Radio Telegraphy Distress

Wireless arrived in Bangor by boat

Bangoreans could feel a little safer when they took the Boston boats beginning in the summer of 1911 a century ago. The Eastern Steamship Co. was required to install wireless systems by July 1.

A new federal law required wireless communication capability on steamers carrying 50 passengers and “going along the coast 200 miles,” said the Bangor Daily Commercial on July 21. They included the Belfast and the Camden, the two big steamers that sailed between Bangor and Boston. If something went wrong at sea, the ship’s crew would be able to call for help for the first time.

“The wireless” referred to wireless telegraphy or radio telegraphy — coded messages sent through the air without wires. Radio transmission of voices was still several years away, although it had been accomplished experimentally.

Shipping accidents were common. In early August, for example, the Belfast and the Camden both struck schooners in Rockland harbor in foggy weather in separate incidents.

Vessels disappeared and nobody knew what had happened to them. A momentous example engraved on the minds of Mainers was the disappearance of the steamer Portland on a voyage between Boston and Portland with the loss of nearly 200 passengers and crew. Everyone knew the vessel went down in the terrible gale of 1898, but nobody knew the circumstances. The crew had been unable to call for help or to report the vessel’s location.

The wireless was right up there with the advent of the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane and other technological breakthroughs. Bangor still did not have a commercial wireless office, although amateurs were experimenting with the exciting new technology, talking to each other and receiving messages from afar on their homemade systems.

A reporter for the Bangor Daily Commercial was invited aboard the steamer Belfast to see how the new system worked. So far it was mainly a novelty, “as was the case when telegrams were first sent over lines back in the 40s,” he reported on July 21.

He predicted more people would want to use this convenient form of communication when they learned it only cost “$1 for 10 words plus the Western Union cost for telegraphing on land.” (That doesn’t sound so cheap, considering $1 was worth about $20 in today’s currency.)

The United Wireless Company had a receiving station in Quincy, Mass., where messages were received from steamers up and down the East Coast. The operator on board the Belfast was Donald R. Hall, who attended “Massachusetts technological college.

Wireless arrived in Bangor by boat — Maine Living — Bangor Daily News

Bangoreans could feel a little safer when they took the Boston boats beginning in the summer of 1911 a century ago. The Eastern Steamship Co. was required to install wireless systems by July 1.

A new federal law required wireless communication capability on steamers carrying 50 passengers and “going along the coast 200 miles,” said the Bangor Daily Commercial on July 21. They included the Belfast and the Camden, the two big steamers that sailed between Bangor and Boston. If something went wrong at sea, the ship’s crew would be able to call for help for the first time.

“The wireless” referred to wireless telegraphy or radio telegraphy — coded messages sent through the air without wires. Radio transmission of voices was still several years away, although it had been accomplished experimentally.

Shipping accidents were common. In early August, for example, the Belfast and the Camden both struck schooners in Rockland harbor in foggy weather in separate incidents.

Vessels disappeared and nobody knew what had happened to them. A momentous example engraved on the minds of Mainers was the disappearance of the steamer Portland on a voyage between Boston and Portland with the loss of nearly 200 passengers and crew. Everyone knew the vessel went down in the terrible gale of 1898, but nobody knew the circumstances. The crew had been unable to call for help or to report the vessel’s location.

The wireless was right up there with the advent of the light bulb, the automobile, the airplane and other technological breakthroughs. Bangor still did not have a commercial wireless office, although amateurs were experimenting with the exciting new technology, talking to each other and receiving messages from afar on their homemade systems.

A reporter for the Bangor Daily Commercial was invited aboard the steamer Belfast to see how the new system worked. So far it was mainly a novelty, “as was the case when telegrams were first sent over lines back in the 40s,” he reported on July 21.

He predicted more people would want to use this convenient form of communication when they learned it only cost “$1 for 10 words plus the Western Union cost for telegraphing on land.” (That doesn’t sound so cheap, considering $1 was worth about $20 in today’s currency.)

The United Wireless Company had a receiving station in Quincy, Mass., where messages were received from steamers up and down the East Coast. The operator on board the Belfast was Donald R. Hall, who attended “Massachusetts technological college.

Proceedings of the Institute of Radio Engineers

QST.

Robison's Manual of radio telegraphy and telephony for the use of naval electricians

Computer Science and Communications Dictionary

Telecommunications Law Desk Reference