Chapter 4
The Search for Captain Pinkham
Just six weeks earlier, in July 1910,
the United States passed the ‘radio act’, which required wireless equipment
to be fitted onboard ocean going passenger vessels, of any nationality, which
visited U.S. Ports. The act did not come into force until the following
year. However, it was fortunate that, even before the 1910 act, most
of the major passenger lines had already installed radio transmitters onboard
their ships. A Marconi system had been installed onboard the “Devonian” and
was typical of wireless transmitters of the time having a range of just 150
nautical miles with a power of 350 Watts.
The wireless operator was usually engaged in maintaining contact with the receiving
stations and listening in to the incessant chatter of shore talk reaching
the ship. He would strain to pick up news from other steamers and
would send out (or marconigraph as it was sometimes known) messages from
the passengers. On the 1st September 1910, less than two
years after the first sea rescue aided by wireless, and six weeks after
the infamous murderer, Crippen, was captured with the aid of a wireless
transmission, the Captain of the “Devonian” asked the wireless operator
to send out the following message
“Have picked up boat with part crew
of West Point, steamer, of Liverpool. Boat reports having last seen
captain’s boat with remainder of crew in Lat. 47.08 N., Long. 42.23 W.,
Thursday, 6 a.m. Have searched unsuccessfully for her. Please
keep a good look out for her. Captain intended keeping on an eastbound
track. Steamer foundered on fire.”
This message as received by the wireless
operator of the “Mauretania”, a transatlantic passenger liner of the Cunard
Line, and he immediately passed it to his captain.
The Maurentania was making its way from
New York to Liverpool, a trip that would normally taker just 5 days. She
was the fastest ship to cross the Atlantic, having held the valuable Blue
Riband for the crossing in the easterly direction since 1907 and in the opposite
direction since 1909. Despite the desire to reach the home port as
quickly as possible, Captain Turner of the “Mauretania” immediately gave
orders for a strict look-out to be kept, and guided by the information received
from the “Devonian” steered a course towards the last known position of the
missing boat.
The cramped quarters on the small lifeboat
made Captain Pinkham’s shoulder which had been dislocated by a fall on board
the steamer, worse and no one on board the boat could get much sleep. The
crew had been huddled in the lifeboat for six days and were suffering severe
hunger and exhaustion. Hope of a rescue had now faded and Captain Pinkham
set a final, desperate course for the Portuguese islands of the Azores, which
they could not have expected to reach.
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