Harold Cottam, Carpathia's Wireless Operator

 

The Carpathia rescues Titanic's survivors

It was by accident that Harold Thomas Cottam, the wireless operator on the Carpathia, caught Titanic's "C.Q.D." call.  

"I got Titanic's call at 11:20 o'clock New York Time, last Sunday night.  "Come at once, we've struck a berg. It's a 'C.Q.D.' call, old man."

"The Titanic's operator followed it with his position, which was latitude 41:46 north and longitude 50:14 west.  I asked if I should go to the Captain and tell him to turn back, and Titanic's reply was "Yes! Yes!"

"I went to the bridge and notified First Officer Dean of the call for help. He roused Captain Rostrom who was taking his turn below. He issued orders to turn the ship about immediately.  I hurried back to the cabin and just as I got there, I heard the Titanic working the Frankfort.  Titanic was having trouble in getting the Frankfort's signals because escaping steam and air from the expansion joint were making the signals almost indistinguishable.  I tried to get the Frankfort, for he apparently only got the Titanic's position, but I couldn't raise him. I think I received the C.Q.D. seven to ten minutes after the Titanic struck.

"It was only a streak of luck that I got the message at all, for on the previous night, I had been up until 2:30 o'clock in the morning and the night before that until 3 o'clock, and I had planned to get to bed early that night.  I thought I'd take some general news, as I didn't know how the coal strike in England was going, and I was interested in it.  When I had been taking this for some time, there was a batch of messages coming through for the Titanic from the long distance Marconi wireless station at Cape Cod which transmits the day's news at 10:30 New York time every evening.

"When Cape Cod had been going some time, he started sending a batch of messages for the Titanic, and having heard the Titanic man being pushed with work during the afternoon, I thought I'd give him a hand by taking them and retransmitting them the following morning, as I had nothing much to work on.

"As I was the nearest station to the Titanic, it was more or less my duty to retransmit them to him. When Cape Cod finished, I made up my daily list of communications and reported them to the officer on watch.   On returning to the cabin, I put the telephones on to verify a 'time rush' which I had exchanged with the Parisian early that afternoon.  A 'time rush' is the slang wireless word for the exchange of ship's time which is always made when you encounter another ship to see if your clocks agree. I put the telephones on, and called the Titanic to ask him if he was aware that a batch of messages were being transmitted for him via Cape Cod. And his answer was "Come at once. We have struck a berg."

"Previous to reporting the communication to the bridge, I had been in constant watch, so that I was certain that she must have struck while I was on the bridge, and that was seven to ten minutes before.  After hearing the Frankfort then,  I heard the Olympic calling the Titanic with a service message, and as the Titanic didn't reply, apparently he couldn't hear the Olympic, I said to the Titanic:

"Don't you hear the Olympic calling you? Go ahead and call."

"My wireless wasn't the type that was aboard the Titanic, so my calls would have no effect. The only other ship I heard at this time was the Baltic. She was calling Cape Race.  The Titanic exchanged sundry signals with the Carpathia, but apparently the Olympic and Carpathia were the only ships that heard them.  We steamed with every ounce of speed in us in the direction given by Titanic and we reached the spot before dawn.

"One of the engineers told me that the Carpathia had been making between 17 and 18 knots. Her usual speed is 13 to 14 knots. There was a double watch of men in the engine department and everything that could be done to hasten our arrival at the location of Titanic was being done.

"Around the time we were hearing the Titanic sending her wireless out over the sea in a last call for help.  The one I picked up was sent to the Olympic "We are sinking fast."

"The Frankfort kept calling and asking us what was the matter, but though she must have been nearer to Titanic than we were, she never arrived until after we had picked up the survivors and left to go to New York.  

"The last message from Titanic that I received was:  "Come quick. Our engine room is flooded up to the boilers."

"I answered that our boats were ready and for them to get theirs ready also, and that we were doing our utmost to get there in time.  There was no reply.  It was 11:55 New York time when I got that last signal from Titanic.

"I kept calling to warn them to look out for our rockets, which were being constantly sent up, but I shall never know whether he heard me or not.  From 11:55 until we reached the spot where Titanic foundered, I was listening for a spark from his emergency set, and when I didn't hear it, I was sure that he had gone down.  

"The first sign we got, shortly before dawn was a green light off theport bow of the Carpathia. It was a beacon on one of the small boats, and we knew then that the Titanic had gone, but that there were survivors for us to pick up.  

"I was kept busy in the wireless room for the next few minutes and the first of the rescues that I saw was a boat alongside and the passengers were being hauled aboard.

"Most of them were women and children. Some were crying and they seemed overcome by the calamity. As they were raised to the deck, several of them collapsed.  I saw wood and debris from the Titanic when dawn came, but I did not see a body in the water.  

"Daylight showed that we were right on the scene of the disaster, for there were ten or a dozen boats around us when it became light enough to see, and as rapidlya s possible, their occupants were taken aboard.  We remained near the spot, looking for additional survivors, for about three hours, and convinced that there was no human being alive in the sea of ice, we started for New York."

- The New York Times, April 19, 1912, page 2