star Line and would have become chairman of the Harland and Wolff ship-yards after his uncle Lord Pierrie died.

Captain Edward John Smith
Smith would have finished his career and retired after the TITANIC's maiden voyage.

1st officer William Murdoch
Murdoch would have soon been Captain of some other ship and had a nice career such as Capt. Smith.

Jack Phillips
Phillips would have gone into service during WWI on one of the Royal Naval Ships as wireless operator. He would have more than likely spent the rest of his days in Ireland.

The White Star Line
White Star would have not lost regular travelers that usually booked passage on the White Star Line ships. They would have probably gone out of business anyway.

Steerage
The Steerage/3rd class would have left the ship in the New World and many would have prospered.

The Mystery Ship

The R.M.S. Californian was built by the Leyland Line in 1901-1902. It was 447 feet long and 56 feet wide. The captain of the ship was Stanley Lord whom was well respected and honored. The Californian set sail from Scotland and April 5, 1912 and was headed towards New York. On April 14, 1912, the Californian was stuck in the ice field and planned to resume in the morning. As they were just sitting there, the wireless operator on board sent out ice warnings to other ships in the area. One of these ships was the TITANIC. The other operator, Jack Phillips, was under stress and sent a reply saying "Shut up, Shut up, I'm busy!" The TITANIC struck an iceberg late at night while the captain was asleep and the wireless operator was asleep. As the ship sank, Jack Phillips tried to send the S.O.S. but to no avail. Officers reported rockets in the distance but decided they were just for show when they were international distress rockets. Passengers on the TITANIC reported seeing lights in the distance. It turns out that the Californian was some 11 miles away and many more
lives could have been saved if the Californian's crew hadn't been lazy and careless.
Stanley Lord lost his position and was disgraced. The Californian was sunken by a German U-Boat in 1915 in WW1.

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.