Radio Checkmates Death

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 6, 22 August 1930, Page 6

Radio Checkmates Death

Equipment of the Tahiti Averts Disaster

Wao would have imagined when the ill-fated Tahiti sailed from Wellington Harbour only a few days ago that were it not for her radio equipment her passengers and crew were doomed? "Were it not’"-that is an important concession, for radio has proved itself beyond doubt the greatest single factor employed to ensure the safety of the travelling public. Soon after the mishap which rendered the vessel helpless and her passengers and crew in danger, the fact was known throughout a radius of thousands of miles. Within the space of a few hours the Penybryn was speeding to the scene of the threatened disaster. Hour by hour, as the water was steadily rising in the hold, the key of the operator was telling the world. Messages assuring the passengers of their ultimate safety received by the damaged ship must have kept high the spirits of all on board. Through radio, too, the news of the disaster was spread to all those who had receivers, for the broadcasting stations sent out the news as soon as it -was known. Throughout the country there were anxious relatives and friends to whom-radio was a great assurance and comfort. Our an- nouncers kept listeners posted with what was happening on the Tahiti when she was thousands of miles away. The anxious groups round receivers seattered throughout both New Zealand and Australia no doubt welcomed the news on Sunday night that the relief had been secured, and those who were on board were being transferred, and later that they were safe. Radio as a Life-Saver. NAUTICAL history tells of many cases in which ships have suffered mishaps similar to that occurring to the Tahiti. In earlier days, however, vessels drifted in deadly isolation, sometimes for months,

while in some cases vessels have left port and have never been heard of again. Such an instahce occurred in 1919, when the Waratah, voyaging from Adelaide to London, left Durban for Cape: Town; and thereafter vanished completely. A few years before this, the Port Stephen, bound for Newcastle from Dunedin, lost her propeller and drifted to the southward for nearly a month, eventually being abandoned near Auckland Island. Provisions of coal and food had both been exhausted, and her stern gland leaked badly. The Ravenscourt took off the crew, landing them in October, 1916. When the Waikato’s propeller shait -broke off the coast of South Africa in 1899 she drifted for more than three months across the Indian Ocean. The vessel was 180 miles south of Cape Agulhas, near Cape Town, on June 5, 1899, when the shaft snapped. For three months and ten days the vessel drifted -hopslessly. Wind and tide swept_the derelict across 4500 miles of ocean. Four oP five sailing ships were the only signs of mankind that those on board saw, and at last one of them, the Tecoroa, picked them up. ‘The Waikato had drifted in an easterly direction, and when the Tecoroa attempted to tow her northward she found the vessel too heavy. Leaving the Waikato,:the sailing ship went on to Mauritius, and reported the plight of the liner. A man-o’-war was sent in search, and day after day, week after week, she ploughed her way through the sea looking fer the unfortunate craft. But her lookouts scanned the horizon in vain. Fortunately the ss, Aslon picked the

Waikato up and towed her 2500 miles to Fremantle, which was reached on’ October 9, four months and four days after the accident. If there had been no. wireless the Tahiti might have been lost with all hands, ‘have been listed as missing, and eventually become another "mystery of the sea." The tale of the lost Waratah might not have had a tragic ending had she been fitted out with wireless, and, after all, is it not likely that she lost her propeller? International Regulations. "THOUGH Britain, as a seafaring nation, grasped the great maritime importance of wireless immediately upon its invention, no international regulations regarding the equipment of ships with wireless are yet in operation. The first striking proof of the value of Marconi’s invention was in 1909, when the Republic and the Florida collided in a thick fog. Though the Republic was sinking in darkness, and the wireless cabin was splintered, the apparatus was workable. The great tradition by which a ship’s wireless operator remains in his cabin till the end was founded by her operator, Jack Binns, whose calls were heard, and both passengers and_ crew saved. After that came the Titanic disaster, from which nobody would have . been saved but for the wireless. An international conference met in London during the following year to consider various aspects affecting the Safety of Life at Sea. Mere an_ international convention was signed, but before it could be ratified, the Great War was launched upon the world. Immediately the conflict was over the British Government

issued regulations along the lines suggested by the conference. Other nations followed. Britain’s example, though their codes of rules were generally less stringent. Last year another International Conference was held in London, and a second convention signed. As it will not come into force until July, 1931, there is no international set of rules in operation at present, nor will there be for nearly a year.