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WORK OF A *WIRELESS.
A NIGHT IN THE TELEGRAPH
ROOM ABOARD A LINER.
The Marconi Man Has Now Come to
..Be a Recognized Feature of Ocean
Travel-—His Status on Shipboard is
That of a Ship's Officer.
A year or more ago the first Mar
coni operator on a transatlantic liner
began his work. Now hardly a week
goes by that we do not learn of a
new ship equipped for wireless tele
graphing, and the Marconi man has
become a recognized feature of ocean
travel. I have traveled with these
men, and I shall describe a night
spent with one aboard the St. Paul
A wet wind blew in from the south
west all the evening and the ship
swung along through easy seas at a
twenty knot gait, well in midocean.
Below, on the promenade decks, the
passengers heard now and then a sib
ilant crackling that seemed to come
from somewhere in the air above the
ship—a peculiar sound, almost too
high-pitched for some ears. Aloft, on
the fiddiey deck, the wooden house,
ten feet square, whence the crackling
noise issued, glowed with electric
light. Here we sat, the operator in
his shirt sleeves at the big key, now
and then rapping out a call that, with
in the narrow confines of the little
cabin, sounded like sputtering pistol
shots, showing blue-white lightning
flashes as the current leaped from
the ‘“sparker” at each bend of the
wrist, and causing blue flame to play
ahout the six leyden jars.
s+ For minutes at a time the call shot
forth; then the operator would shift
connections to the receiver and listen
for as many minutes, carefully adjust
ing and readjusting the delicate in
strument meanwhile. They were
blocks of delicate and complicated ma
chinery, carefully cased in wooden
boxes, their supports carefully pad
ded to steady them against the least
vibration. There was a strip of paper
to record messages, like the tape on
the old Morze telegraph instruments;
but that is not necessary to the op
erator who can ‘“read by sound.” The
wires from the machines passed
through the roof of the office to the
top of the aftermast directly above
and were held apart by a long wooden
“spreader,” which made them look so
much like stays that the uninitiated
would hardly distinguich them from
a part of the ship's rigging.
Word came down from the bridge
early in the evening that we should
probably pass the Phiiadelphia some
time between midnight and dawn.
This meant all-night work for the Mar
coni man, who takes care to be at his
instrument an hour or two before a
Ship is expected tq come within his
reach. The amount of electric power
aboard an ordinary liner is sufficient
to send wireless messages 150 miles
under favorable circumstances. Know
ing the sailing days and speeds of
the ships that they are likely to meet
or overtake, the navigating officers of
a liner can calculate roughly when
they are likely to come within the
required radius of another floating
telegraph office. * Thus the operator
was “feeling about” this evening in
the upper air.
Toward midnight the first answer
came to the receiver from the un
known deep—faint, disconnected taps.
The operator called and listened, but
the faint tapping, though it grew
louder, did not become coherent, nor
could he read it on the tape. We got
the letters P. H., which surely meant
the Philadelphia, and our own call;
then everything suddenly ceased. The
ship was within reach, we knew, but
there was no further answer to our
constant query of P. H, P. H, P. H.
Connections were broken in some way,
and it was for us to find out how.
We went cutside and gazed upward
into the darkness, but the wires seem
ed {o be intact. For an instant the
full light of the moon flooded through
the scurrving clouds and let us see
where the trouble l2y. From a nearby
cleat the operator cast off the slender
linies of the signal halyards, which had
blown against the wires and thus
grounded the line, and made them fast
and taut some feet farther away,
then he plunged into the house again.
The instrument was ticking cheer
fully with a call from the Philadelphia
and the tape was registering it ac
curately. We answered the call, and
in another moment ‘“talk” began to
pass between the two ships—matters
of interest to one ship or the other,
messages between passengers, anc
finally the news of the day from either
side. .Two hours later the reading
by sound became difficult, the tape
began to miss, and the last faint good
bys were said.
Sometimes a vessel has been in al
most daily communication with others
all the way across. Such was a re
cent experience of the Ivernia. After
leaving Liverpool communication was
kept up with the Marconi station at
Waterloo until the Rosslare station
called the ship. On the following
day—Wednesday—when the liner was
30 miles off Queenstown, the admiral
ty’s station at Roche’s Point informed
her that the weather was too rough
to send the tender outside, which
necessitated entering the harbor. On
leaving Queenstown bay communica
tion with an incoming steamer was
established and kept up for some time.
At noon mes:zages were exchanged
with the Brow Haven station, 85 miles
east, and rough weather and fog were
reported ahead.
About 90 miles off Brow Head it
was learned that a second cabin pas
senger had lost her ticket. Queens
town was called, and it was learned
from the office that the woman had
bought a ticket, as she said. The
difficulty was satisfactorily adjusted.
The same day a homeward bound
steamer from New York was spoken,
and many messages were exchanged
between passengers. The next day an
other English ship sent word through
the air, and on Sunday a German liner
was heard from, the vessels commu
nicating for some time over a distance
of 100 miles. Immediately afterward
a Frenchman was heard talking with
the German. Monday was another
busy day for the Marconi operator,
for messages were exchanged with
the Umbria, the Minneapolis, the
Kroonland and a Hamburg boat. The
Marconi man on this trip earned his
salary as well as the commendation
of the ship’s company.
The charge for transmitting mes
sages from ship to ship at sea is six
pence a word, and the address and
signature free. From ship to shore
the rate on the American side is $2
for ten words, and 12 cents for each
additional word, with no charge for
address and signature, the regular
tolls for transmission from the office
on land to the final destination also
being collected on shipboard, of
course. On the English side the
charge for a marconigram from a
liner is six shillings for twelve words
and sixpence for each additional word,
the signature and address being charg
ed for in this case.
The Marconi man’'s status on ship
board is that of a ship’s officer. His
duties are confined entirely to the
management and handling of his in
struments in the little office on the
fiddley deck. At meals he may mess
with the junior officers or sit with
the saloon passengers. If, therefore,
his work is arduous, he has at least
pleasant surroundings. — Winthrop
Packard, in the World's Work.
New Geographical Ciock.
An interesting clock was recently
completed by Charles D. Davis, of
Chicago. Geographical clocks, or
clocks which indicate the time in ev
ery part of the world, are by no
m2ans new, but Mr. Davis’ invention
is said to posses many novel features.
The dial is totally unlike that of
the ordinary time recorder, in that
it contains 360 marks where the min
ute marks are usually placed, these
marks rapresenting the 3560 degrees
cn the earth's surface. On the outer
circle of the dial, where the twelve
hour representations are unusally
placed, are twenty-four figures repre
senting the full day. The minutes are
denoted by marks on the outer circle,
but two dots are required for five
minutes, because there are twice as
many characters on the face as on
the ordinary clock.
The dial is divided in the center
from the six mark to the opposite six
mark. The twelve hours of the day
are distinguished by light spaces and
the remaining twelve hours by darki
spaces. The hour hand is stationary |
at the point which is made the cen
tral time while the minute hand re
volves as on the ordinary clock. 1
To determine the time it is only
necessary to locate the city or coun
try on the red dial and read the time
in relation to its as on an ordinary
clock.—Jewellers’ Circular-Weekly.
When Nature is Remiss.
Nature nods undoubtedly at times,
as in the case of the child born with
out a brain, whose case has been
made public this week., Not long ago
an infant was born and lived for
three weeks with a hole through its
heart. Thousands of us are color
blind, others rhave no musical sense.
And there are many Laura Bridg
mans, many Helen Kellers. The
queen of Roumania has or had at her
court in personal attendance upon
herself the daughter of a blind noble
man. She could neither hear nor
speak and had to be taught to com
municate by holding the throat of a
speaker and imitating the vibration
produced by the effort. But what a
grudge against mature must such a
one as Lyon Playfair discovered ever
feel!
Here was a girl who was blind,
deaf, dumb and could neither taste
ner smell. One might be pardoned
for asking if such a life was worth
living. Yet there was a beautiful les
son in such an existence, as the great
warm heart of Playfair discovered.
He sent her a pretty finger ring, and
the poor mite replied in this pitifully
pretty letter: “Dear Sir Lyon Play
fair; Sir Lyon Playfair sent Edith
ring in box. Edith thank Sir Lyon
Playfair for ring. Sir Lyon Playfair
come to see Edith. Good-by. Edith.”
During his visit the child had .closely
examined his hands, wrists, arms and
face, her touch being marvellouslyl
accurate. A year later he went again, |
to see her. At first she did not recog
nize him and no one betrayed his
identity. At length she turned back‘
the cuff of his shirt and touched his
wrist. Her face lit up with intense
joy. “It is the Englishman who gave
me the ring,” she rapidly spelled out{
on her fingers. And in a second she
had flung her little arms around his
neck and was weeping witw. delight
at the recognition.—St. James’ Ga
zette.
A Queen as a Shopper. .
The Queen, the Princess of Wales,
Princess Charles of Denmark and
Princess Vicioria walked from the
castle into Windsor yesterday after
noon .nd did some shopping.
The Princesses filled their pockets
with lovely things, the royal party
staying in the shops a considerable
time. “They give as little trouble as
possible,” said Mr. Barber, “and it i 3
a real pleasure to wait on them.” The
Queen and the Princesses would not'
even trouble the shopkeeper to have
some of the things wrapped in paper.
They simply put the small purchases
into their pockets and asked for the
larger things to be sent on to the
castle.
Her Majesty and the Princesses
did not pay for their purchases in
hard cash, but the Queen remarked
to one tradesman, “You can trust
me?”’ They seemed to make lightl
of the uanpropitious weather and :he}
wet pavements, and tramped along
quite gayly, holding an animated con
versation and frequently stopping to
look at the wares displayed in the
shop windows of the Hign street.—
Orders have recently been executed
in Japan for a supply of fishing nets
for Alaska, valued at $30,C00.
The per capita wealth of England
is $210; that of Canada $240. |
Starved in Hold of Ship.
When the bottom hold of the steame
ship Rappahannock was opened, Rob--
art Leslie, almost a living skeleton, .
was found among the cargo stored .
there. When the ship was loading in.
[.ondon an American named Leslie -
crept aboard with a pint of water and
o little bread and went down into the
- for the purpose of beating his .
way across to this country. Merchan
(¢ise was placed in the hold until the
- man was stowed away
much more securely than he desired.
When the ship got under way and he -
desired to go on deck to throw him
self upon the mercy of Captain Buck- -
ingham he found all means of egress
barred.
When the hold was opened Leslie -
rould hardly speak above a whisper,
and he now lies at the hospital at.
Newport News at the verge of death..
He went into the hold of the Rappa--
hannock a hale, hearty man, weighing -
140 pounds. He came out looking -
like a skeleton over which had been
drawn a parchment covering. He: -
weighed hardly sixty pounds. Physi- -
:al and mental suffering both have -
eft an imprint upon his features, and
:he physicians at the hospital are:
ioubtful of saving the man’s life.
The mere fact that he passed through
the terrible ordeal without succumb- -
ing, however, shows remarkable vital- -
ity, and they may be able to pull him«
through.—lndianapolis News. .
A Vegetable Porcupine.
The best hated cactus in America..
{s the cholla., The Mexicans say
that if you go near a cholla joint it.
will jump at you. Certainly if you
touch one it will stick, and when you
try to free yourself it will pierce:
your other hand as well. Ea.chf pen--
lent joint seems to reach out for the
passerby, and the ground beneatb the
broad cholla tree is strewn | with
fallen fragments, many of which|take
root and grow. {
After one has felt the sharp s&)ines
through heavy boots and seen "their
needle points, it is a source ofi con--
tinual wonder to sce the wild dattle
of Arizona quietly browsing on(i,chol
las. The phrase “cactus fed,” as ap
plied to Arizona, is not a figure of
speech. During the years of drgught
thousands of cattle carry th‘enfs’alves
over until the next grass by e}ating'
chollas. With their leathery tongues
and lips they strip the spriny ?oints‘
from the trunk and leave the fwide
spreading cactus a bare and w{‘:ody'
skeleton. It is only the range\:\cat---
tle, whose mouths have been hgrden
ed on the thorny mesquite and }:iron--
wood browse, who will undertalys to
eat cactus, and cattlemen therefore
often burn the thorns from cl*lollas--
and nopals in order to tempt !their
more fastidious animals to éat‘.—-
Country Life in America. z
The Dimensions of Noah’s Ark.
Within the last ten years the |gen
eral dimensions of the ark have {been
closely followed by cargo steamship
builders for deep sea and the Ameri
can Great Lakes service. According
to the Bible, the ark was 480 [ feet
long, 80 feet wide and 48 feet dleep.
Her tonnage was 11,413, and she| had
enough rooms for pairs of all the dis
tinct species of animals that) are
classed by Buffon—244--and she ¢ould
have accommodated a thousand 'per
sons and then have plenty of room for
the storage of supplies. In the seven
teenth century Peter Jansen, a Hol
lander, built a vessel of the exact pro
portions of the ark, and she was sue
cessful, as the records of the tilixmes
show, in making money for her gwn
ers. Noah, the “Father of l\f&‘val
Architecture,” is held in profound re
spect by naval architects of to-day,
who know how immeasurably the
Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans /and
all other shipbuilders fell short of the
excellence of the type of the ark las &
commodious, safe and economical|ves
sel.—Syren and Shipping. /
A baker’s oven in France, \!‘Whicb
fs heated by electricity, is said “to be
a success in every particular.