SOS as the Titanic Is Dying
June 27, 2018 3:07 PM Subscribe
Titanic's Distress Calls as Text The increasing desperation of the SOS and CQD messages after Titanic hit the iceberg on April 15, 1912, mixed with a certain banality of "old man" exchanges, is reproduced as text messages with the SOS sounding in the background.
Amazing how much time is spent repeating the same thing while the Titanic operator remains calm yet is clearly begging for help. On Youtube.
Some history on CQD/SOS distress calls
I love him chewing out the ship who popped in near the end with "What's happening?"
YOU FOOL!
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
YOU FOOL!
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:34 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
In this case "old man" probably means the morse abbreviation "OM" (still used by ham radio operators today), meaning "male radio operator" or sometimes "buddy". I'll have to listen when I get home.
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by Dr. Twist at 3:36 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
That was surprisingly wrenching.
posted by congen at 3:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by congen at 3:49 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
If you know the background, this is pathos thick and heavy. The references to Californian especially so: Californian was a small steamship which had stopped due to ice and sent a message to that effect to Titanic earlier that evening, but was rebuked by Titanic‘s harried wireless operator, who was busy sending the passengers’ messages that you see early on.
There was no requirement for 24-hour wireless, so Cyril Evans, Californian‘s wireless operator, hung up his headphones for the night at 11:35, a few minutes before Titanic struck the iceberg and perhaps 25 minutes before her first distress signal.
The watch coming on the bridge of Californian at midnight reported seeing the lights of a large ship to the south, as well as their distress rockets, which the bridge crew thought were fireworks and the like for a party going on on the larger liner. At least one officer thought the ship’s lights were sitting at an odd angle. A couple of hours later, they saw the larger ship disappear, they thought, over the horizon. All this time they were perhaps five to ten miles from the disaster and, if she had heard the distress calls, could have been there in half an hour.
At around 4:00 AM, the watch crew saw more rockets to the south: these would be from Carpathia, which had just sprinted for hours at better than its rated top speed to answer the CQD. It collected the life rafts and the 705 survivors.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
There was no requirement for 24-hour wireless, so Cyril Evans, Californian‘s wireless operator, hung up his headphones for the night at 11:35, a few minutes before Titanic struck the iceberg and perhaps 25 minutes before her first distress signal.
The watch coming on the bridge of Californian at midnight reported seeing the lights of a large ship to the south, as well as their distress rockets, which the bridge crew thought were fireworks and the like for a party going on on the larger liner. At least one officer thought the ship’s lights were sitting at an odd angle. A couple of hours later, they saw the larger ship disappear, they thought, over the horizon. All this time they were perhaps five to ten miles from the disaster and, if she had heard the distress calls, could have been there in half an hour.
At around 4:00 AM, the watch crew saw more rockets to the south: these would be from Carpathia, which had just sprinted for hours at better than its rated top speed to answer the CQD. It collected the life rafts and the 705 survivors.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:52 PM on June 27, 2018 [28 favorites]
"The watch coming on the bridge of Californian at midnight reported seeing the lights of a large ship to the south, as well as their distress rockets, which the bridge crew thought were fireworks and the like for a party going on on the larger liner. At least one officer thought the ship’s lights were sitting at an odd angle. A couple of hours later, they saw the larger ship disappear, they thought, over the horizon. All this time they were perhaps five to ten miles from the disaster and, if she had heard the distress calls, could have been there in half an hour. "
What the of the court case that came later absolving him of this, that the ship was further out than imagined and even if they had left ASAP once learning of the issue, they still would have gotten there too late?
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
What the of the court case that came later absolving him of this, that the ship was further out than imagined and even if they had left ASAP once learning of the issue, they still would have gotten there too late?
posted by GoblinHoney at 3:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The exact distance has been conjecture for a century. Stanley Lord, captain of Californian repeatedly insisted it was more like twenty or thirty miles. But his ship was a fuck of a lot closer than any other vessel.
I should point out that some defenders of Lord (“Lordites” in the Titanic buff world) maintain that merely because crew on the two ships could apparently each see the lights of the other, that does not mean they actually could: there may have been a third ship in between which no one can account for and which has never been identified.
Lordites are not fans of Occam’s Razor.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
I should point out that some defenders of Lord (“Lordites” in the Titanic buff world) maintain that merely because crew on the two ships could apparently each see the lights of the other, that does not mean they actually could: there may have been a third ship in between which no one can account for and which has never been identified.
Lordites are not fans of Occam’s Razor.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [8 favorites]
The BBC did a great job translating the morse code here The program uses computer generated speech, sound effects/degradation to recreate the morse code communications from that night. It gets captivating as the program progresses.
posted by the stupidest genius at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
posted by the stupidest genius at 4:26 PM on June 27, 2018 [10 favorites]
On the whole, I'd give more blame to Phillips for deciding that useless social messages were more important than an iceberg warning in their path of travel. Though deciding that a handful of white rockets were some kind of party display rather than the well known signal rockets is on the Californian. I really don't know what was going through the captain's head there, given he was sensible enough to *not* forge through icebergs at night.
posted by tavella at 4:51 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by tavella at 4:51 PM on June 27, 2018 [4 favorites]
This was a very interesting and chilling post and also indirectly brought to my attention Benjamin Guggenheim, who apparently died the most stylish death of all time. I'll think of him the next time I sip some brandy.
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:58 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 4:58 PM on June 27, 2018 [7 favorites]
It gives me chills just watching the cold words across the screen. Very disturbing to think of the tragedy unfolding behind the beeps. I couldn't watch most of this.
posted by hydra77 at 5:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by hydra77 at 5:05 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
This was tough. In all my readings about the Titanic, I was under that they use CPQ with SOS because SOS wasn't widely in use at this time.
posted by girlmightlive at 5:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by girlmightlive at 5:24 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
So gripping and distressing. My heart was racing while watching this, as if the tragedy was unfolding in real time, at this moment.
posted by but no cigar at 5:39 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by but no cigar at 5:39 PM on June 27, 2018 [2 favorites]
This was amazing. I found the speed absolutely killing.
posted by jeather at 5:56 PM on June 27, 2018
posted by jeather at 5:56 PM on June 27, 2018
The moment the Titanic operator loses patience with the Frankfurt (I'm assuming the Frankfurt kept asking "dumb" questions was because she couldn't receive Titanic's signals clearly) was an incredibly human moment that just breaks my heart. You can feel the desperation in the other messages, but that "YOU FOOL, GET OFF THE AIR" just gives me such a sense of the stress and horror that was going on.
posted by nubs at 5:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by nubs at 5:59 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
As a 14-year-old Titanic obsessive in 1997, I could never have imagined this kind of historical storytelling. It's such a simple idea, but brutally real and informative. So! Slow!
posted by thesmallmachine at 6:15 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by thesmallmachine at 6:15 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
A bitter pill, that.
I first read the story as a kid, in a book published in 1912. Even then, the absurdness of the responses struck me.
Now I see, toward the end, sister ship the Olympic ask if the Titanic is steaming toward them. WTF? How many bottles into his watch was that operator?
It's always flat-out maddening.
posted by Twang at 6:32 PM on June 27, 2018
I first read the story as a kid, in a book published in 1912. Even then, the absurdness of the responses struck me.
Now I see, toward the end, sister ship the Olympic ask if the Titanic is steaming toward them. WTF? How many bottles into his watch was that operator?
It's always flat-out maddening.
posted by Twang at 6:32 PM on June 27, 2018
I think it's an interesting reflection of the state of the technology, which was relatively new at the time, more than anything. Everyone is broadcasting on the same frequency, stepping on each other's broadcasts (hence Olympic stepping in atone point to tell everyone to STFU), range is limited (about 250 nautical miles, though under the right conditions at night, much further is possible). But picture yourself as the wireless operator on the Olympic that night -- you're about 500 miles away, you're probably barely getting the signal from Titanic - its weak, and other wireless traffic is interfering. Olympic had to clarify fairly early on who had even hit an iceberg; some of these men were operating with only parts of the puzzle, and they are trying to get clarity.
Frustrating, yeah. But this was wireless telegraph in relative infancy.
posted by nubs at 8:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
Frustrating, yeah. But this was wireless telegraph in relative infancy.
posted by nubs at 8:07 PM on June 27, 2018 [6 favorites]
these would be from Carpathia, which had just sprinted for hours at better than its rated top speed to answer the CQD.
Someone pointed out there were two ships that ran full speed ahead into the ice that night, and the second one knew exactly what it was risking.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 8:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Someone pointed out there were two ships that ran full speed ahead into the ice that night, and the second one knew exactly what it was risking.
posted by steady-state strawberry at 8:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [11 favorites]
Some further info on the radio technology on the titanic and why some of the radio chatter is the way it is.
posted by Dr. Twist at 8:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Twist at 8:22 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don’t think I can listen to this. The exchanges are presented at the end of the Titanic Exhibition in Belfast, something I tagged along with friends to, barely interested, but became so engaged by that this room left me in tears. The passenger lists available to search and browse strongly suggest that I had a relative aboard, a young man from the countryside traveling with two local girls for a new life in America.
posted by Iteki at 10:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Iteki at 10:23 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm glad I stuck with that. The end was way more poignant than I expected, particularly the other ships communicating with Cape Race and the poor confused operator of the Frankfurt and that flash of anger from Titanic's operator.
posted by TwoStride at 10:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by TwoStride at 10:27 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
The reason the Olympic asked if the Titanic was steaming toward them is because the crews genuinely thought the ships were unsinkable. In documentation at the time it is clear that they had thought the Titanic could just limp to port. Bits of the news even made it to shore. Most newspapers, based on the scraps of information they'd received, assumed the Titanic was making its way to port and ran with that story. The struggling New York Times, with little confirming evidence to speak of, decided to write on their front page that the Titanic had sunk. And that's how it became a highly respected newspaper.
posted by rednikki at 11:01 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by rednikki at 11:01 PM on June 27, 2018 [1 favorite]
That was stressful. The only way I made it through was repeatedly hurting the 15 sec forward button. Because the slowness of the letters appearing was stressing me the fuck out.
posted by greermahoney at 11:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by greermahoney at 11:03 PM on June 27, 2018 [3 favorites]
I had to set it to 2x speed and it was just harrowing.
posted by sldownard at 12:04 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by sldownard at 12:04 AM on June 28, 2018
The moment the Titanic operator loses patience with the Frankfurt (I'm assuming the Frankfurt kept asking "dumb" questions was because she couldn't receive Titanic's signals clearly) was an incredibly human moment that just breaks my heart. You can feel the desperation in the other messages, but that "YOU FOOL, GET OFF THE AIR" just gives me such a sense of the stress and horror that was going on.
And over 100 years later we still have exactly this problem in the air.
The emergency frequency for aviation is 121.5MHz, sometimes known as the "guard" frequency. It's supposed to be used for Mayday calls, so commercial aircraft monitor it at all times along with whatever other frequency they're using. That also gives a backup way for ATC to reach an aircraft that's ended up listening on the wrong frequency.
Every now and again, some hapless pilot will accidentally select the wrong channel when transmitting and send some routine message on 121.5MHz instead of the other frequency they have set on their radio. It's not the end of the world - the frequency's generally quiet, and ideally they would just get no answer and sooner or later realise their mistake.
But because everyone is listening on that frequency, their mistake has just been broadcasted into every airline cockpit in a 200 mile radius. And invariably, some asshat will pipe up in reply, helpfully telling them that "you're on guard". Of course, they send that transmission on... yep, the guard frequency. Irony is dead.
We call these people the "guard police". They are incessant. Frequently they will be several of them talking each other in their rush to be the first to inform the pilot of their mistake.
And there have now been multiple documented instances where genuine emergency calls have been interrupted by these fuckwits moaning "YOU'RE ON GUAAAAAARD".
Most of these people are professional pilots with hundreds of passengers in the back.
I have no words.
posted by automatronic at 2:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
And over 100 years later we still have exactly this problem in the air.
The emergency frequency for aviation is 121.5MHz, sometimes known as the "guard" frequency. It's supposed to be used for Mayday calls, so commercial aircraft monitor it at all times along with whatever other frequency they're using. That also gives a backup way for ATC to reach an aircraft that's ended up listening on the wrong frequency.
Every now and again, some hapless pilot will accidentally select the wrong channel when transmitting and send some routine message on 121.5MHz instead of the other frequency they have set on their radio. It's not the end of the world - the frequency's generally quiet, and ideally they would just get no answer and sooner or later realise their mistake.
But because everyone is listening on that frequency, their mistake has just been broadcasted into every airline cockpit in a 200 mile radius. And invariably, some asshat will pipe up in reply, helpfully telling them that "you're on guard". Of course, they send that transmission on... yep, the guard frequency. Irony is dead.
We call these people the "guard police". They are incessant. Frequently they will be several of them talking each other in their rush to be the first to inform the pilot of their mistake.
And there have now been multiple documented instances where genuine emergency calls have been interrupted by these fuckwits moaning "YOU'RE ON GUAAAAAARD".
Most of these people are professional pilots with hundreds of passengers in the back.
I have no words.
posted by automatronic at 2:33 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
We call these people the "guard police". They are incessant. Frequently they will be several of them talking each other in their rush to be the first to inform the pilot of their mistake.
Well, who hasn't had one of those All Staff "stop using Reply All!!" email exchanges?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
Well, who hasn't had one of those All Staff "stop using Reply All!!" email exchanges?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:51 AM on June 28, 2018 [17 favorites]
That was very affecting. Reminds me of the recording of "Miracle on the Hudson" where Captain Sullenberger display the highest possible level of professionalism under pressure. Listening to that recording also gets my pulse up, even with the benefit of that I know everyone made it out alive.
posted by Harald74 at 4:11 AM on June 28, 2018
posted by Harald74 at 4:11 AM on June 28, 2018
I wandered around a Victorian cemetery last weekend, and one thing that really took me aback was a stone, in the middle of a family plot, for someone who died on the Titanic. It's so depersonalized, usually, but seeing that stone and thinking about the family who were expecting to have their son or father or brother to get off the boat in New York and come back to Boston with stories about his trip across the Atlantic made the fact that 1,500 people died feel very, very real and immediate.
posted by ChuraChura at 5:56 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by ChuraChura at 5:56 AM on June 28, 2018 [4 favorites]
My wife and I each watched this and found it very moving. Thanks for sharing it.
posted by 4ster at 6:03 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by 4ster at 6:03 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
"Why do we refer to Titanic as a she?"
"Well, kids, she tweeted that she was sinking, then a bunch of people talked over each other in her replies for two hours, and as she went under someone suggested that she try her emergency set"
posted by condour75 at 6:56 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
"Well, kids, she tweeted that she was sinking, then a bunch of people talked over each other in her replies for two hours, and as she went under someone suggested that she try her emergency set"
posted by condour75 at 6:56 AM on June 28, 2018 [13 favorites]
I wandered around a Victorian cemetery last weekend, and one thing that really took me aback was a stone, in the middle of a family plot, for someone who died on the Titanic.
When I lived in Halifax, it was a decade or more after my peak fascination with Titanic, but I was still kind of interested. There are, IIRC, three cemeteries there where bodies of passengers and crew recovered from the wreck area are interred, with the largest number being buried at Fairview Lawn. These are the less affluent (your Astors and such were shipped home to family plots) so they have wound up with one of the scores of identical grave markers: simple unadorned white, with the identifying number given to each body as it was recovered and then the name beneath it, if it was identified.
Some are almost humorous: ever since That Movie came out, the stone marked with the name of crewman J DAWSON seems to have some Leo photos and candles.
Sometimes the name is obviously more freshly carved in, and I always wonder at how the identities were finally confirmed, decades on. Sometimes there is no name, nor ever likely to be one. The most heartbreaking are the ones reading something like:
217
CHILD
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
When I lived in Halifax, it was a decade or more after my peak fascination with Titanic, but I was still kind of interested. There are, IIRC, three cemeteries there where bodies of passengers and crew recovered from the wreck area are interred, with the largest number being buried at Fairview Lawn. These are the less affluent (your Astors and such were shipped home to family plots) so they have wound up with one of the scores of identical grave markers: simple unadorned white, with the identifying number given to each body as it was recovered and then the name beneath it, if it was identified.
Some are almost humorous: ever since That Movie came out, the stone marked with the name of crewman J DAWSON seems to have some Leo photos and candles.
Sometimes the name is obviously more freshly carved in, and I always wonder at how the identities were finally confirmed, decades on. Sometimes there is no name, nor ever likely to be one. The most heartbreaking are the ones reading something like:
217
CHILD
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:58 AM on June 28, 2018 [6 favorites]
Thanks for this very harrowing post.
My great-grandmother was a passenger on the Carpathia and witnessed the rescue of the survivors, something that affected her so much that she refused to talk about it at all for the rest of her very long life.
posted by remembrancer at 9:10 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
My great-grandmother was a passenger on the Carpathia and witnessed the rescue of the survivors, something that affected her so much that she refused to talk about it at all for the rest of her very long life.
posted by remembrancer at 9:10 AM on June 28, 2018 [10 favorites]
It's painfully slow by today's standards of communications as it presents at about the speed the transmissions were made that night.
It seems slow, but I find it amazing that the radio operators were able to send and receive Morse code that fast;I would be completely lost.
Also, as tragic as the Titanic sinking was, I imagine that not that many years before, when wireless telegraphy had not been widely deployed, Titanic would have mysteriously vanished mid-voyage, with debris and bodies appearing shortly afterward and no clear explanation, unless one or more of the lifeboats were fortunate enough to be found before the occupants died of exposure or other causes.
posted by TedW at 9:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
It seems slow, but I find it amazing that the radio operators were able to send and receive Morse code that fast;I would be completely lost.
Also, as tragic as the Titanic sinking was, I imagine that not that many years before, when wireless telegraphy had not been widely deployed, Titanic would have mysteriously vanished mid-voyage, with debris and bodies appearing shortly afterward and no clear explanation, unless one or more of the lifeboats were fortunate enough to be found before the occupants died of exposure or other causes.
posted by TedW at 9:17 AM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
This is really interesting. I haven't experienced the whole thing yet, but I'm looking forward to spending time on it later today in a more focused environment.
But. . . I also find the speed surprising. As people who know morse code go, I'm a rank amateur. I probably got up to ~27 words per minute at my very best as a teenager long ago, and today I'd struggle at carry on a conversation at 12. But, even for me, this is painful. Compared to all the old timer navy guys I met who could chat at 75 wpm with each hand while sipping coffee, it seems really weird that professional radio operators wouldn't be sending at several times this speed.
Were operators just far slower at the time? In an emergency, do you slow down to insure that everyone listening can copy? Or, is the timing artificial here?
posted by eotvos at 9:35 AM on June 28, 2018
But. . . I also find the speed surprising. As people who know morse code go, I'm a rank amateur. I probably got up to ~27 words per minute at my very best as a teenager long ago, and today I'd struggle at carry on a conversation at 12. But, even for me, this is painful. Compared to all the old timer navy guys I met who could chat at 75 wpm with each hand while sipping coffee, it seems really weird that professional radio operators wouldn't be sending at several times this speed.
Were operators just far slower at the time? In an emergency, do you slow down to insure that everyone listening can copy? Or, is the timing artificial here?
posted by eotvos at 9:35 AM on June 28, 2018
Towards the end of this BBC documentary linked by the stupidest genius, another telegraph operator who knew Phillips says that he deliberately slowed his speed down to something like 15 words per minute to make sure his messages were clearly understood. Start at about 36:40, though you can also start at 34:15 or so to hear more of what he has to say.
posted by gudrun at 11:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by gudrun at 11:46 AM on June 28, 2018 [3 favorites]
The BBC link that the stupidest genius gave is excellent, if harrowing. The final transmissions coming across as basically “sshff vshff shff shff vsshh shhhhhhshhhhhhh …” are heartbreaking.
Until the Titanic sunk, Marconi thought it owned the airwaves, and its operators were encouraged to badger competing operators off the air. The spark-gap transmitters of the time merrily blitzed across all the bands with mechanically-generated alternator noise, so sharing the air was barely practical.
posted by scruss at 1:47 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Until the Titanic sunk, Marconi thought it owned the airwaves, and its operators were encouraged to badger competing operators off the air. The spark-gap transmitters of the time merrily blitzed across all the bands with mechanically-generated alternator noise, so sharing the air was barely practical.
posted by scruss at 1:47 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
The beginning and the end are chilling, but so much of the middle (I will admit I only skimmed through it) is
LOOK AT THE HELPERS
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
LOOK AT THE HELPERS
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 2:05 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
At the point where all of the signals are jamming and the Olympic starts sending OLYMPIC TO ALL SHIPS, I thought to myself, oh, finally, they're going to tell everyone to shut the hell up already. And they did. It raised the hairs on my arms to be so much "in the heads" of the poor wireless operators for even just that second.
One of the things I remember from my childhood Titanic obsession was how the Olympic offered to help take on passengers, and was refused -- because she was Titanic's sister ship, the Carpathia's caption worried it would be like sending the traumatized survivors to board a ghost.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 5:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
One of the things I remember from my childhood Titanic obsession was how the Olympic offered to help take on passengers, and was refused -- because she was Titanic's sister ship, the Carpathia's caption worried it would be like sending the traumatized survivors to board a ghost.
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 5:27 PM on June 28, 2018 [2 favorites]
Thanks, floam and gudrun for the info!
My ear is pretty creaky these days, but I spent a few minutes playing around with a handy online code generator. The Titanic operator's passage that begins at 15:00, "IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. WE HAVE COLLISION WITH ICEBERG. SINKING. CAN HEAR NOTHING FOR NOISE OF STEAM." has no abbreviations and is a straight string of ordinary words. It takes 52 seconds in the presentation.
The online generator takes just over 51 seconds at 20 words per minute for the same passage. Repeating "paris paris paris. . . " 20 times - which is, for historic reasons the official international Morse code definition of a word - takes exactly 1:00, which convinces me they've got their timing right.
Looks to me like the rendering is very close to 20 wpm for the Titanic sender. Telling the difference between 15 and 20 during a life threatening crisis seems challenging, so I could easily believe this is a nearly real time display and that the operator was telling the truth about trying to slow down to 15. But, I'd be curious to find out if the events actually line up. Some of the "message repeats" bits may make that challenging.
Some of the other ships, e.g., the Carolina, are sending almost twice as fast, which is interesting. It also sounds to me like the spacing may very a bit between operators, and they've done a nice job with the audio dropouts and distortion. Whoever made this clearly knew what they were doing. Even if it's not actually synced to real time events, they really did a nice job of making it realistic. (I'd naively guess that it's probably a little too Farnsworth-spaced - with faster letters and larger breaks between them - than is realistic for the time period, but I could be wrong. And, doing anything else would be really unpleasant for contemporary listeners.)
My intuition for how slow 20 wpm actually is shockingly bad. I would have guessed something like 10. That's a bit embarrassing. Also, the audio sync delays are more disturbing here than in any other online video experience I've ever had. For some reason it's way more disconcerting to hear a letter a second after seeing it than to watch badly synced lip motion.
Now to watch and hear the whole thing and actually experience the content.
posted by eotvos at 7:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
My ear is pretty creaky these days, but I spent a few minutes playing around with a handy online code generator. The Titanic operator's passage that begins at 15:00, "IMMEDIATE ASSISTANCE. WE HAVE COLLISION WITH ICEBERG. SINKING. CAN HEAR NOTHING FOR NOISE OF STEAM." has no abbreviations and is a straight string of ordinary words. It takes 52 seconds in the presentation.
The online generator takes just over 51 seconds at 20 words per minute for the same passage. Repeating "paris paris paris. . . " 20 times - which is, for historic reasons the official international Morse code definition of a word - takes exactly 1:00, which convinces me they've got their timing right.
Looks to me like the rendering is very close to 20 wpm for the Titanic sender. Telling the difference between 15 and 20 during a life threatening crisis seems challenging, so I could easily believe this is a nearly real time display and that the operator was telling the truth about trying to slow down to 15. But, I'd be curious to find out if the events actually line up. Some of the "message repeats" bits may make that challenging.
Some of the other ships, e.g., the Carolina, are sending almost twice as fast, which is interesting. It also sounds to me like the spacing may very a bit between operators, and they've done a nice job with the audio dropouts and distortion. Whoever made this clearly knew what they were doing. Even if it's not actually synced to real time events, they really did a nice job of making it realistic. (I'd naively guess that it's probably a little too Farnsworth-spaced - with faster letters and larger breaks between them - than is realistic for the time period, but I could be wrong. And, doing anything else would be really unpleasant for contemporary listeners.)
My intuition for how slow 20 wpm actually is shockingly bad. I would have guessed something like 10. That's a bit embarrassing. Also, the audio sync delays are more disturbing here than in any other online video experience I've ever had. For some reason it's way more disconcerting to hear a letter a second after seeing it than to watch badly synced lip motion.
Now to watch and hear the whole thing and actually experience the content.
posted by eotvos at 7:50 PM on June 28, 2018 [1 favorite]
Everyone should know Morse code for SOS, it should be as widespread as awareness of 911. How could we make this happen, does anyone here know an Oprah? Or does everyone know it already?
SOS is . . . _ _ _ . . .
Morse code for Y and N might be useful too.
y is _ . _ _
n is _ .
posted by Baeria at 8:49 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
SOS is . . . _ _ _ . . .
Morse code for Y and N might be useful too.
y is _ . _ _
n is _ .
posted by Baeria at 8:49 PM on June 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
My gawd, the digital vocal rendering that the stupidest genius linked gave me the chills.
I don't know why things like this fascinate us, but boy.
And I discovered this ass ...
Actress survived, to make a movie about the disaster same year, which seems crass. She killed someone in an auto accident the next year. And later became a Nazi sympathizer.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:53 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't know why things like this fascinate us, but boy.
And I discovered this ass ...
Actress survived, to make a movie about the disaster same year, which seems crass. She killed someone in an auto accident the next year. And later became a Nazi sympathizer.
posted by NorthernLite at 1:53 PM on July 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by tobascodagama at 3:33 PM on June 27, 2018