Category: Locations

The story (and song) of the first radio rescue at sea, 23rd January 1909

‘Jack Binns, Jack Binns, the bravest of all the crew,
Jack Binns, Jack Binns, The world loves and honours you!’

The first rescue at sea that depended on radio was a big one involving a collision between two liners, and it inspired a music hall song. They don’t write them quite like that any more…

‘There’s a hole in the side of the ship Jack Binns, The Captain above he cried,
Give a message at once to the wandering winds, Aye aye Sir, Jack Binns replied,
The Captain was brave but braver was he,
Who sat in his room with his hand on the key… ‘

‘The first radio rescue at sea took place on 23 January 1909. On that day a Morse code distress call—CQD—was sent by White Star Line’s Republic (1903), which in dense fog had collided with the Lloyd Italiano liner Florida (1905). Republic’s signal was detected and relayed by the nearby Nantucket Island station. The US Revenue Cutter Gresham picked up the message from Nantucket and immediately headed to the collision site to help the victims.

‘Both Republic and Florida were heavily damaged, and Republic eventually sank. Yet passengers and crew who survived the initial crash were safely evacuated to Florida and White Star’s Baltic, which had also received the distress call and steamed to the scene. Two Republic passengers, asleep in their cabins, were killed when Florida’s bow sliced into the ship.’

Read on…

The astonishing story of Mary Read, soldier and pirate

If you don’t know it, clock the story of Mary Read, who spent much of her life passing as a boy or a man – and had careers in soldiering and two spells of piracy, one of which was as crew with pirate captain John ‘Calico Jack’ Rackham.

She became friendly with Calico Jack’s lover, pirate Anne Bonny. The pirate captain became suspicious that they were lovers, and had to be let into the secret of Mary’s true gender.

Then Mary fell in love with a captured sailor, saved him from probable death in a feud, then got captured and tried, and finally died of fever in jail…

It’s scarcely credible, particularly when you think of the sleeping and toileting arrangements on ships in the old days, but it must be true…

My thanks to Museum Ship Fountain for pointing this out.

Bob Roberts and Cambria remembered by mate Dick Durham, and a piece of old film

Dick Durham talks abiut his time as mate aboard the sailing barge Cambria:

And here’s Bob Roberts on film: