WONDERFUL WIRELESS.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 January 1922, Page 4

WONDERFUL WIRELESS.

The immense value of wireless installations on ocean-going vessels, and especially those dependent on sails, was strikingly demonstrated in the case of the schooner Helen B. Sterling, which left Newcastle on the 4th inst. for Papeete. On Sunday a wireless urgency call for help was received at the Awanui station, stating that the vessel was sinking fast. Apparently the warship Melbourne picked up the message and kept in communication with the wireless operator on the schooner, with the result that the warship eventually arrived in time to save the passengers and crew. It was a great accomplishment on the part of both the operator on tjie schooner and the officers on the warship, and all concerned are deserving of the highest praise. But for the wireless equipment it is almost certain that all on board tl|e schooner would have perished in the heavy sea that was raging. The incident was one of dramatic intensity, those on the schooner being heartened in their terrible plight by the hope of rescue by the warship. It was a time of great strain, but the ethergrams triumphed and a terrible tragedy was averted. The world owes much to the development of science, and to no branch more than that which has placed wireless communication at the disposal of mankind.