By Wireless.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13874, 10 April 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

By Wireless.

ON THE HIGH SEAS.

"HOW WE SAVED A LINER."

A vivid sidelight is thrown on the sinking of the White Star liner Itepublic by the Florida in a dense fog off the Island of Nantucket by an interview with Captain Hanson, the commander of the rescuing steamship Baltic, which appears in the / New York " Outlook."

A good deal has been written about the dramatic part played by wireless telegraphy in effecting the rescue of the stricken ship, but here we have a thrilling narrative of the actual manner in which the fog-enveloped liner was located, told by the rescuer himself. On the morning of the disaster the Baltic, inward bound for New York, going at a reduced speed in a heavy fog, made the Nantucket lightship by the submarine' bell. About midnight she was eighty miles to the westward. "At 7.15 on that Saturday morning," says Captain Ranson, "the wireless operator came rushing up to mc on the bridge—he did not take time to write the message on the usual printed form, but had put it down on the first slip) of paper he could lay his hands on—and handed me this message: —

The Republic dangerously. Latitude 40: 17 North, Longitude 70 West.

"My first niove ' was to throw the helm hard a-starhoard, and make for the position of tho Itepublic with all possible speed. AVe knew her latitude and longitude, and our job was to find her in the thickest kind of a fog. At that time we were sixty-four miles from the position given us in the first message from' the Republic, but of course she was drifting all the time, and during our twelve hours' search I estimate we travelled 200 miles in our zigzag course before we found her, and all within a sea area of ten square miles." SCIENCE TO THE RESCUE.

It should be explained that the three scientific methods employed in the Baltic's hunt for the Republic were wireless telegraphy, the submarine bell and telephone system, and Sir William Thompson's apparatus for sounding. It was impossible to tell the exact position of the distressed ship from the wireless message. The Baltic could onlv find her own reckoning by means of the submarine bell, which is kept constantly ringing on the Nantucket lightship, and which can be detected by the telephones on the passing ships within a radius of seventeen miles, and bv continually sounding. Taking full advantage of these combined methods, the Baltic, in the words of her commander, " pursued the Republic all day loug, like a hound on the scent, and finally found her at about 6.30 in the evening, after steering and zig-zaging about all day. "The Republic's position, as I have already said, kept constantly changing in the fog,'and,' as fast as. I could get to a point of latitude and longitude noted in the last wireless message received, Captain Soalby, on. the Repubu-

lie, would have moved, involuntarily of course, to another. "I was getting -wireless massages thick and fast all the time from Captain Sealby on the Republic, from the company's office in New York, via Siasconset, and from the Other 6hips which had joined in tho search for the Republic in response to the ' C.Q.D.' distress call.

"Among the ships responding to the 'C.Q.D.' message were the Lucania, La .Lorraine, the Furnessia, the New York, and the Gresham and the Seneca, the latter two being United States Government vessels. You can easily imagine that our operator was kept pretty busy receiving these messages and sending them to the bridge, and merely responding to them by wireless replies, but changing the course of our ship in response to the directions or instructions which they gave. "As a matter of fact, it may literally be said that my ship, the. Baltic, was steered some of the time by Captain Sealby on the Republic.

THE THRILLING GAME OF HARE AND HOUNDS. "Of these telegrams—over a hundred —written on the thin paper blanks of the Marconi Company, hedraggled by fog and rain, which Captain Ranson received, the following are tpyical examples : You are getting louder. Keep steering east-south-east. .Listen to our ship's bell.—Sealby. Steer south-east now.—Sealby. "But it was 1 not only these direct instructions that helped Captain Ranson in his search. Some of Captain Sealby's telegrams threw light on his whereabouts by inference. For example, quite early in the day the Baltic received this wireless:— .

Have picked up Nantucket by submarine bell, bearing north-north-cast. Sounding thirty-five fathoms.—Seal-

by." This told Captain Hanson that the Republic was within a radius of seven--teen miles of the Nantucket lightship, so lie must keep always within- sound of the bell, and that no must change his course directly the soundings gave' a depth of other than 85 fathoms. By means of this telegram, - the Baltic got near enough to the Republic for the latter to hear her whistle.

The following messages received during the day give some idea of the kind of wireconversation that was continually going on : Lucania says please listen for his four blasts. Republic says wc can hear a bomb to west of us. Is it you? . ■_ ■ La Lorraine says he hears Republic's bell, and is steering straight towards him. ' ■•■■-•• ~- -' ■' . •

La Lorraine says tell Captain Ranson we" axe blowing a whistle, not is horn. Please make as much uqisq, as possible. ■ ■:•■- ; . Have not heard Lucania, but she is still around. Am in touch with.Lorraine.—Sealby. La Lorraine and Baltic ask Republic if he. hears bell, bomb, ox. whistle.' .tie replies he hears steamer's whistle, and thinks we both must be close to him. —.Baltic's Operator. Republic Operator says, "We are sinking hapidiy.'' "We are Keeping everything clear, and standing by lur Republic's signals.—Baltic Republic. Captain, Baltic: Am cruising., round trying to locate you.—-Captain, cania. ■ , - . Captain, Baltic: There is a. bomb bearing north-wast from me. Jicep firing.—Sealby. . , Siasconset says hear from Republic; says to Baltic to hurry; they are sinking fast.—Baltic Operator. Tell Captain Hanson stoer north-cast .at once. —Sealby. ' You are very close now. Eight abeam. Come carefully. You are on our port side. Have just seen your rociceFT '''^Juu-are'very-close to us.—Seal-'

And so to the the rescue. " These messages, taken" -at .random from scores of others,", says Captain Ranson, "say seem somewhat matter-of-fact to. you, but I can assure you they meant a good deal to us on tho bridge of the Baltic, and they indicate how we had to feel our way. After twelve hours' search zig-zagging and circling in the fog,' changing our course as each new bit of information that came by wireless, and at last found the Republic." ..■' .-..■■'