The Philip B. Petersen Collection Broadcast March 20, 1990

     It was twenty minutes before midnight on the 14th of April, 1912, when the Titanic, on her first voyage, hit a large iceberg that ripped a 300-foot hole in the starboard side causing the Titanic, with 2,201 people aboard, to sink in 2 hours and 40 minutes.
     Jack Phillips, the Chief Radio Operator, was on duty with Harold Bride, the Assistant Radio Operator, about to relieve Phillips on the midnight to morning watch.  They didn't feel any strong impact but soon Captain Smith came to their radio shack and said that they hit an iceberg and requested Phillips to be ready to send a call for assistance.  But first he was going below to inspect the damage.  Ten minutes later, he requested that they send the international distress call CQD.  About that time the distress call was changed to the now familiar SOS, so Phillips sent both calls.  They received replies from several ships, but most were too far away to reach them in time.  The Carpathia was 58 miles away and came at full speed.  Back on the Titanic, lifeboats were lowered, with women and children first.  There were not enough lifeboats for everyone and many husbands and wives were never to see each other again.  Some women refused to leave their husbands and they both went down with the ship.
     Phillips was constantly informing all ships of their position and condition.  They were sinking at the bow.  Those still aboard moved to the stern where the ship's band was playing the tune "Autumn."
     Harold Bride survived and related this account:  "Captain Smith came and said to both of us, 'Men, you have done your full duty.  You can do no more.  Abandon your cabin.  Now it's every man for himself.  You look out for yourselves.  I release you'.  Phillips still stayed sending for another ten minutes, until water came into the cabin.  Then we both left.  We were separated.  I saw men trying to push a collapsible boat off.  I went to help them as a large wave came and swept me and the boat overboard.  It landed upside down and I was finally pulled aboard the overturned boat.  Several hours later we were picked up by the Carpathia.  As I was moving forward to go up the rope ladder, I saw a dead body.  It wasn't until then that I realized that it was Jack Phillips, the hero of the Titanic."
     Of the 2,201 persons aboard, 1,489 perished and 712 survived.
     Walter Prang, W2HOZ, of Oceanport, New Jersey, a retired Marine Radio Operator, said, "Most of us are also radio amateurs.  Since 1915, a monument stands in Battery Park, New York that is cared for by the Veteran Wireless Operators Association.  It lists the names of over forty men and women radio operators who lost their lives at sea and Jack Phillips is the first name on that list."

March 20, 1990

** Broadcasts recordings preserved and presented here by Mr. Robert Buss and Mr. Bernie Ricciardi, Phil's friends and fellow Marconi Chapter 138 QCWA members **

Page updated January 12, 2004  page created June 11, 2001