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www.southgatearc.org
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'CQD' Jack Binns and the sinking of the RMS Republic The RMS Republic was rammed on 23 January 1909 and was the first occasion on which the 'CQD' distress call was sent by Wireless. This story appeared in the January 2009 issue of the Radio and Communications magazine Monitoring Monthly and is reproduced here with permission. Three years before Titanic, on January 24, 1909, a palatial and "unsinkable" White Star Line passenger liner sank 50 miles off the coast of Nantucket, North America. The RMS Republic sank in one of the most treacherous parts of the North Atlantic, a heavily trafficked shipping lane, in 270 feet of water. The RMS Republic (Royal Mail Ship - qualified to carry both the British and U.S. mails) and one of the largest and most luxurious passenger liners of the White Star Line departed New York on Friday, January 22, 1909, outbound to Mediterranean ports carrying 210 First Class and 250 Steerage passengers and a crew of 300. The next day at 5.30am she was rammed in a dense fog by the smaller liner, the Italia Lloyd SS Florida amidships. The collision killing 3 of the Florida’s sailors who were asleep in her bows and 2 passengers on the Republic (one more died later). It also flooded the Republic’s engine room and electric generators leaving it without power or light, adrift in the Atlantic. The SS Florida was bringing 830 persons from the World’s worst Earthquake at Messina in Italy which had killed 100,000 to “safety” in America. The Marconi Wireless Room of the Republic was damaged but the Operator, Jack Binns managed to rewire part of it to use the 24Volt Emergency batteries and signalled “CQ” (Attention All Stations) and “D” (Distress). CQD was introduced by Marconi Marine in 1904; SOS although proposed in 1906, was not ratified in America until 1912. Siasconsett, using higher power, was able to relay this message to a number of ships within 250 miles – they responded that they were making steam towards the drifting Republic. The Florida did not have a Wireless transmitter or receiver and had moved away from the crash scene but later came back into view. It was decided that as it not so badly damaged as the Republic all passengers and all but 40 crew would be transferred to the Florida using all boats available. This took some hours and resulted in badly overloading the Florida. In the mean time the French Liner La Lorraine had heard the CQD calls and was acting as another relay station when the weak signals from the Republic could not always be heard by other ships. It searched for over 12 hours in the fog and travelled 200 miles but never made contact with the Republic. Another White Star Liner, the RMS Baltic was inbound for New York and equipped with Wireless and the Chief Operator, Henry J Tattersall was at last in contact with the Republic who was able to give it directions. After zig zagging for 12 hours and hundreds of miles did find the Republic – speed had to be kept low for fear of ramming it as well! The decision was made to transfer all passengers from the Florida (as water was found in its forward compartment) to the Baltic (second transfer for the Republic’s passengers) but by now the fog had lifted a little, the sea had produced an 8 foot swell and it was raining. This transfer was completed with no loss of life and is still the largest sea transfer of 1,240 passengers and 300 crew undertaken to this day. The Baltic continued to shadow and was in Wireless contact with the Republic while the Florida slowly made her way to New York. Tugs attached ropes to the Republic and slowly towed it to towards New York but it was obvious that it was sinking. At 5pm on the 24 th January Jack Binns stopped mid sentence and signalled “Current going, Wireless now closed”. He and most of the crew then took to the boats. Captain Sealby and Second Officer Williams who stayed, were swept into the sea but rescued as the Republic sank, stern first, at 8pm that evening. Jack Binns had demonstrated the “miracle” of commercial Wireless to a number of American Congress Members on previous voyages. At that time few thought of it as a “life saving device” – this all changed when they found themselves saved by the Marconi Wireless and Jack Binns who operated it for 39 hours. Henry J Tattersall was at his Wireless post on the Baltic for 52 hours during which time he and his assistant, Balfour sent 800 paid and received 400 besides sending 100s of emergency messages. Captain Ransom of the Baltic was at his post for 80 hours! This was a practical demonstration of this "new" technology's ability to aid victims of disasters at sea - and this "miracle" captured the world's attention. It was the world's first "breaking-news" "live" mass-media event. It also gave Marconi a wonderful advertisement to the power of Wireless at sea and improved its finances! The Republic was the largest, most technologically advanced vessel to sink at that time; she was succeeded in that ignominious role only by the loss of another virtually “unsinkable” White Star Liner, Titanic, which was to sink just three years later, both being built by Harland and Wolff, Belfast. The Republic's cargos, however, did not fare as well as her passengers. Most of her mail, baggage and other cargos (including at least one shipment of Gold) were lost. After all, there was no need to remove cargo from an "unsinkable" ship. There was also no power to operate her winches, and no time; saving lives always came first. Jack Binns went on to serve on the White Star Adriatic for two years under Captain E J Smith (of Titanic fame). In 1912 he resigned from Marconi with a change of career to a journalist in New York and to meet this commitment travelled from Liverpool on the Minnewaska as a passenger 3 days before the Titanic sailed on its maiden voyage. On the outbreak of WW1 he moved to Canada where he joined the Canadian Flying Corps as a Wireless and Aviation Instructor. After the War he returned to journalism and was a founder member of the New York Newspaper Club and served as Radio Editor of the New York Tribune before leaving journalism in 1924 to form the Hazeltine Corporation. He was Director the next year – Vice President in 1935, President in 1952 and Honorary Chairman in 1957. He died 8th December, 1959 aged 75. To commemorate this event Radio Amateurs around the World are going to transmit using Special Event Call-Signs on Saturday, 24 th and Sunday, 25th January, 2009. In England, Ofcom have issued the following Call-Signs:- The Lizard Marconi Station has the call sign GB100MSC and will represent the Siasconsett coast station. From Jack Binns home town of Scunthorpe the call GB5CQD will be used. Chelmsford will use GB0MWT and represent the Marconi Company who made all the equipment involved with the rescue 100 years before. Other Radio Societies and Clubs are encouraged to take part.
References and Acknowledgements. Virginia , Grand-Daughter of Jack Binns. David H Barlow, Radio Officers Association, Captain Martin Bayerle, WebMaster of www.rms-republic.com who is proposing to mount a salvage operation during 2009 on the RMS Republic. If anyone reading this can contribute to information about the cargo lost on the Republic, Martin would be grateful to hear about it via the above website. John H Bowen. C.Eng. MIET. G8DET. Copyright 2008 Monitoring Monthly magazine subscriptions and back issues can be ordered from http://www.monitoringmonthly.co.uk/ Jack Binns - Wireless Hero http://www.southgatearc.org/news/december2008/ Jack Binns Distress Signalling - CQD http://earlyradiohistory.us/1913dist.htm GB0MWT will be on the air from Friday to Sunday 23-25 January. Further details at http://www.g0mwt.org.uk/
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