MR. MARCONI: The wireless equipment on the Titanic was a fairly powerful set, capable, I should say, of communicating four or five hundred miles during the daytime and much farther during the nighttime. SENATOR SMITH: How much farther during the nighttime? MR. MARCONI: Very often a thousand miles. I should say almost every night 1000 miles. SENATOR SMITH: With accuracy? MR. MARCONI: With accuracy. SENATOR SMITH: Would you say that the Titanic was equipped with the latest and best wireless apparatus? MR. MARCONI: Yes. I should say it was the latest apparatus for that purpose. SENATOR SMITH: Did the company of which you are president designate the operators for the Titanic? MR. MARCONI: Do you mean did it choose the operators? SENATOR SMITH: Yes; or assign them? MR. MARCONI: They assign them generally in consultation with the shipping companies. They consult the shipping companies in regard to them. SENATOR SMITH: What is the ordinary pay for a wireless telegrapher? MR. MARCONI: In England, on British ships, I think they commence about 30 shillings a week, and they go up to over £2 per week. In addition to that, they get their board and lodging. I am speaking now subject to some error, because it is some time since I have been directly connected with those matters. I have a managing director who attends to the question of salaries. SENATOR SMITH: Your statement is correct, as far as you have made it? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: In America what is the wage? MR. MARCONI: I am not aware of the exact wage paid in America. An official of the American company is present, and he would be able to give you an accurate reply. SENATOR SMITH: How many operators were on the Titanic? MR. MARCONI: I believe there were two. SENATOR SMITH: Did they both survive, do you know? MR. MARCONI: No, sir. One was drowned; died. He was the chief operator, I am informed. SENATOR SMITH: And the other? MR. MARCONI: And the other was picked up, I believe. He got on a raft, on a collapsible boat, and he was rescued by the Carpathia, having been wounded in his ankles or his legs. SENATOR SMITH: At any time during Sunday last, were your offices here in communication with the Titanic? MR. MARCONI: I can not answer that, but I can produce a person who can. SENATOR SMITH: Have you been in communication with the Carpathia since the disaster to the Titanic? MR. MARCONI: I believe so; at least a great number of messages have come through from the Carpathia to my knowledge. I sent no message to the Carpathia, nor did I receive any. SENATOR SMITH: Did your company? MR. MARCONI: My company has. SENATOR SMITH: Your company has received no messages? MR. MARCONI: Yes; my company I believe has. SENATOR SMITH: It has both sent and received messages? MR. MARCONI: I believe so; I have no personal knowledge, but I think they have. SENATOR SMITH: Would you say from what you know about the receipt of messages sent from and to the ship that the wireless was working fairly well? MR. MARCONI: I believe it was working fairly well. SENATOR SMITH: You believe it was in good order? MR. MARCONI: In good order; yes. SENATOR SMITH: Where is the operator of the Titanic who survived? MR. MARCONI: The operator of the Titanic is on another Cunard boat; I believe at the dock; I think the Saxonia. He has been removed there, but he is unable to walk in consequence of the injury to his ankles. SENATOR SMITH: He has not been in the hospital? MR. MARCONI: No; I do not think he has. SENATOR SMITH: What boat did you say he was on? MR. MARCONI: I think the Saxonia. SENATOR SMITH: Do you know why he is on the Saxonia? MR. MARCONI: Because the Carpathia was to have sailed. SENATOR SMITH: To­day? MR. MARCONI: To­day; and of course he did not belong to the Carpathia. He was just on board. SENATOR SMITH: When does the Saxonia sail? MR. MARCONI: I do not know. SENATOR SMITH: It is not the intention of this operator to return to England immediately, is it? MR. MARCONI: No; I do not think it is, and it is not my intention, either, that he should. SENATOR SMITH: Have you any authority over him? MR. MARCONI: I have the authority that the president of a company has over one of its employees. SENATOR SMITH: May I request you to have him remain and present himself to the committee as soon as agreeable? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir; I shall be very glad to instruct him to that effect. SENATOR SMITH: Where is the operator of the Carpathia? MR. MARCONI: The operator of the Carpathia was instructed to be here at 3 o'clock. SENATOR SMITH: Is he here? MR. MARCONI: I do not see him. We might have him called. Cottam is his name. MR. JOHN W. GRIGGS: He is not here. MR. MARCONI: He went on board ship to take his clothes off. SENATOR SMITH: And will be back here? MR. MARCONI: He should be back here now. SENATOR SMITH: I wish you would also ask him to remain. MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. MR. GRIGGS: Mr. Chairman, if you will allow me, I wish to say that the operator of the Carpathia, as well as the assistant operator of the Titanic have been detained at the instruction of the officers of the company for the purpose of being at the service of this committee. SENATOR SMITH: I understand that, Governor. MR. GRIGGS: They will be detained as long as is necessary for this committee to hear them. With reference to the one from the Titanic, I doubt very much whether he can be removed from his present quarters without great inconvenience. SENATOR SMITH: I understand, Governor, from the officers that that is their disposition, but this being the president of the Marconi Co. I thought I would like to get into the record his affirmative promise that that should be done. MR. MARCONI: Perhaps I should make one explanation. When I say I am the president of the Marconi Co. these operators are really in the employ of a subsidiary company of what we call the Marconi Co., but this company is controlled by the company of which I am the chairman. SENATOR SMITH: But it is sufficient to say that you feel that you have influence enough to carry out the wishes of the committee? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: I want to know if you can tell me from your own knowledge whether there was any general interference from the time this collision occurred at sea on the part of experimental or rival service to the detriment of this service? MR. MARCONI: I should say, if you will allow me, that I have only seen these operators for a few minutes; and not having been there, I can not give a very definite answer to that question. They, no doubt, will be able to reply to it fully, but in so far as my impression goes, it is that near New York there was some slight interference, but at a distance from New York, when the Carpathia was communicating with stations in Long Island and in Nova Scotia, there was practically no interference. SENATOR SMITH: Can you tell how wide an area was communicated with from the Carpathia, generally speaking ­ considering, for instance, a wireless of the character you describe? MR. MARCONI: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: And put them in communication with your office here. In the course of that message, how far from its original point of destination would a message of that kind extend? MR. MARCONI: Of course, the message, I should say, does not come direct to our office. SENATOR SMITH: Well, to your­­ MR. MARCONI: It is taken on a coast station. SENATOR SMITH: To your coast station, then. MR. MARCONI: Then it is sent on by wire to the office. SENATOR SMITH: When I referred to your office, I meant coast station. MR. MARCONI: The wireless message, or the waves of ships equipped in the way that the Carpathia is equipped, would affect a space which is that contained in a circle of the diameter of three or four hundred miles. The radius of the station being 200 miles, it will affect a space of 200 miles all around. I am now talking about the maximum range. SENATOR SMITH: Then interference would be quite possible? MR. MARCONI: Interference would be quite possible, assuming that interferent stations or parties were using the same wave length as the Carpathia. Fortunately, they use different wave lengths; and you can not interfere while using different wave lengths. SENATOR SMITH: What wave length would be required on such a communication as the Carpathia first made to your shore stations? MR. MARCONI: I should say they were using a 600­meter wave, which is one of the international convention waves. I have not the information in regard to that, but I assume it. SENATOR SMITH: Is that the minimum of the international convention? MR. MARCONI: No; that is the longest. SENATOR SMITH: I mean the maximum. MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir; the maximum. The shortest is 300. SENATOR SMITH: And the minimum is 300? MR. MARCONI: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: This was the maximum wave length­­ MR. MARCONI: Yes. SENATOR SMITH: Prescribed by the international convention? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: Would the instrument of the Carpathia have been able to send a greater wave length than 600? MR. MARCONI: I do not think so. SENATOR SMITH: Did you hear the captain of the Carpathia testify? MR. MARCONI: I heard the end of his evidence; just the latter part. SENATOR SMITH: Did you hear him say that they caught this message from the Titanic providentially? MR. MARCONI: I heard him say that. SENATOR SMITH: That the operator was removing his shoes and about to retire? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir; I quite admit that it was providential. SENATOR SMITH: And that in five minutes more communication would have been impossible? MR. MARCONI: It was absolutely providential. I agree with the captain. SENATOR SMITH: If this operator is not at his post of duty, has the wireless message no signal to arouse him? MR. MARCONI: Not the way it is installed on most boats. SENATOR SMITH: Did it have on this boat? MR. MARCONI: It had not, so far as I am aware. SENATOR SMITH: Did it have on the Titanic? MR. MARCONI: I do not think so. SENATOR SMITH: So that it is absolutely necessary that the operator should be at his post all the time in order to facilitate or give effect to communications from ships or coast stations? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir; or ships in distress, I should say. SENATOR SMITH: Ships in distress and coast stations? MR. MARCONI: And coast stations. Of course, if a coast station or ship calls another ship and the operator does not answer, he simply waits until later till the operator is awake or until he has come back. I am referring to the ordinary commercial communications. SENATOR SMITH: Yes. But later in this instance would have probably meant that all these passengers and crew that were saved would have been lost. MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir; I quite admit that. SENATOR SMITH: Do you recall any international regulations of the Berlin convention or any provision relating to that matter? MR. MARCONI: I do not think there is any provision in regard to that matter. SENATOR SMITH: Ought it not to be encumbent upon ships at sea who have the wireless apparatus to have an operator always at his key? MR. MARCONI: I think it certainly should be. Of course, it might come rather hard on small ships. The shipowners will not like the expense of two men. SENATOR SMITH: On the English basis of wage it would not be very serious? MR. MARCONI: No; it would not be, but it is very much a matter that affects the shipowners; they do not like to carry two operators when they can get along with one. SENATOR SMITH: On the Titanic, if you know, was there a constant relay? MR. MARCONI: You mean a constant lookout? Constant attention? SENATOR SMITH: Yes. MR. MARCONI: Yes; there should be and there was. SENATOR SMITH: That was the purpose of having two operators? MR. MARCONI: That was the purpose of having two operators, and also for the purpose of handling the greater number of messages which come to a larger and more important ship. SENATOR SMITH: Are those men of equal skill? MR. MARCONI: Usually there is one man in charge who is an experienced man, and the other man is also a telegraphist, but a junior man of less experience. SENATOR SMITH: And less remuneration? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. I should, if you will allow me, state that all the wireless telegraphists employed on British ships have to get a license of competency from the English government, or they are not allowed to operate. SENATOR SMITH: Does that go to their competency as operators? MR. MARCONI: I think it does. SENATOR SMITH: Does it include their character as man? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. SENATOR SMITH: And general fitness? MR. MARCONI: And general fitness. SENATOR SMITH: Do you have much difficulty in supplying your stations with operators? MR. MARCONI: Sometimes we have. It takes some time to train them. We train them at a school of ours. SENATOR SMITH: Do you have any regulations that touch the question of their habits? MR. MARCONI: They have to be subject to the discipline of the ship. They must obey the captain, as every one aboard a ship has to do, and, of course, they have to behave in a decent manner on shore. They must not discredit the service in any way. SENATOR SMITH: I should like to ask whether, in your opinion, the amateur operators of wireless stations are calculated to minimize the effectiveness of practical work on land and sea? MR. MARCONI: I think it does effectively minimize or hamper the useful communications, because on an occasion like this I was told ­ I always want confirmation from a man who was there ­ but, if I remember correctly, I was told last night that a great number of unknown stations called up the captain for news. SENATOR SMITH: Unknown stations? MR. MARCONI: Yes, sir. Of course the ship would not reply except to the authorized stations sending traffic. That causes interference and causes trouble. In England, of course, that is impossible, because stations are not allowed to do that. SENATOR SMITH: How long has wireless telegraphy been a practical science? MR. MARCONI: I think it has been a practical science since ­ you mean in regard to shipping? SENATOR SMITH: In regard to shipping. MR. MARCONI: I should say since 1900. Of course, great improvements have been made since. SENATOR SMITH: Who made the first successful experiment? MR. MARCONI: On ships? SENATOR SMITH: Yes. MR. MARCONI: I think I did it myself. SENATOR SMITH: In what year? MR. MARCONI: 1897. SENATOR SMITH: Since that time have you found it efficient in cases of a similar character? MR. MARCONI: To that of the Titanic and Carpathia? Yes; I am very glad to say that it has been of paramount utility in a great number of cases. SENATOR SMITH: In what cases?