Radio Averts Disaster

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 7, 29 August 1930, Page 24

Radio Averts Disaster

How Passengers and. Crew of Tahiti were Saved |

GRADUALLY the accounts of the . loss the "Tahiti" are filtering through, and in each episode the part played by wireless looms largely. A sinking ship out in the ocean, a heavy 6well running, the nearest aid hundreds of miles away, and three hundred souls endangered-that was the plight of the "Tahiti," and she would probably have "passed into the haven of lost ships were it not for her radio, When the first calls from the stricken ship were sent out in the early hours of Saturday morning they were answered by reassuring messages from the vessels in the neighbouring waters. Courses were altered, and help fortheoming. Soon the worst was known. Messages telling of the plight of the "Tahiti" were flashed past the speeding rescue ships, picked up by intermediate -stations, and passed on to all parts of the world. The difficulties on the sinking ship were paramount. ‘The engine room at daybreak on Saturday was beyond control, with water threatening to kill the dynamos. The wireless messages indicated that at any moment the ship might have to be abandoned. With the dynamos cut off, the radio operators, whose messages told the "Peny-

bryn" and the "Ventura" that ‘the distance must be made in a few hours if calamity was to be avoided, were workin; under grave difficulties. Their main power supply was cut off, but with the auxiliary they were able to carry on. And yet, faced with this grave position, the cool operator asked early on Sunday morning for the latest Test score! This was the spirit of those whose least danger was that they might any hour have to take to the boats and face the untold perils of exposure. 2YA also was responsible for helping to keep up the spirits of the passengers and crew. A powerful radio receiver, used for the entertainment of passengers, was put to good service. Timed to 2YA Saturday night, the receiver

brought through the dance music, and those on board temporarily forgot their anxiety as they stepped to foxtrot and jazz. MEANWHILE the Union Steam Ship Company in Wellington maintained communication .with 2YA, and so the news went out. Each new development was speedily ’phoned, so that there was no loss of time in apprising

those in anxious waiting. Throughout the week-end, and until it was announced that everyone was safe | on board the ‘Ventura,’ someone ed at the offices of the company to answer the many ‘phone calls. The "Tahiti? was the first topic in the afternoon and evening sessions at all stations.

--_ HH importance of wireless in this ease has been recognised worldwide, A leading article in the "New York Times," headed "Saved by Wireless," says: "The case of the ‘Tahiti’ ig worthy of honourable mention in}the annals of the sea. The officers and men of the ‘Tahiti’ and the ‘Ventura’ behaved handsomely, the ‘Tahiti’s’ by fine seamanship and good discipline, and the ‘Ventura’s’ by the rescue in a heavy sea without loss of life. Captain Meyer won golden opinions from his employers. There are comfort and hope in wireless, since the captain and men fight harder to save a ship and passengers when they know another ship is on the way to the rescue." HIS has been one of the most~might we call it spectacular?rescues that has been known. It re- ’ calls the fate of other vessels that went down ‘without radio. Of the "Tigpmic,"

on which 1,700 people perished when help was within a few minutes, because the radio operator was off duty. Such tragedies of the sea are epics of the past.’ ‘The importance of radio hag been widely’ acknowledged, and every steamer making long trips céryies a complete installation. An emergency such as that in the case of the b a

"Titanic" is guarded against by a complete staff, organised so that the radio can be watched all day. Developments have moved so fast that in the larger steamers at least, the old ideas of wireless cabins have been completely

changed. Morse is gradually being replaced by telephony. Captains can confer with other captains, and the executives of their lines. The operators no longer have to strain their ears to headphones, for loudspeakers have already it made their appearance: