"S.O.S."

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12772, 25 May 1912, Page 3 (Supplement)

"5.0.5."

TITANIC'S LAST CALL. . THE likws IN LONDON. THEaCRY FOR HELP. Xh LONDON, April 19. Tho tact that the Titanic disaster occurred 400 ! niiles from land, and that tho wireless' r ih;essages had to be repeated from one ve*&jsl to another before reaching any shor^'station, owing to the fact that the wftje'less apparatus on some of the vessels was very weak, caused considerable delay m the dissemination of the news. Tlie Titanic struck the iceberg at 11.40'bn Sunday night, American time, but it v sras hours after midnight before the news reached New York. She sank m less ! '?han two hours after the impact, but^thte fact that she had,. Sunk was not generally Jcnown m New York until Mondas-!,evening. The newspapers published m ji^-ew York on Monday morning contained only the following brief wireless messake from tfie Titanic :— ':;>' Have strwk an iceberg, 41.46 deg. northj ff1. 44 deg. west. Are badly damaged. Rush to our .aid. SERIOUSNESS NOT REALISED. ... Most of the^papers published interesting conjectures and elaborate details extending over Several columns. The seriousness of tho disaster was not recognised, and thef conjectures were, therefore, of a hopeful arid misleading character. It Was confidently stated that all the passengers and crew had been saved, having been taken off by the Carpathia, which had arrived' m answer to a wireless rnessagS "from the Titanic for assistance.-: It was s also stated that the Virginian was towing the Titanic to Halifax, and that the Parisian was also m attendance. Even after a brief message that the Tetanic had, sunk, .the New York evening 'papers, which had taken up the tale Trbm their morning contemporaries, filled m large, .gaps m their messages with imaginative descriptions of the way Inwhich the passengers had been rescued' by the Carpathia. and of the desperate-efforts made by the Virginian and /Parisian to tow to Halifax "the giant ship, with bows and , keel crushed and 'shattered." One account stated that When it r *as- realised that it, 'was impossible to get the' Titanic to Halifax, owing to her extensive injuries, ''desperate -efforts,; wer£ made to tow her to the neaiest ; larid,"near. Cape Race, k Newfouiidlaiid,' and. beach her- but m vain. Her bows sank.by degrees deeeper and deeper. •iThe crew were compelled to abandon "thfe ship. Four hours after striking the great ship, the pride of all seamen, disiiprieored." '

BELATED NEWS IN LONDON. The actual Zivivth is that no one of the liners racing to the assistance of the Titanic reached the scene until some hours after . the vessel had sunk. The Oarpathia was first on the scene, and found only lifeboats and the average quantity of wreckage where the Titanic had gone down. As London is five hours ahead of New- York, the London newspapers were worse off than those of New York m the > matter of accurate news, and had to' depend entirely upon messages from New York and Halifax. The evening newspapers on Monday gave London the 'first intimation of the disaster, but it was assumed tliat the loss of life would not be large, owing to the fact that . several ships had heard the wireless appeal 1 for help. It was not •until after midnight on Monday that the news of the sinking of the Titanic reached th a. London newspaper offices, and the message containing the first definite statement that there had been heavy loss of life did not arrive until hours, later. The early editions of nearly all the London papers published on Tuesday morning contained most hopeful news with regard to the disaster Some of them put up headlines stating plainly that there had been no loss of life. The Daily Mail was 'the first to get accurate news, and m later editions on Tuesday gave great prominence to brief messages which • indicated -that nearly 1500 people .had 'perished ; -but m these later* 'editions 4he ' 'Daily -^lail published some columns of comment, •which had been written oh ithtftearlier supposition tha$ v all the;., passengers and crew had been saved/ Although the Titanic sank at 2 o'clock m the morning it ! was not until Wednesday, that the general public m London had -accurate information as to the disaster. There were then two more days during which news filtered 1 through at. a; very slow tate.

. MISLEADING REPORTS.. ■ * __ Who Times is ver^y angry, that it gave its readers on Tuesday such misleading information regarding the disaster. It gave prominence to a message ,from New York' which pretended 'to'-describe. m- some detail', the -^scerie on the Titanic after she struck, and how the passengers all put off m boats to 'the Parisian, and were subsequently i transferred to the Carpathia. This message was supplied to the Times by thy Central News Agency. When -the Tiriies called, irpori the News Agency to explain, tlie mail: ager of the News Agency replied, m a letter which is published m the Times, He admits that the message was founded on accounts published m the New York newspapers, and Was entirely incorrect,but he pointed out that the New York correspondent' of the Times also supplied information which proved to be entirely wrong. ••"The Times is -by- no means satisfied v with this explanation," and is scarcely expected to be appeased by pointing Out ; that all. the information published m that great newspaper on j Tuesday about the wreck was incorrect, j The sources of these' misleading reports have not yet been ascertained, but they .were' so specific "m detail as to all the passengers and crew being saved, as to: the Titanic having been taken m tow, N as to the extreme probability of the vessel being beached m shallow water, that there is little reason to doubt that they came from some interested persons. The supposition is that they came from parties who carried heavy financial interests m the j cargo of the Titanic, and who were vitally interested/ m the question of reinsurance. After ;it was reported that the Titanic had struck an iceberg the insurance rate, which, when the vessel was sailing had. been 15s per cent., rose rapidly to 60 guineas per cent. On the strength of subsequent reports published iri NeW York' and London- that the Titanic -was heading for Halifax; -Under .slow steam ; that the Virginian had her m tow; rand that the Parisian was standing by to render assistance, the reinsurance rate dropped .25 guineas per cent. It remains to be seen who profited by the rise and fall, and what parties' ■ we**e • responsible -- feu* . the misleading messages.

■THE DRIFT OF THE FLOK. It appears that the Titanic had been warned of the presence ol the iceberg on which she struck. The 'hydrographic office at Washington publishes charts dealing with ths\ drift of the ice when its presence constitutes a danger to shipping. Reports arc received from vessels which encounter the-- ice, and these reports are. published m the daily memorandum issued by the hydrographic office. It is a simple matter for experienced ships' officers to estimate from the ''probable, speed and direction of the drift of tht* iceberg where it will be found a. few days later. It was on the -night." of- -Sunday. April 14, that the Titanic struck, and on that very day she had transmitted by wireless to Gape Race .far. th.e,...um..0f the. hydrographic office at Washington a message she had' received from -^Wyiiner America, rev porting tlk^'eitsjenee of 'Wo-'. iceberg's m .flat? 41.37- long. 50tSf> E. : [ !Th& position of the Titanic when' she* -.struck was., ,41:16 N'.'-i .Jong. 40,14. W. 'Evidence that-'siC-isl'tuck' jpuo of tH'e very- icebergs whicn;.tli#U*\ril eti ca h ad! 'reported through her to the hydrographic office is certainly, very strong. At any; rate, she was warned of the presence of the ice danger .m the immediate vicinity. The New York Times," commenting on the matter, says: "Tlie Titanic did not avoid the region .of the icebercs. She steajhed directly through it at a speed of which the rending and.' crushing of the frame and hull are sufficiently^ , conclusive'evidence. It was not simply imprudent, it was not merely reckleses-^ it was criminal." .