Amateur radio heard SOS in Welsh town 2,000 miles away

[Gordon Mooneyhan]

So in your opinion would it have been possible for him to have received the signals from Titanic with the set up he had, being in a low valley and all? As stated before I think it would have but I have limited experience/knowledge on it. I don't doubt his story.

Steven, while I would agree that a valley isn't the best location for a radio transmitter or receiver, the longer wavelengths of 300 and 600 meters would be less affected by terrain than A.M./F.M./shortwave signals.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I read that also in another newspaper article that Jack Binns was manning the Wanamaker station. It was from the Boston American, April 16, 1912. I couldn't find a pic of the article only the text.

I think that by April 1912 Jack Binns would have been a rather famous personality following his work on board the Republic just over 3 years earlier. If he was present with David Sarnoff at the Wanamaker wireless station on that Sunday-Monday night, surely neither the Wanamaker publicists nor Sarnoff himself could have made up the story about receiving the distress signal? Can it be that it actually happened but by embellishing his story later, Sarnoff inadvertently diminished his own credibility in the eyes of later researchers?

What would Artie Moore’s “dynamo” be? Why was there a switch for it in his shed? Is it the Mill powering a generator set / home made - in 1911/1912? I haven’t a clue!

I cannot answer that question directly but can do so in a roundabout way. Growing up in Bangalore, India in the 1960s (a city greatly favored by the Brits during the Raj because of its then moderate climate), the word "dynamo" was regularly used for any device capable of generating electricity independently but not running out like a "battery". In its most basic form, there was the old-fashioned "bottle dynamo" used in bicycles to power the front light (see picture); the rotating 'lid' of the bottle kept turning due to its contact with the wheel but could be levered back when not required. Older cars, like the "Ambassador" (revamped 1958 Morris Oxford) had similar motion powered devices that powered the lights and other on board electrical appliances.

Might Moore's dynamo have been a similar device, using continuous movement from a wind or water mill - or something similar - from the farm to keep his transmitter powered?

 

[Steven Christian]

I think that by April 1912 Jack Binns would have been a rather famous personality following his work on board the Republic just over 3 years earlier. If he was present with David Sarnoff at the Wanamaker wireless station on that Sunday-Monday night, surely nether the Wanamaker publicists nor Sarnoff himself could have made up the story about receiving the distress signal? Can it be that it actually happened but by embellishing his story later, Sarnoff inadvertently diminished his own credibility in the eyes of later researchers?


I cannot answer that question directly but can do so in a roundabout way. Growing up in Bangalore, India in the 1960s (a city greatly favored by the Brits during the Raj because of its then moderate climate), the word "dynamo" was regularly used for any device capable of generating electricity independently but not running out like a "battery". In its most basic form, there was the old-fashioned "bottle dynamo" used in bicycles to power the front light (see picture); the rotating 'lid' of the bottle kept turning due to its contact with the wheel but could be levered back when not required. Older cars, like the "Ambassador" (revamped 1958 Morris Oxford) had similar motion powered devices that powered the lights and other on board electrical appliances.

View attachment 112486

Might Moore's dynamo have been a similar device, using continuous movement from a wind or water mill - or something similar - from the farm to keep his transmitter powered?

Yes. I think what you wrote is most likely the case. There was some truth in the story but it got embellished there bye calling into question the whole thing. It's kind of like being in the military and claiming or wearing medals you did not earn. If you didn't get into legal trouble at the very least your name would still be forever considered mud.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

My conjecture is that the Mill was a sort of battery charging affair plus as a Mill. The problem I have with this is in the internal pic of Artie’s shed with a switch marked “dynamo”.

Julian, I have copied your Pic 3/7 here to illustrate my point. I hope that's OK.

There appears to be an incorporated shelf above the panel for the dynamo and battery switches. That means there was space behind the panel in which cables could have been run. Also, could the device with the wheel on the right side of the picture have been the actual dynamo? I know we cannot see a belt, but that could have been removed for service or replacement.

Reading Moore's Wiki Bio Artie Moore - Wikipedia, he seems to have been a determined and enterprising character, just the sort of a man to refuse loss of part of a leg to let him or his ambitions down.

 

[Steven Christian]

I think that by April 1912 Jack Binns would have been a rather famous personality following his work on board the Republic just over 3 years earlier. If he was present with David Sarnoff at the Wanamaker wireless station on that Sunday-Monday night, surely neither the Wanamaker publicists nor Sarnoff himself could have made up the story about receiving the distress signal? Can it be that it actually happened but by embellishing his story later, Sarnoff inadvertently diminished his own credibility in the eyes of later researchers?


I cannot answer that question directly but can do so in a roundabout way. Growing up in Bangalore, India in the 1960s (a city greatly favored by the Brits during the Raj because of its then moderate climate), the word "dynamo" was regularly used for any device capable of generating electricity independently but not running out like a "battery". In its most basic form, there was the old-fashioned "bottle dynamo" used in bicycles to power the front light (see picture); the rotating 'lid' of the bottle kept turning due to its contact with the wheel but could be levered back when not required. Older cars, like the "Ambassador" (revamped 1958 Morris Oxford) had similar motion powered devices that powered the lights and other on board electrical appliances.

View attachment 112486

Might Moore's dynamo have been a similar device, using continuous movement from a wind or water mill - or something similar - from the farm to keep his transmitter powered?

Most likely he was running his transmitter using batteries. The dynamo would be used to keep them charged. He could switch it in or out when not needed and also switch it over to charge his neighbors batteries. But to be sure I would have to see the system to see how it was set up. From what I understand most home built systems of that time were low powered and ran using batteries. Yes I heard different devices called everything. Generators/Dynamos called alternators and vice versa. A dynamo, generator or alternator all end up sending DC current out to the battery or system so its really not that big of a deal if people sometimes use the technically incorrect term. At least not to me. I had one of those on my bike as kid. They worked ok especially if you kept your speed up. Probably would work even better today with an LED light with an internal voltage regulator.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Who is the person in the picture frame behind the wireless set?

 

[Julian Atkins]

To the right of the pic that Arun has very helpfully posted enlarged is the horizontal steam engine that Artie entered in the 1909 Model Engineering exhibition. I don't think this could be part of an electricity generator, or 'dynamo'. I had a Stuart H10 steam engine which I never ran on steam (it went very well on air)... I never made a stationary boiler for it!

The pic (not in a frame) is possibly Sir Oliver Lodge who inspired Artie to depart from model engineering and experiment in wireless technology.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

I don't think this could be part of an electricity generator, or 'dynamo'. I had a Stuart H10 steam engine which I never ran on steam (it went very well on air)... I never made a stationary boiler for it!

OK, agreed but the more I read about Moore, greater is my admiration for the man. Physical handicap notwithstanding, I think he was the sort of character who would have made that extra effort to get his equipment and himself to the spot where he could get the best results for his hobby.

 

[Julian Atkins]

Hi Arun,

I agree with you. Artie Moore was clearly someone with a lot of motivation and skill. Resourceful and very clever.

 

[Samuel Halpern]

Strange things do happen with radio propagation during the night. Thinking about it some more, if it were a hobby of mine at the time, I guess I too would spend most of my time working with my apparatus during the nighttime hours.
For those interested in propagation, skip distances and early radio receivers, here is a link to App-C from my book, Titanic - An Enigma in Time:

http://www.titanicology.com/Titanica/App-C-Enigmas.pdf

 

[Julian Atkins]

Hi Sam,

Thank you for the link which I will have a look at later in the morning here.

Can you access geographical maps of Gelligroes Mill?

I’m pretty certain that there are a few ‘fibs’ or white lies in the Artie Moore ‘legend’ in respect of the Titanic stuff. I don’t consider them significant, but what I was able to establish the other day is that his own workshop was in a shed round the back of the Mill cottage(s), and not the Mill itself. And that therefore the plaque on the Mill is misplaced.

I am also clearly of the view that Artie that night must have been at Ty Llywed farm with a duplicate set up and a mast on top of the mountain. (Not quite a mountain literally, but nevertheless a very high hill or ‘mynydd’ in Welsh).

More to investigate, and unravel.

 

[Steven Christian]

Strange things do happen with radio propagation during the night. Thinking about it some more, if it were a hobby of mine at the time, I guess I too would spend most of my time working with my apparatus during the nighttime hours.
For those interested in propagation, skip distances and early radio receivers, here is a link to App-C from my book, Titanic - An Enigma in Time:

http://www.titanicology.com/Titanica/App-C-Enigmas.pdf

Thanks for the info in that. Informative. I'm pretty sure Artie Moore's transmitter was low powered. I wonder how good (tunable) his receiver was? Good enough I guess. But after reading Julian's post maybe it wasn't his receiver he was using. I read that spark gap transmitters were forbidden to be used in 1934 by international treaty. I thought it was earlier than that.

 

[Arun Vajpey]

Thanks Julian. May I ask for a couple of clarifications on your viewpoint on this?

I’m pretty certain that there are a few ‘fibs’ or white lies in the Artie Moore ‘legend’ in respect of the Titanic stuff

Perhaps. I think that is the case with almost all Titanic related survivor or other stories after over 100 years of the disaster. But specifically related to Artie Moore, do you think he was responsible for those "fibs and white lies" related to his Titanic connection or could they have come later over the years with the story being handed down and spreading? Considering that Moore was in a relatively remote rural part of the UK at the time and his known personality, IMO the latter was more likely. Also, it was only through passing time that the Titanic tragedy assumed legendary proportions that it has now.

Another comment I wanted to make was that even if there have been some deviations from the truth in Moore's Titanic story, it seems to me relatively minor compared with what Sarnoff tired later to beef up his own 'hero' image.

I am also clearly of the view that Artie that night must have been at Ty Llywed farm with a duplicate set up and a mast on top of the mountain. (Not quite a mountain literally, but nevertheless a very high hill or ‘mynydd’ in Welsh)

I agree and if so, would that not have made it quite likely that Moore's story about picking up the distress signal was true after all? I understand he first reported it at the nearest Police outpost and was met with ridicule.

What about the story of Moore's reported interception of the message by the Italian Government to declare war in Libya the previous year? What do you think of that?

 

[Julian Atkins]

Hi Arun,

In respect of the Italian-Turkish War (which I don't know anything about other than the Wikipedia entry) it appears that war was declared by Italy on 29th September 1911 following an ultimatum of 26/27th September 1911.

I don't have full access to the online British Newspaper Archive, but brief extracts indicate that around 25th and 26th September 1911 articles appeared nationally in the press reporting of 2 young men having made a wireless telegraphic plant at Gelligroes (Gellygroes) and had achieved remarkably successful results. They had heard about the death of the Russian premier, the ramming of the Olympic [20th September 1911], and the declaration by Italy.

In Leighton Smart's booklet on Artie Moore "The Forgotten Spark" is the front page of the Daily Sketch newspaper with the headline "Wireless Telegraphy Triumph of Welsh Villagers. Italy's Declaration of War and World's News Tapped by Home-Made Installation" and some of the pics referenced on here.

 

[Mike Spooner]

Hi Julian,
Nice bit of research on your local wireless operator indeed. A question which I may of missed. How did they generated the electricity?