MR. BRIDE: We could not send anything more than C. Q. D.
SENATOR SMITH: After you told this operator he was a fool, and 20 minutes had gone by, did you tell him that your ship was sinking?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you give him any additional information?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir. He ought not to have wanted any in the first place.
SENATOR SMITH: Upon the information you did give him, are you ready to say whether the ship responded or not?
MR. BRIDE: There ought not to have been any doubt about the information we gave him at all, sir; he ought to have known what to do with it immediately.
SENATOR SMITH: So far as you know, the Frankfurt did not respond?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Will you tell us what confirmation you have that the operator of the Frankfurt received your C. Q. D. distress call correctly?
MR. BRIDE: Mr. Phillips had the telephones on at that time, sir. He called "C.Q.D." The Frankfurt answered. He gave the Frankfurt our position. He said, "Come at once." The Frankfurt said, "Stand by." We waited, and that is the last we heard of the Frankfurt until he said, "What was the matter with you?' a considerable period afterwards.
SENATOR SMITH: After he said, "What was the matter with you?", then what was said?
MR. BRIDE: We told him he was a fool, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Was that the last thing that you said to him?
MR. BRIDE: To the Frankfurt, yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You recall that you said later to him to keep out, not to interfere with your insulation, or­­
MR. BRIDE: We told him to keep out and not interfere with our communication.
SENATOR SMITH: Was that all in the one message?
MR. BRIDE: That was all in the one message.
SENATOR SMITH: "You are a fool. Keep out and do not interfere with our communication."
MR. BRIDE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: That was all in the one message?
MR. BRIDE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And that was the last thing you said to the Frankfurt?
MR. BRIDE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Now, did you see the Frankfurt in the vicinity of the wreck of the Titanic, or after you were taken on board the Carpathia?
MR. BRIDE: The only ship I saw, sir, was the Carpathia.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know whether the Carpathia had any communication of any kind from the Frankfurt?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir; I can not say.
SENATOR SMITH: You could not say?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: While you were at the key, or at the apparatus, no message was received from the Frankfurt?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: I think right there I would like to ask Mr. Cottam one or two questions.
TESTIMONY OF HAROLD T. COTTAM ­ Recalled
SENATOR SMITH: Did you receive any message from the Frankfurt?
MR. COTTAM: No, sir; none whatever.
SENATOR SMITH: At no time?
MR. COTTAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know of any being sent from the Carpathia to the Frankfurt?
MR. COTTAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You did not pick up any stray messages?
MR. COTTAM: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: All right.
TESTIMONY OF HAROLD S. BRIDE ­ Resumed.
SENATOR SMITH: Mr. Bride, do you know whether the operator on the Frankfurt understood the English language?
MR. BRIDE: There was no necessity for him to understand the English language, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Because this call­­
MR. BRIDE: Was an international call.
SENATOR SMITH: And C. Q. D. means the same in the German language and the French language and the English language?
MR. BRIDE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And is the international code signal of distress?
MR. BRIDE: Yes sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Under the Berlin convention?
MR. BRIDE: I can not say, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Under the regulations of the Marconi Co.?
MR. BRIDE: It is recognized by all ship's operators as being a signal of distress.
SENATOR SMITH: Mr. Bride, I want this record to be as complete as possible, and I desire to know why, after a message was received from the Frankfurt asking, "What is the matter" you did not reply, "We are sinking and the lives of our passengers and crew are in danger'?"
MR. BRIDE: You see, it takes a certain amount of time to transmit that information, sir. If the man had understood properly, as he ought to have, C. Q. D. would have been sufficient, sir. C. Q. D. is the whole thing in a nutshell, you see.
SENATOR SMITH: Yes; but it did not seem to move him.
MR. BRIDE: Well, he did not know his business, that is all, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: But in such an emergency do you not think that a more detailed statement might have been sent? Take, for instance, the message from the Titanic to the Carpathia that the boiler rooms were filling with water and the ship sinking; that could have been sent with perfect propriety to a boat that was in proximity, could it not?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir; I do not think it could have been under the circumstances.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you mean to say that the regulations under which you operate are such that in a situation of this character you have such discretionary power that you may dismiss an inquiry of that character­­
MR. BRIDE: You use common sense.
SENATOR SMITH: (continuing) Without further word?
MR. BRIDE: You use your common sense, and the man on the Frankfurt apparently was not using his at the time.
SENATOR SMITH: I know, but the theory upon which you were angered was that the Frankfurt was closer to you than any other ship?
MR. BRIDE: The Frankfurt was the first one. We had not got the position. We could not say he was nearer. The signals were stronger.
SENATOR SMITH: Now, Mr. Bride, I would like to ask you whether your dismissing the somewhat tardy inquiry of the Frankfurt was due to the fact that you were in constant communication with the Carpathia; understand me?
MR. BRIDE: Well, it appeared to Mr. Phillips and me, sir, that the Carpathia was the only thing we could hope for at the time we told the Frankfurt to keep out of it.
SENATOR SMITH: In other words, you held on to a certainty; rather than an uncertainty?
MR. BRIDE: Yes sir.
SENATOR SMITH: The results of your communication with the Carpathia were such as led you to believe that the operator on the Carpathia and the officers of that ship understood fully your position and the danger you were in?
MR. BRIDE: Yes sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And were coming toward you at full speed?
MR. BRIDE: Yes sir.
SENATOR SMITH: In that situation, if the Frankfurt had been 20 miles nearer the Titanic than the Carpathia, would you still have thought, from what you knew of the ship's condition, that it was wise to confine your communications to the Carpathia?
MR. BRIDE: Had we known the Frankfurt's position, having already got the Carpathia's position, we should have used our judgment and had the Frankfurt been any reasonable distance nearer we should have informed the Frankfurt of the whole business and repeated each word we sent to him about a dozen times, to make sure he got it.
SENATOR SMITH: His position, however, was an object of some speculation?
MR. BRIDE: Yes sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And your only reason for thinking that the Frankfurt was nearer, if I understood you, was because of the strength of this wireless current?
MR. BRIDE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: And the fact that it first responded?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: The strength of the current?
MR. BRIDE: Yes, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: I want you to tell, in order that this record may contain it, just how you distinguish between the velocities of currents in wireless telegraphy, the strength of the signals.
MR. BRIDE: When a ship is working wireless, there is no trouble whatever in reading her signals. You can read the signals through the telephone. When you have one telephone off, you can read them through one telephone. When a ship gets 100 miles off, you have to have both the telephones on and devote your attention to it; and as the ship gets farther and farther away the difficulty in reading the signals increases and the strength of the signals decreases.
SENATOR SMITH: Decreases?
MR. BRIDE: Yes sir.
SENATOR SMITH: That would depend somewhat upon the equipment or apparatus­­
MR. BRIDE: Certainly.
SENATOR SMITH: With which the Frankfurt was equipped?
MR. BRIDE: Certainly.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know anything about the character of the wireless apparatus on the Frankfurt?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you know what company installed that service?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You do not know whether it was the Marconi Co. or not?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: Mr. Marconi, do you know how the Frankfurt is equipped?
MR. MARCONI: The Frankfurt is, I believe, a ship belonging to the North German Lloyd. She is equipped by a German company, called the Debed Co. It means a lot of things in German, each letter, which I will not go into, of which I am a director.
SENATOR SMITH: You are a director in this German company?
MR. MARCONI: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: And you are familiar with the wireless equipment or apparatus?
MR. MARCONI: I am not familiar with the wireless equipment of that particular ship.
SENATOR SMITH: So that you would be unable to make a comparative statement ­ to make a comparison between the equipment or apparatus on the Carpathia and the apparatus on the Frankfurt?
MR. MARCONI: I would be unable, sir, to do it.
SENATOR SMITH: Would the fact that the Frankfurt is equipped with an apparatus of German type in any way lessen their interest in calls made through the Marconi machine or apparatus?
MR. MARCONI: No; because it is a Marconi apparatus. It is made in Germany, but it is made under my patent under an arrangement which we have with German interests.
SENATOR SMITH: Let me ask you: Are the regulations of Germany, with reference to the operation and use of wireless telegraphy, in perfect harmony with the Berlin convention?
MR. MARCONI: Absolutely. They were enacted at Berlin and most of them were inspired by the German government.
SENATOR SMITH: Are these calls that are recognized prescribed in the Berlin convention?
MR. MARCONI: The call of the Berlin convention, which has only bee recently introduced, is this S.O.S., but the Marconi companies have used and use the C. Q. D. call. The Frankfurt, which was equipped with wireless, belonged to one of what I may call the Marconi companies, because I would not be a director of the company if it was not associated with me.
SENATOR SMITH: Would you think that any confusion would arise, growing out of this international arrangement of signal, with the Marconi signal?
MR. MARCONI: No; I should state that the international signal is really less known that the Marconi Co.'s signal.
SENATOR SMITH: So that the C. Q. D. call must have been understood in its full significance by the Frankfurt operator?
MR. MARCONI: I have got absolutely no doubt as to that.
SENATOR SMITH: And under the regulations would that be sufficient?
MR. MARCONI: That would be sufficient?
SENATOR SMITH: To bring relief?
MR. MARCONI: Yes.
SENATOR SMITH: I want to know this, before I get away from it. I want to know whether the communications between the Titanic and the Carpathia were not also within the radius of the Frankfurt? I would like to know whether these communications could have been picked up by the Frankfurt?
MR. MARCONI: Certainly they could have been.
SENATOR SMITH: Had the operator on the Frankfurt shown vigilance?
MR. BRIDE: Certainly. He ought to have heard every word that passed between us.
SENATOR SMITH: When you told him to keep out you were guarding against that thing?
MR. BRIDE: We were guarding against his interfering with other communications which we might establish, and we had already established?
SENATOR SMITH: How could it interfere with you?
MR. BRIDE: Because you can not read two ships at once.
SENATOR SMITH: Have you any reason to believe that the signals given by the Titanic to the Carpathia, and the replies of the Carpathia or the Olympic were received by the Frankfurt?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: You have no reason to assume that that was the case?
MR. BRIDE: I could not tell. If he was listening he would hear them. If he was not listening he could not hear them.
SENATOR SMITH: No messages came, involved or otherwise, that would indicate that the Frankfurt had gotten any other information than the information you first gave her?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: In order that the record may contain the answer, I would like to know whether it would have taken any longer or any more effort for you to have sent the same message to the Frankfurt that was sent to the Carpathia, when you realized that you were in imminent danger? Is there any code signal for "fool"?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir.
SENATOR SMITH: It would have taken no more time to apprise the Frankfurt of your perilous condition, growing more so all the time since the C. Q. D. call?
MR. BRIDE: He did not acknowledge the receipt of that when we told him he was a fool and told him to keep out.
SENATOR SMITH: As a matter of fact it would not have taken any more time to say "we are sinking" than it would have taken to have told him "you are a fool"?
MR. BRIDE: I assume Mr. Phillips thought that if he did not get our first C. Q. D., which was sent slowly and carefully; by Mr. Phillips, he would not get anything else.
SENATOR SMITH: Do you think he understood your message that he was a fool?
MR. BRIDE: I doubt it. I think it was sent too fast for him.
SENATOR SMITH: I gather from what you say that you have not much confidence in the ability of the operator on the Frankfurt?
MR. BRIDE: There ought to have been no question raised, sir, as to what he should have done as to our C. Q. D. call.
SENATOR SMITH: Mr. Bride, you remained with Mr. Phillips at the apparatus how long?
MR. BRIDE: All the time.
SENATOR SMITH: After the boilers were submerged, after the customary power had been submerged, did you have reserve power on the Titanic?
MR. BRIDE: The customary power was not submerged.
SENATOR SMITH: Not submerged?
MR. BRIDE: No, sir; not submerged?
SENATOR SMITH: At no time?
MR. BRIDE: Not to my knowledge.
SENATOR SMITH: Was there a reserve power there?
MR. BRIDE: There was a reserve power on the top deck.
SENATOR SMITH: But you had no occasion to use it?
MR. BRIDE: The motor and alternator that was working our wireless set were running when we left the cabin, 10 minutes before the ship went down.
SENATOR SMITH: Did you continue to send messages, or Mr. Phillips, up to the time you left the cabin?
