Justin Litke
Member
What time did the Marconi set breakdown and when did Phillips and Bride get it going again?
Marconi breakdown
- Thread starter Justin Litke
- Start date
I think you mean 11:00 PM.
Seumas
Member
Quite right, Jason !I think you mean 11:00 PM.
Justin Litke
Member
Thank you. Is it talked about in any book or anywhere else? It's proving very difficult to find details on this.
Yes it is mentioned in "Titanic: An Illustrated History and "The Maiden Voyage".
It is also mentioned in this link:
"The night before Titanic’s collision, her wireless operators, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, had spent six hours repairing a damaged transformer in their new Marconi wireless set, with the result that her senior operator, Jack Phillips, was unusually tired at the end of his watch the following day, when the collision occurred. These problems are explained by Harold Bride in the following extract of his 27th April, 1912 report to the Marconi traffic manager, Mr W.R. Cross:
‘The night before the disaster Mr. Phillips and myself had had a deal of trouble, owing to the leads from the secondary of the transformer having burnt through inside the casing and make contact with certain iron bolts holding the woodwork and frame together, thereby earthing the power to a great extent. After binding these leads with rubber tape, we once more had the apparatus in perfect working order, but not before we had put in nearly six hours’ work, Mr. Phillips being of the opinion that, in the first place, it was the condensers which had broken, and these we had had out and examined before locating the damage in the transformer.
Titanic radio operator was too busy and tired - true or false? > Tim Maltin
Titanic's radio operator was too busy and tired to ensure that crucial ice warnings were transmitted to Titanic's bridge - true or false?
timmaltin.com
Justin Litke
Member
Where does Sam talk about it? I'd be interested to read about that.
Sam mentions it in his "A Chronology of Events" Timeline:
It is also mentioned in the excellent and outstanding book "Report Into The Loss of The S.S. Titanic - A Centennial Reappraisal", which he co-authored. Sam references Harold Bride's letter, which I quoted above.
Steven Christian
Member
Gordon Mooneyhan
Member
I think you mean 11:00 PM.
Quite right, Jason !
According to Bride's report to the Marconi Company, it took them six hours to diagnose and make the repairs to the Marconi transmitter. Therefore, it was back in service at 0500 (GMT) on April 14th, or else it malfunctioned at 11:00 p.m. (New York Time) on the 13th. 5:00 a.m. New York time would be 10:00 a.m. GMT, meaning the repairs took 11 hours to complete.
Samuel Halpern
Member
Apr 13, 11:00 PM (Titanic time): Titanic’s wireless transmitter starts to give trouble as a short develops in the secondary winding of a transformer. Bride called out of bed to help Phillips troubleshoot and repair the set. [Bride, BI 16790-16791; Letter from Bride to W.R. Cross of Marconi Co. Apr 27, 1912.]
Apr 14, 5:00 AM (Titanic time): Repair of the transformer in Titanic’s wireless transmitter completed by Phillips and Bride. All wireless messages will now be logged in NY mean time (NYT) instead of GMT. [Bride, BI 16790-16791; Letter from Bride to W.R. Cross of Marconi Co. Apr 27, 1912]
Times are approximate based on what Bride wrote to Cross and testified to. In his testimony, Bride got a bit confused about the day this happened:
16787. Now, with regard to the installation, did you have any spare transmitters on board? - [Bride] We had a standard 5 kilowatt set, as supplied by the Marconi Company, and we had emergency gear also.
16788. Was that out of gear at any time? - We had had some trouble with it the night before.
[that would have been Sat night into Sun]
16789. For how long was it out of gear? - For five and a half to six hours.
16790. That would have been on the Saturday? - Yes.
16791. Late on Saturday? - From 11 o’clock Friday night till half-past four or five Saturday morning.
[This appears to be a little confusion on Bride’s part. He had to mean from 11 p.m. Sat night to 4:30-5 a.m. Sun morning]
Apr 14, 5:00 AM (Titanic time): Repair of the transformer in Titanic’s wireless transmitter completed by Phillips and Bride. All wireless messages will now be logged in NY mean time (NYT) instead of GMT. [Bride, BI 16790-16791; Letter from Bride to W.R. Cross of Marconi Co. Apr 27, 1912]
Times are approximate based on what Bride wrote to Cross and testified to. In his testimony, Bride got a bit confused about the day this happened:
16787. Now, with regard to the installation, did you have any spare transmitters on board? - [Bride] We had a standard 5 kilowatt set, as supplied by the Marconi Company, and we had emergency gear also.
16788. Was that out of gear at any time? - We had had some trouble with it the night before.
[that would have been Sat night into Sun]
16789. For how long was it out of gear? - For five and a half to six hours.
16790. That would have been on the Saturday? - Yes.
16791. Late on Saturday? - From 11 o’clock Friday night till half-past four or five Saturday morning.
[This appears to be a little confusion on Bride’s part. He had to mean from 11 p.m. Sat night to 4:30-5 a.m. Sun morning]
William Oakes
Member
So Phillips decides not to risk losing his job and chooses not to repair the marconi wireless.
Titanic strikes the iceberg at 11:40 the next night.
No CQD or SOS messages can be sent.
No ships know that Titanic is sinking.
No ships come to her rescue.
Those who made it into lifeboats are now drifting for days, not hours, in freezing temperatures with no provisions.
How many will die?
How long before a steamer comes upon the floating wreckage?
If some in the boats survive, they will be the only ones who know how Titanic sank.
How do You see this scenario playing out?
If this has been discussed before, please accept my apologies.
Titanic strikes the iceberg at 11:40 the next night.
No CQD or SOS messages can be sent.
No ships know that Titanic is sinking.
No ships come to her rescue.
Those who made it into lifeboats are now drifting for days, not hours, in freezing temperatures with no provisions.
How many will die?
How long before a steamer comes upon the floating wreckage?
If some in the boats survive, they will be the only ones who know how Titanic sank.
How do You see this scenario playing out?
If this has been discussed before, please accept my apologies.
Steven Christian
Member
No telling how it would have played out. But if one were to game all the possible scenarios out it might have turned out better. They would have been transmitting on the emergency radio and wouldn't have blasted/jammed out the Californian. Maybe the operator wouldn't have gotten mad and switched off his radio. The Californian would have heard it and gotten to the lifeboats sooner. But that's a big what if. Cheers.
Arun Vajpey
Member
I was under the impression that Cyril Evans switched off his radio because his duty rota was completed at midnight and not because he got upset at Phillips' rebuke. Evans' had no junior radio operator partner and had to sleep sometime.
Steven Christian
Member
I've read it both ways. Maybe "mad" is not the right word. UN-appreciated might be a better description. Evans had already worked 16 hours and was tired. When he got the shut up message from Titanic he replied “All right have it your own way” and then turned off his radio. Doesn't sound like a happy response to me. But I could be interpreting it wrong. But that's the way it seemed to me. Cheers
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