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The Wireless News
© 2017 Bart Lee, K6VK
For well over a century, radio has provided ships at sea and their well-off passengers
with current news of the world (and at times, war news), market data and sports.
From Marconi’s wireless telegraph to satellite delivery, the wireless news has been
indispensible to voyagers of many sorts, especially on transoceanic routes. Steamship
lines saw money to be made in providing this amenity. The technologies of commu-
nications and of the printing of newspapers at sea paced each other. Many of these
seagoing “newspapers” themselves tell nautical tales and social stories about their
readers. But they also illumine their producers in Europe, North America, and Asia,
including the shipping lines, the shoreside press, and the radiomen at sea. The radio
technology evolved from long waves to satellites, and from spark sets to vacuum tube
gear and then to modern solid-state circuits. A demand for current information at sea,
far from its sources, created an important maritime revenue stream. The economics of
news at sea and the higher socio-economic class of the passengers helped to further
the development of the radio art.
Introduction – Young Marconi should be preserved and a special edi-
Started It tion of The Transatlantic Times was
News for passengers and crew at sea, run off for the benefit of the Seamen’s
sent through the ether by “wireless Fund at a dollar a copy. ‘Through the
telegraphy,” started with Marconi, as courtesy of Mr. G. Marconi,’ it said,
did so much else in radio (see Fig. 1). ‘the passengers on board the St. Paul
His daughter Degna Marconi wrote are accorded a rare privilege, that of
about her then-young father’s return receiving news several hours before
from the United States to England via landing. . . . As we all know, this is the
the SS St. Paul in 1899: first time that such a venture as this
has been undertaken. A Newspaper
“There is a sequel to that epochal published at Sea with Wireless Tele-
[1899] transatlantic crossing. When graph messages received and printed
the St. Paul was less than 50 miles on a ship going twenty knots. . . .’
from the Needles [near to the Isle of Marconi cheerfully autographed the
Wight in Southern England], for an copies. Before the St. Paul docked at
hour and a half dispatches reached Southampton, readers knew:
the vessel about the progress of the
South African War. The ship’s cap- “3·30 [p.m.] 40 miles. Ladysmith,
tain, J. C. Jamison, felt that these Kimberley, and Mafeking holding
Volume 30, 2017 141
The Wireless News
out well. No big battle. 15,000 men berley effected the destruction of One
recently landed. Tin Pot. It was auctioned for £200. It is
“3·40 [p.m.] At Ladysmith no felt that period of anxiety and strain
more killed. Bombardment at Kim- is over, and that our turn has come.” 1
Fig. 1. This image is an enhanced and cropped version of the cover of the company magazine
Wireless World published by the Marconi Press Agency, Ltd. as Volume 1 for February 1914.
The Morse code spells out Marconi, and the station is the reconstructed Poldhu, Cornwall ZZ.
Worldwide coverage suggested by the cover, which was then aspirational, had to await the
short wave “Beam System” developed a decade later. (Author’s collection)
142 The AWA Review
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These messages about the Boer War Great Britain and its Australasian
are some of the first recorded wireless colonies could last weeks or months
telegraphy traffic. A graphic of the at a time and were notorious for their
Transatlantic Times as printed on the dullness . . . . [T]he passengers on
SS St. Paul is reproduced as Fig. 2. many journeys got organised and
Ship newspapers of the 19th century, elected a committee ‘for promoting
until the coming of the wireless news, the entertainment of the passengers
primarily allayed boredom on the long during the voyage.’ Besides organ-
voyages from one continent to another: ising social activities like sports or
musical events, such a committee
“While to date there is little infor- often pushed for the compilation of
mation as to how common the pro- a ship newspaper, i.e. a newspaper
duction of ship newspapers on board produced by passengers for passen-
long-distance passenger steamers in gers only with the means available on
the late nineteenth century was, we board—and thus concentrated exclu-
do know that it was certainly not a sively on topics that were of interest
rare thing. The passages between to the travellers.” 2
Fig. 2. Marconi’s first newspaper at sea, the Transatlantic Times; his new technology put to a new
use immediately. (Courtesy of David Barlow, Lizard Museum)
Volume 30, 2017 143
The Wireless News
Early Evolution of Wireless News at vessels—and even senior captains. Pas-
Sea — Sparks at Work senger convenience (and related rev-
enues) entered the picture as well, and
Wireless Signals for Distraction thereby hangs the present tale.
If Not Distress British maritime wireless opera-
Wireless signals were early used for tions enjoyed staffing from the Marconi
distress and later for distraction in the Company, which also leased the equip-
form of wireless news. At the begin- ment to the vessel owners. The com-
ning of the 20 th century, the maritime pany trained the operators and largely
industry quickly adopted “the wireless” invented the equipment, especially the
for signals of distress. (This was at first low frequency, long wave transmitters.
CQD then by 1910 SOS. CQD is said Generally, vessels used the shorter 600-
to have meant Come Quick Danger.) meter wavelength at sea because ships’
Management equally and quickly saw masts would not support any longer
the advantages of wireless to control antennas for longer wavelengths.
Fig. 3. The Marconi Company’s Cuthbert Hall in 1903 foresaw a profitable line of business in the
wireless news and contracted with Cunard to make it so. Hence, the wireless news on the Cunard
line’s RMS Campania in 1904. (Courtesy of David Barlow, Lizard Museum)
144 The AWA Review
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A passenger diary of 1902 refers to cable. From either shore of the Atlan-
this sort of vessel communication by tic, wireless (and then radio), got the
noting: stories of the day to vessels plying the
pond. See, for example, Fig. 4 with a
“Yesterday we met Compania. Mes- map of the North Atlantic bracketed
sages were sent back and forth by by Marconi towers on the first page of
means of wireless telegraphy until a 1908 Cunard Daily Bulletin.
t hey were about
ninety miles apart.
Compania is a much
faster boat requir-
ing almost two days
less than this boat to
cross the ocean. . . .” 3
The Cunard Line
(UK) contracted with
the Marconi company
in 1903 to broadcast
news daily so its ves-
sels could provide it
to passengers. One
such shipboard pub-
lication, also involv-
ing the Campania,
is shown in Fig. 3.
These transmissions
enabled the first regu-
lar “Wireless News”
at sea, according to
David Barlow, G3PLE,
curator of the Lizard
Marconi Wireless Sta-
tion “LD” in Cornwall
(UK).4
L ondon news-
papers and press Fig. 4. The Cunard line’s RMS Lusitania made for travel at its
best before World War One—for rich people anyway. Stupidity
associations aggre-
doomed the passenger liner Lusitania during the war when the
gated news stories, Germans torpedoed her because she carried contraband muni-
and much of that got tions. At least 1,198 people thus died in May 1915, including many
across the Atlantic by Americans. (Courtesy of David Barlow, Lizard Museum)
Volume 30, 2017 145
The Wireless News
Marconi Initiates Regular “Press” sent out a weather report or forecast
Broadcasts (circa 1904) for merchant ships. The call sign used
The Marconi high power station ZZ was ZZ.
at Poldhu, in Cornwall, had sent out “Poldhu was used for sending
the three clicks of the first transatlan- ships’ newspapers because of its high
tic signal in 1901. Barlow notes its role power and significantly greater range
in press operations, the first “Ocean than the coast stations such as the
News”: Lizard. It should also be noted that
this traffic was sent at night to take
“I have heard it said that Poldhu was advantage of night effect.” 5
only an experimental and develop-
ment station and was not involved As early as 1904,6 the Marconi Com-
in commercial activities. This was pany supplied each ship that offered
not the case as in 1903 the Marconi its Oceanic News with an on-board
Company came to an agreement with printer and pressman, in the employ
Cunard to send the Cunard Daily of the company, to produce it by let-
Bulletin from Poldhu and Glace Bay terpress. According to the 1904 report,
[Canada] daily. The first idea for a financial houses, railroads, steamship
ships newspaper came from Marconi companies, and any “good house”
himself while returning from New could buy an advertisement for a mini-
York on board the SS St. Paul in 1899. mum $100 “card.” The first issue of the
The ship received news of the progress Oceanic News was expected to cost
of the Boer War . . . $14,000 to produce. (Both amounts
“In October 1903 the first ship’s were relatively princely sums in those
daily newspaper was published on days.) The expenditures would per-
board the SS Lucania. This may well mit the advertisers and producers of
have been sent from Poldhu because the news to reach the well-off “salon”
an agreement had been reached with travelers on the Atlantic run, some
the Cunard Company that the Cunard 125,000 in 1903. Among other items
Daily Bulletin would be sent from for them, daily market quotations for
Poldhu and Glace Bay in an attempt 43 “universal stocks” would appear.
to cover the Atlantic Ocean. . . . Relays from ship to ship updated the
“By 1910 it is known that from data and news. The Marconi Company
one AM for 45 minutes Poldhu was founded this 1904 project on the suc-
sending Ocean News, the nightly cessful tests of wireless for news at
news bulletin. This is known because sea undertaken by the company and
the Poldhu signal jammed the SOS the Reuters press agency. The Lizard
between the Lizard station and the wireless station sent the press out to
SS Minnehaha. The log of the Lizard an incoming ship, to the delight of all
station also indicates that Poldhu also concerned.7
146 The AWA Review
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Station KPH in California Sends “Press” structure with a vertical fan antenna.
for the Pacific (circa 1912) Thus, it was well within the realm of
In California, the possibility of trans- technical and commercial possibility
mitting news to ships at sea at the turn to reach Hawaii circa 1905 (it did hap-
of the last century made for a business pen in 1910).
opportunity for the Pacific routes as An extant audio recording of a
well. In 1905, the projected Mt. Tamal- press spark transmission circa 1910,
pais wireless station (as it happens, sab- likely intended to be heard at sea,
otage kept it off the air) saw a maritime has been unearthed by David Ring,
news service as a revenue source: N1EA, a principal of the Radio Officers
Group. This Morse code transmission
“Wireless Station On Tamalpais [—] was probably recorded shoreside in
Communication To Be Had With San Francisco on an Edison cylinder
Ships 2000 Miles Out At Sea[:] The machine, and perhaps at the sending
Pacific Wireless Telegraph Company station, callsign “TG.” A Nevada boxing
has the project in hand. It expects to match is its subject (Nevada permitted
have this wireless plant and a similar betting, then and now). It reads:
one on a high mountain peak near
Honolulu, in complete working order “Joe Jeffries owes Jack Johnson a
inside of a few months. The officers good deal of money. That is he has
of the company feel confident of their made a fortune through his rela-
ability to make the wireless plant a tions with the colored champion. In
complete success in every way. It is fact the Californian has cleaned up
believed that it will be possible to $62218.28 since Nov 17 all because the
communicate with all the wireless negro fighter insisted that the retired
equipped vessels with a radius of champion agree to meet him in a fistic
2000 or more miles. It is expected contest . . .” 9
that every one of the Oriental and
Australian Mail Steamships will be Earle Ennis, a western wireless
equipped with wireless telegraph pioneer, owned and operated San
apparatus, and that on these ships a Francisco’s Western Wireless Equip-
daily newspaper of a few pages con- ment Company and its wireless sta-
taining the condensed doings of the tion TG (see Fig. 5).10 It broadcast from
world furnished from the Tamalpais the Adam Grant building on Market
station will be published.” 8 Street in San Francisco. The entire
15-round prizefight in Reno got on
Marconi’s Poldhu station in 1901 the air via station TG, especially for
had bridged the approximately 2,000 nearby ships at sea. (That’s where most
miles to Newfoundland. The high- professional wireless receivers were
power “Mt Tam” station replicated its floating around at the time.) Ellery W.
Volume 30, 2017 147
The Wireless News
Fig. 5. Earle Ennis pioneered radio with his San Francisco station TG in 1910. He
also first communicated by wireless with an aircraft that same year. (Jane Morgan,
Electronics in the West, 1967, p. 35)
Stone, later the assistant radio inspector K.W. station at San Francisco, sent
for the U.S. Department of Commerce out the news of Johnson’s victory.” 11
at San Francisco recognized the impor-
tance of the story of the radio art and The San Francisco Chronicle em-
reported this to Modern Electrics: ployed wireless to hear from ships
about to come into port. This was
“The returns were also received by known to all as “the shipping news”
several ships out at sea, among them when the newspapers published this
being the Oceanic Steamship Com- information. The vessels then, it is a fair
pany’s liner ‘Sierra’ on her way to inference, wanted to hear from their
San Francisco from Honolulu, whose ports of call and homeports if feasible
operator gave out the fight bulletins about the news of the day, financial ups
to the passengers as soon as they were and downs, and sporting events. The
received. . . . later Hillcrest [PH] the Chronicle used a spark station circa
U.W. [United Wireless] Co.’s big 15 1910 with the call letters “CH.” Also
148 The AWA Review
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in San Francisco, the United Wireless town. Press was sent by station KPH
Company used station callsign PH for at 12:30 every morning. All ships cop-
its initial location at the Palace Hotel ied the press. If you missed a portion,
in 1905, which it vacated as a result of it was always possible to get a fill-in
the San Francisco earthquake in 1906. from some other ship, sooner or later.
PH became KPH and migrated to what On passenger ships the news was
is now Daly City, on a hill south of San mimeographed on an insert sheet,
Francisco, around 1912. KPH soon placed in a magazine section called
became the main West Coast maritime the “ocean wireless news” and
station. American Marconi assumed sold for ten cents a copy. The wireless
ownership of this station in 1912 company supplied the mimeograph,
after United Wireless went bankrupt. ink, stencils, magazine section, and
While United Wireless first exploited the inserts. A different magazine sec-
this business opportunity up to 1912, tion was used each day. This section
American Marconi extended it there- contained advertisements from mer-
after. KPH migrated north circa 1920 chants on the Pacific Coast, Hawaiian
to the then RCA, high power, transpa- Islands, Australia, and the Orient. It
cific locations at Bolinas and Pt. Reyes, was a good profitable source of income
California in Marin County. for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph
Circa 1912, Station KPH sent out Co. Besides, they received half of the
“press” daily at midnight on 600 meters proceeds of the ten cents per copy
from a hilltop south of San Francisco obtained by selling the paper aboard
in what is now Daly City. The press ship. Multiply this by thousands of
had been aggregated earlier from the passengers and hundreds of ships and
San Francisco newspapers. Shipboard it was good business.
operators in the Pacific would then “However, the ship’s operators had
turn this traffic into the Ocean Wire- requested consideration of a more
less News. If a ship’s radioman did not equitable division of the profits, and
get all the detail from the 00:30 Morse they were right. This request was
code broadcast, other shipboard opera- under consideration, but it was also
tors nearby would supply fill-ins. Rich- under a slow bell. Some of the boys
ard Johnstone, who went to work as a improvised a method of duplicating
young wireless operator in 1912 (and inserts to bolster their share of the
who much later served as a principal of profit, without the approval of the
the Society of Wireless Pioneers, after Marconi Company, and the requested
retiring from RCA and then the Navy) increase was never granted. If the ship
so reported many years later: was to sell 300 papers, the amount
to turn in to the wireless company
“The daily press aboard ship was was fifteen dollars. The other fifteen
just as important and exciting as the dollars was divided between the two
arrival of the daily train in a small operators making their total salary
Volume 30, 2017 149
The Wireless News
for the month $47.50. Apparently letters CH were sent using the Morse
everything was in favor of the Mar- sequence ‘----’ (four dashes). This is
coni Co.” 12 not commonly used these days except
among Spanish speaking operators.
New York Herald Station WHB Provides The word PLUNGED is actually
Press in the Near Atlantic (as Early as somewhat ambiguous. The manual
1909) sending was good throughout, with
A 1915 Morse code spark signal press a slight swing, but easy to copy. Only
broadcast to ships resides on a record- PLUNGED makes any sense here,
ing in the AWA archives. The New York referring to ‘Plunging’ (investing
Herald station WHB transmitted this heavily) into the stock market or
press traffic in 1915 to ships at sea. The stocks plunging in value.”
late Jim Maxwell, W6CF, analyzed it
in a note for the California Historical Maxwell concluded: “Overall, it
Radio Society about copying WHB, seems as if a report was being given
as recorded by Charles Apgar, 2MN, of a missing bank clerk who had been
in 1915: playing the races and the stock market.
Too bad we don’t have more informa-
“Here’s the text of the WHB transmis- tion on it.” Of course, such a story com-
sion: ‘Mny k bt investigation shows ing out of the wireless cabin would also
missing bank clerk Henry Bradley alert the captain and the purser of a
merchants natl bank short hundred potential fugitive aboard, irrespective
fifty thousand played races plunged of any on-board newspaper. All such
stox.’” 13 officers surely remembered Dr. Crip-
pin’s capture by wireless in 1910.
Maxwell noted that this Morse was The New York Herald wireless sta-
hand sent and that the recording starts tion has been an interest of Professor
in the middle of a transmission: Noah Arceneaux in the School of Jour-
nalism and Media Studies at San Diego
“It isn’t clear what was going on prior State University:
to the BT (break or pause). MNY is
a common abbreviation for ‘many’ “Station WHB[:] . . . the [New York]
and K is an invitation to transmit. It Herald established a permanent sta-
is possible that this represents a frag- tion in 1909 . . . . The station, known
ment of a conversation between the first as OHX, broadcast news twice
operators prior to going on with the a day, with each transmission last-
news. The entire transmission seems ing approximately fifteen to twenty
somewhat informal—note the use of minutes, and claimed that its signal
the abbreviation NATL for National, extended 1,500 miles. Following the
and STOX probably for STOCKS. In Radio Act of 1912, the government
the word MERCHANTS the two began to assign call letters to stations,
150 The AWA ReviewLee
and WHB became the new moniker. news (and a passenger list). One such
(The H did not stand for the Herald, sheet is dated March 19 th , 1914. The
however, as other New York stations front cover for the booklet carrying
were also assigned call letters that the sheet displays a color picture of an
began with the WH prefix.)” 14 ocean liner at sea with a tugboat along-
side, signed by the artist “O’Malley” at
Professor Noah Arceneaux adds: the bottom of picture. The News carried
“A book on wireless telegraphy pub- many advertisements, mostly for hotels,
lished in 1912 contains two photos of suggesting that at least some passengers
the Herald station.” 15 One shows an did not make hotel reservations until
unnamed operator inside the control well underway. It was likely cheaper
room; another shows the exterior of to do so by ship’s wireless than trans-
the station, located at the Battery, the oceanic cable.
southern tip of Manhattan. Two massive Around 1914, the regular at-sea
horizontal antennas dominate the sky- newspaper with wireless traffic con-
line. The book provides no additional tent evolved. The noted radio author-
information on the Herald, although ity, Dr. Adrian Peterson of Adventist
one paragraph citing Alfred P. Morgan World Radio (AWR), writes on this
addresses the general phenomenon of development:
wireless stations operated by the press:
“In the very early years, there was a
“‘Several enterprising newspapers ship newspaper with the title ‘Aero-
have recognized the value of wire- gram.’ In 1915, due to commercial
less telegraphy in collecting shipping buy-outs in the United States, the
news and have installed outfits for the name was changed to ‘Ocean Wireless
assistance of their reporting bureau. News’ and this was made available to
This innovation in modern journal- many ships plying the coastal passen-
ism has quickly developed into a use- ger trade along the eastern seaboard
ful feature of those publications who of North America.” 18
have seen fit to adopt it. When the
baseball season is under way every The Conrad Archive notes about its
steamship within calling distance 1915 copy of the Ocean Wireless News:
wants the latest baseball scores or
sporting results.’” 16 “A colour monthly containing travel
articles, marine items, and light
In the years before World War One, humour, supplemented by daily
the Ocean Wireless News,17 published news inserted by wireless operators,
by Marconi Publishing, New York, The Ocean Wireless News: A Journal
had laid in a folded sheet with “News for Travellers was published by the
Received Direct by Marconi Wireless,” Wireless Press Company of New
including a weather forecast and press York between 1899 and 1925, when
Volume 30, 2017 151The Wireless News it merged with Popular Radio. The of 1915, it sold for ten cents a copy. magazine, which advertised itself as (As of 1931, with the advent of the ‘The First Wireless Newspaper,’ was depression, it went out of business.) available on American steamship An elegant lady passenger of the lines as well as by subscription.” 19 As day appeared on a cover of the Ocean Fig. 6. A uniformed Marconi messenger boy appears, winged like Mercury, the messenger of the gods. A lady of elegance and means glances at him from the corner of her eye as he salutes her and says: “Marconigram for you, Miss.” Her valise looks full. Is she about to embark? Is she on board? Is the message from her husband? Perhaps her fiance’ ? (Courtesy of Joe Knight) 152 The AWA Review
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Wireless News in this pre-war era (see the art in the mid-1920s for maritime
Fig. 6). This undated cover exemplifies stations and most others. These evacu-
the era of first class travel and service ated “bottles” powered the antennas
before World War One, in the decade that then sent the “press” winging
of the Lusitania and the Titanic. The through the ether. Smaller vacuum
cover is itself a droll advertisement for tubes had already made possible the
the pleasing convenience of receiving regenerative receivers that could copy
(and sending) Marconigrams at sea, traffic from very far away, especially on
facilitated by a winged boy-Mercury the shorter wavelengths. Then the later
messenger. The Marconi Company stable superheterodyne circuit radios
was ever alive to the prospects of rev- predominated after the mid-1930s, for
enue from its new technology, which voice as well as Morse code. Until the
enhanced both performance and its 1920s, spark was king; after that it was
bottom line. only a technological ghost.
Various styles of wireless news
continued to inform passengers of the
Short Wave Radio, Powered by “press” on almost every shipping line.
Vacuum Tubes, Became the Etheric For a while after World War One, the
Medium for Wireless News at Sea news traveled through the ether on
spark signals, as did almost all the other
The Transition From Spark to wireless traffic. (The U.S. Navy used
Continuous Waves (“CW”) Federal Telegraph Company arcs of up
The exigencies of the Great War had to a million watts of peak power after
accelerated vacuum tube technol- the first working arc was used at Fed-
ogy. After the war, amateurs explored eral’s San Francisco station FS in 1912.)20
wavelengths “two hundred meters Federal also saw the revenue opportu-
and down,” i.e., the short waves above nities in providing the wireless news
1,500 KHz. Marconi also turned to short to passengers on Federal-equipped
wave radio. The radio art, especially in vessels (see Fig. 7). Beginning in the
its maritime aspects, took advantage of 1920s, short wave CW transmitters and
these developments. Transoceanic and receivers using vacuum tubes provided
even worldwide range became routine the wireless news for passenger liners.
as a result of ionospheric propagation. Wireless news, particularly about the
Morse code communication to ships at markets and sporting events of interest
sea became much more reliable. Shore to the well-off, was a perquisite and told
stations automated traffic such as press of luxury travel in the Roaring Twenties.
and weather. Short wave radio, powered Mundane news of the day also circu-
by vacuum tubes, became the etheric lated in the same way. These magazines
medium for wireless news at sea in the or newspaper-like sheets of inserts also
decades after World War One. Vacuum generated revenue from advertisements
tube transmitters became the state of and in many cases from sales.
Volume 30, 2017 153The Wireless News Fig. 7. The Federal Telegraph Company contracted with shipping lines in the Pacific to provide wireless telegraph service to ships at sea using its Poulson arc system. Federal appears to have sent wireless news on a daily basis for shipboard publication in its Federal Radio News publication for passengers. Dating from 1921, this cover shows a Ceylonese canal, perhaps to encourage travel on that route. (Courtesy of History San Jose and Joe Knight who found it in the Archives there) 154 The AWA Review
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Colorful Newspapers Please Passengers Association and from the Sydney Eve-
and Generate Revenues ning Post. This vessel and its sister ships
Dr. Peterson describes the format of plied the sea-routes to San Francisco via
post-war wireless news publications, Tahiti from Sydney. The radio-room
which is consistent with wireless news stayed tuned to Australia even on the
publications discussed in the following Tahiti to San Francisco leg of the voy-
paragraphs: age. The relevant time zones are shown
on the back cover of the Wireless News
“In those days, a cover was printed on in Fig. 11; this would be particularly
land, often in color and with lots of useful, perhaps, in sending a wireless
advertising, and this was made avail- message for a hotel reservation. It is
able in bulk to ships equipped with likely that the passengers hailed mostly
a wireless receiver and some form from Australia. The news of the day
of printing press. The inside section shows up on the last pages of the maga-
of the ship newspaper was compiled zine (see Fig. 12).
from up to date reports received For these booklets, wireless opera-
on the wireless equipment, it was tors on the vessels took down “the
inserted into the color cover, and the press” from one or more shore stations,
newspaper was sold to passengers.” 21
The Australian vessel RMS Makura
published one such edition of the Wire-
less News. The cover of this land-printed
1927 Wireless News was graced with a
1926 nautical painting by C. B. Nor-
ton (see Fig. 8). Amalgamated Wireless
Australasia, Ltd. provided this 36-page
booklet aboard the Makura. The fol-
lowing words ran as a footer on the
cover advertising Amalgamated Wire-
less: “An Ocean Newspaper Published
On Board By Amalgamated Wireless
(Australasia) Ltd, Sydney.” The crew
inserted the news reports aboard. An
internal advertisement for the news
with the words, “The Morning News
of Sea Travel,” is reproduced in Fig. 9. Fig. 8. Colorful covers, here a painting from
nautical artist C. B. Norton, and pre-printed
The internal logo for the Wireless News
advertisements enveloped the few pages of
appears as Fig. 10. this 1927 edition of the Wireless News; the news
The wireless operators sourced insert was prepared from received radio trans-
the news from the Australian Press mission of “press.” (Author’s collection)
Volume 30, 2017 155The Wireless News paragraph by paragraph. This booklet sea. With “press” reliably anticipated, also lists all of the passengers (early the passenger lines could sell advertise- “networking” perhaps), and it advertises ments in their booklets from businesses goods and services. It notices shipboard in ports of call. events and gives port information. Only Another edition of the Wireless radio could reach the ships at sea and News resides in the collections of the garner the revenue derived from the Australian Victoria Museum (see demand for current news, especially Fig. 13). This is a “Souvenir Edition” financial reports, although cables might of the Wireless News published for the still supplement radio internationally. Australian Commonwealth Line of Shore stations competed with each Steamers, specifically the TSS Jervis other by providing “press” to ships at Bay, according to the museum. As this Fig. 9. The 1927 Wireless News as printed carried this internal advertisement. These vessels steam along under their 600-meter wavelength antennas. Note inset map of worldwide routes. (Author’s collection) Fig. 10. This logo within the 1927 Wireless News perhaps illustrates the company’s passenger liners coming and going. In those days only a boat could get in or out of Australia. The mineral and other wealth of the island continent sustained luxury travel. (Author’s collection) 156 The AWA Review
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Fig. 11. The back cover on this 1927 Wireless News shows time zones around the world. This not
only made for a colorful back cover, it also facilitated timing for passenger radio communica-
tions to ports. It may be that this was a standard annular back cover illustration with particular
routes appearing in the center—why else Bombay, London and Rio clocks? (Author’s collection)
Volume 30, 2017 157The Wireless News Fig. 12. Part of the news of the day from the May 11, 1927, Wireless News. Passengers learned among other important news that the Mexican Federales fought it out with the Yaqui Indians 60 miles south of the Arizona border; this may have had special import to Australians with mining interests. London, New York, and Australian cities provided other datelines. (Author’s collection) 158 The AWA Review
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Fig. 13. This 1928 edition of the Wireless News also boasts a painting by nautical artist C. B.
Norton, and a likely notional clipper ship. Its news issued as the ship transited the Strait
of Gibraltar. (Museums Victoria, http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/items/1125171/
magazine-the-wireless-news-the-wireless-press-1928)
Volume 30, 2017 159The Wireless News
vessel passed Gibraltar (April 7, 1928), it The RMS Niagara mentioned by
printed this particular issue’s inserts. A Dr. Peterson also sailed for the Union
color image of the steamer appears on Steamship Company on the Vancouver
the blue front cover. One “A. G. Maclau- run, so this detail is company adver-
rin,” likely a passenger, wrote his name tisement, sort of a “two-fer” in the
on the cover. Ship interiors, points of commissioning of a nautical painting
interest in ports, results of activities, a by the steamship line. Dr. Peterson
passenger list, and a page of signatures also notes:
from other passengers appear in this
issue of the Wireless News.22 “A 1925 version of the ‘Ocean Wireless
Illustrating the transition to tubes News’ features a color cover, drawn by
from spark, the Victoria Museum notes: an artist and showing passengers and
“In September 1926 Jervis Bay became crew making ready to depart at the
the first ship on the UK to Australia beginning of a voyage. This particu-
route to be equipped with a short-wave lar edition was distributed on board
radio transmitter—a self-oscillator the SS Manchuria which was built in
type using two Marconi T250 valves Camden, New Jersey in 1904 and at
enabling the ship to be in constant the time, it was in passenger service
radio-to-shore contact.” 23 with the Panama Pacific Company
C. B. Norton also painted the TSS in the Americas.” 25
Jervis Bay nautical scene on this cover.
A three-masted clipper ship sails off the Dr. Peterson’s article continues:
port side, which must have been quite
a sight as late as 1928. The left-side post “The Canadian Pacific Company
bindings are probably original, because operated a large fleet of passenger
the RMS Makura souvenir booklet is and cargo vessels across both the
bound similarly. Atlantic and the Pacific. The same
Dr. Peterson also notes an earlier name, the ‘Wireless Press,’ was used
RMS Makura publication of the Wire- for all of their shipboard newspapers
less News: regardless of the ship and its service
area. For example, the SS Montcalm
“Another example of a ship newspa- was in the Atlantic passenger service
per was a daily edition of ‘The Wire- and the ‘Duchess of Richmond’ was
less News’ on board the ship ‘Makura,’ a cruise ship that voyaged to many
sailing across the Pacific. This ship destinations; and the name of their
was built in Glasgow, Scotland and it shipboard newspapers in both cases,
was operated by the Union Steamship was ‘Wireless Press.’” 26
Company of New Zealand. The outer
cover of this paper, in an issue dated Examples are known of the Cana-
in 1923, shows a photo of another ves- dian Pacific Line’s “Wireless Press”
sel plying the Pacific, the ‘Niagara.’” 24 issued aboard the RMS Montrose and
160 The AWA ReviewLee
the RMS Empress of France in 1930, Japanese Vessels Provide Passengers
probably because a passenger pre- with Radio Press
served them.27 The RMS Montrose edi- Dr. Peterson also mentions the Japanese
tion identifies its source as “Canadian N.Y.K. line (Nippon Yusen Kabushiki
Pacific News-Radio.” Kaisha), printing “the information
The sorts of news that appeared in received by radio from Japan.” He
the various at-sea publications implies concludes: “The list of ship newspa-
that the passengers were international- pers produced from news transmitted
ists and cosmopolitans, which could in Morse code by wireless and in voice
also be inferred just from the price of by radio is almost endless.” 29
passage. According to Dr. Peterson: Before World War Two, Japanese
passenger vessels also traversed the
“The issue of ‘Wireless Press’ for Pacific and called at Asian ports. The
Tuesday April 6, 1937 shows that Asama Maru, for example, sailed in
the ‘Duchess of Richmond’ was on the trans-Pacific Orient and California
a Christian World Cruise. The sin- fortnightly service to San Francisco.
gle sheet newspaper, derived again The N.Y.K. line built her and sister
from radio reports, gives an inside ships in Japan for this route. (N.Y.K.
view to world events at the time. still sails the Pacific.) “The Queen of
Among these 1937 news events are the Sea” sobriquet applied to the Asama
the following: Maru; nonetheless, in the war Allied
forces sank her (1944) and almost all
• The weather in London is foggy, and of the Japanese liners that had served
the temperature was just 41 degrees. pre-war.30
• The Earl of Clarendon arrived in The Japanese Wireless JiJi Press from
London at the end of a six year term the N.Y.K. line in 1935 provided news
as governor of South Africa. and articles. (Jiji means “Times.”) For
• The Crown Prince of Hedjaz, Emir example, Figs. 14–15 are mastheads
Sand, has just concluded a state visit appearing in an issue dated June 24,
to Baghdad. 1935. The column under the masthead
• Two minutes of silence was observed in Japanese is about war. This four-page
in Dublin for members of the Irish Wireless Jiji Press issued on 11" by 17"
Brigade killed in Spain. newsprint paper in the fourth year of
• New Delhi reports heavy rains in Emperor Hirohito’s reign and is so
the North West Frontier and the dated in Japanese.31 Reading from the
border regions of Afghanistan. left, the first two pages are in English.
• Federal Securities are sold on the Reading from the right, those first two
open market in the United States pages are in Japanese. The English con-
at 3% below par. tent appears to be fill, as does much of
• An airplane is taking off for a record the Japanese. In English it says on the
flight from Tokyo to London.” 28 first page: “A Newspaper Issued Daily
Volume 30, 2017 161The Wireless News
Fig. 14. For the Japanese N.Y.K. line, the Wireless Jiji Press came out on newsprint, mostly pre-
prepared with fill, but issued daily. (Wireless Jiji Press, June 24, 1935; author’s collection)
Fig. 15. The Japanese language predominated in the content of the 1935 Wireless Jiji Press, although
English provided the “fill,” perhaps as a way for Japanese passengers to sharpen their language
skills. (Wireless Jiji Press, June 24, 1935; author’s collection)
On Board N.Y.K. Liners.” A daily sheet radio antennas that ordinarily cannot
of radio news would seem to be missing. be seen in panoramic photographs of
An advertisement in the Jiji Press ships.32 It too did not survive the war.
shows maritime traffic to China played
a role in N.Y.K.’s revenues (see Fig. 16). Radio Press and Shipboard Newspapers
Every four days one of the steamers in World War Two and After
sailed to China. As little as one day on The “press,” in the form of wireless
the China Sea (24 hours) put a Japanese news, went to ships at sea during World
businessman in Shanghai. (In those War Two. Passengers and crew kept
days Japanese imperial ambitions ran abreast of war developments. The Brit-
high.) The war claimed both of the ish Wireless Marine Service in World
advertised liners. A mine sank the War Two informed British shipping
Nagasaki Maru in 1942, and a colli- (and anyone within radio range) of war
sion sank the Shanghai Maru in 1943. progress. As indicated in the masthead
The Japanese navy converted another of a message from the Marine Service
liner, the Kashiwara Maru, into an air- reproduced in Fig. 18, the Marconi
craft carrier (see Fig. 17). The artist has International Marine Communications
enhanced his image by emphasizing the Company, the Radio Communication
162 The AWA ReviewLee
Fig. 16. This sort of advertisement for Chinese travel in the 1935 Wireless Jiji Press sheds light on
Japanese imperial ambitions for China in the 1930s. (Wireless Jiji Press, June 24, 1935; author’s
collection)
Fig. 17. The Kashiwara Maru never sailed as the 1930s ocean liner of this artist’s conception, but
this dramatic scene does illustrate the radio antennas of the liners of the day. The vessel ended
up as an aircraft carrier and did not make it through the war. (Painting by David “Alan” Urban,
Jr. as “carsdude,” courtesy DeviantArt.com)
Company, and a third Marconi com- defeat of the Graf Spee pocket battleship
pany had been amalgamated. This frag- in South America early in the war. Mer-
ment of 1939 wireless press reports the chant marine radiomen reported the
Volume 30, 2017 163The Wireless News
Fig. 18. “To-Day’s News” appears on the 1939 masthead of “press” for newspapers at sea pro-
vided by the Marconi British Wireless Marine Service during World War Two. (Courtesy of David
Barlow, Lizard museum)
location of Graf Spee, at serious risk to equator, known at sea as “Crossing the
themselves and their vessels, enabling Line,” which was celebrated by “shell-
the British Navy to find and engage her. backs,” who had done it in various ways
The radiomen on U.S. Navy vessels before, and usually unpleasant for “pol-
took a great deal of press and similar liwogs,” who had not. The orders antici-
traffic, turning it into typed and mim- pated opposition in the Royal Domain
eographed multipage newspapers at sea. of King Neptune Rex and set a special
One example is The Pelio ‘Sea Horse’— watch. The survival of this particular
the “Radio Press” of the USS Pelias (see at-sea newspaper may owe itself to a
Fig. 19). This submarine tender fought at then newly christened shellback.
Pearl Harbor on the first day of the war, In the 1950s, a sailors’ union, the
“splashing” at least one attacking Japa- American Radio Association, CIO sent
nese aircraft. On Monday, June 29, 1942, out press for its members at sea in the
she was about to cross the equator on marine bands, 8 MHz and 17 MHz:
her way to Australia. She supplied her “This Press may be copied, free, for
crew with more than six pages of war posting aboard ship or in Union Halls;
and national news, including sports, may be reproduced if credit is given
the baseball scores, and commentary. to: ‘Press Broadcast of ARA, CIO,’ or
At least 30 paragraphs of war news bear just ARA Press.” 33 The heading reads:
attributions to cities such as Washing- “Note change of West Coast Skeds [,]
ton, London, Moscow, Bombay, and Switch from 16 MC to 17 MC band[,]
Cairo. An insert conveyed general Inform all Ships of these Skeds.” 34 San
orders for the upcoming transit of the Francisco’s station KTK covered the
164 The AWA ReviewLee
Fig. 19. The “Radio Press” for this Navy subtender in 1942 in its shipboard publication, the Sea
Horse, provided considerable international information to the officers and crew in the early
days of U.S. involvement in the war when the outcome remained in doubt. (Author’s collection)
Pacific, and WCO on Long Island, NY,
covered the Atlantic. The logo “ARA
On the Air” appearing on the notice
is reproduced in Fig. 20.
Linotype Machines Aboard Liners
Brought Wireless News to Shoreside
Standards
Every significant passenger vessel
provided its passengers wireless news
Fig. 20. Unions could hardly count on corporate every day from the 1920s and there-
newspapers to carry union news, or even to after. Popular culture, even in fiction,
treat unions fairly. The merchant marine radio quickly recognized the importance of
operators’ union, the American Radio Associa- the currency of the “wireless news,”
tion (ARA) in the 1950s, took up the slack with
as did the maritime industries. Alfred
its own ocean-going press broadcast from
the East and West Coasts on the marine long- Noyes, poet and author, wrote The Last
distance bands. (American Radio Association, Voyage, a sea-going novel in 1930 ring-
ARA Log, Jan. and Feb. 1953, p. 5) ing with drama:
Volume 30, 2017 165The Wireless News
“The Last Voyage begins at night in letters. After each line of text was
mid-Atlantic, where an ocean liner, assembled, a metal cast of the line,
‘a great ship like a lighted city,’ is known as a “slug”, would be taken
battling through a raging storm. A and was then used to compose the
little girl is mortally ill. The ship’s columns and pages in readiness for
surgeon prepares to operate, but printing. Linotype machines had nev-
with little hope of success, for the er been used on board a liner before,
case is complicated and he is no spe- so that ingenious tests with machines
cialist. Luckily, the captain knows on rollers had to be conducted on land
from the wireless news that a top to replicate conditions at sea and en-
specialist from Johns Hopkins is sure the technology would function
on another liner 400 miles away— adequately.” 36
within wireless range. The ship’s sur-
geon will be able to consult him, and Today, cruise ships (and the few
stay in touch with him throughout remaining liners) still provide daily
the operation. Suddenly, the little newspapers via satellite, complete
girl’s chances of survival are much with full-page images from all over
improved.” 35 the world. Passenger lines continued
to take press traffic from the coast radio
For the benefit of passengers want- stations of Europe, North America, and
ing to keep up with the wireless news, Asia well into the 1960s.
as well as for facilitation of their own The coming of satellites made for
hospitality operations, many ships were the replacement of long antennas with
equipped with printing machines of squat parabolic dishes, as the frequen-
various types to print wireless newspa- cies moved up from 500 KHz (600
pers, menus and the like. They also car- meters) to the gigahertz ranges at cen-
ried press-men and printers (including timeter wavelengths. (Vacuum tubes,
Marconimen in the early days). But it too, are long gone.) With the coming of
was the UK Daily Mail with its Atlan- so much bandwidth, the wireless news
tic edition of 1923 that pioneered the at sea evolved to near photographic
shoreside technology of the linotype copies of the world’s newspapers, local
machine at sea. advertisements and all. See Fig. 21 for
a current shipboard advertisement
“The installation of linotype ma- for shipboard newspapers. Although
chines on the ships was the techni- the transport of well-off passengers
cal innovation that made the Atlantic became the business of the airlines, the
edition possible. Whereas typesetters tourist cruises picked up much of the
traditionally set the text by hand— slack. It still made sense to advertise to
letter-by-letter—a linotype machine them and to cater to the need they felt
allowed the operator to use a key- to stay fully informed, even on luxury
board that mechanically selected the vacations. 37
166 The AWA ReviewLee
Fig. 21. This is a copy of a current shipboard advertisement on a cruise ship for news-
paper service at sea. Full issues of the major newspapers of the world are available by
subscription for the length of the cruise. The data comes down from satellites (although
not printed in color). Satellite communication is generally reliable except near the poles
where the angle to the equatorial satellites is too low. Perhaps there’s something to be
said for legacy radio after all. (Author’s collection)
Conclusion primary applications would be mari-
The very phrase “the wireless news” time, only later to be followed by
came to stand for new knowledge of the competition with the transoceanic
events of the day, the only immediate cables. Maritime interests would pay
source for which was the radio—or in for immediate communications, and
British parlance, the wireless. A more their passenger would pay for news at
complete newspaper report of impor- sea. The economists say supply creates
tant events came only with the next demand but also that demand creates
dawn, at sea as well as ashore. Mar- supply. The new technology supplied
coni knew his new wireless telegraphy’s immediate news of events ashore, and
Volume 30, 2017 167The Wireless News
the willingness of passengers to pay mann, “Ship Newspapers and Passenger Life
for it drove both the radio art and the Aboard Transoceanic Steamships in the Late
Nineteenth Century” (citations omitted) in
printing art. the Journal [of] Transcultural Studies, Num-
Marconi’s new technology gave ber 1, (2012), published by the [University of
birth to the wireless news at sea very Heidelberg] Cluster of Excellence ‘Asia and
Europe in a Global Context: The Dynamics
shortly after wireless telegraphy first of Transculturality’[!] of the Ruprecht-Karls-
itself travelled over water. The then big Universität Heidelberg. http://heiup.uni-hei-
business of passenger lines sustained delberg.de/journals/index.php/transcultural/
index.
its growth for both the Atlantic’s and
3. This quote comes from the 1902 diary of Otelia
the Pacific’s well-off passengers. The Langum on a voyage on the Cunard Line’s
various, often colorful issues of the Saxsonia, back to America by way of Liver-
Wireless News record for us not only pool, UK. The ships exchanged messages on
the third day of her nine-day crossing. Larry
the events of the day, but also tell us Nutting, K7KSW, CHRS, supplied a copy of the
of the social world of travel through relevant part of the diary. His wife, the grand-
the decades. daughter of Ms. Langum, had transcribed the
diary.
From Marconi’s 1899 maritime 4. Originally almost all Marconi stations used call
adventures and the first 1899 wireless signs to show their locations. The Lizard was
transmission in America (in San Fran- LD, although nearby Poldhu was ZZ. Marconi
stations soon added an “M” prefix. Thus, the
cisco from the Lightship 70 announc-
Lizard station became MLD. Later post office
ing the return of the troopship USS ownership changed the call sign to GLD. Today
Sherman to San Francisco newspapers), the Amateur Radio Club at Lizard uses GB2LD
radio communications and journal- for special events. See Bobby Lyman, “The
Lizard Radio Station ~ The Oldest Surviv-
ism have quickly informed the world ing Wireless Station in the World,” Antique
of events worldwide. From its earli- Wireless Classified, (Feb. 2009), http://www
est day to the present, radio has also .antiqueradio.com/Feb09_Lyman_Lizard
.html.
informed otherwise isolated seafarers 5. David Barlow, “Poldhu – ZZ GB100ZZ,” Pol-
and passengers of events at home and dhu Amateur Radio Club, G B 2 G M, News-
abroad. Radio and news are a natural letter, #80, (June 2, 2014), pages 11 ff. See
also http://www.lizardwireless.org/. Curator
marriage. That marriage, now poly-
Barlow not only kindly provided a number
technological, thrives throughout the of the British images appearing in this note
electromagnetic spectrum, spark long but also earlier provided a thorough tour of
gone but now through satellites above. the reconstructed Lizard Marconi station, for
both of which I am grateful.
6. “The First Mid-Ocean Daily,” San Francisco
Endnotes Chronicle, (May 1, 1904), at page 2. This
1. Degna Marconi, My Father Marconi (1962), appears to have been a widely distributed
page 83. The official history of the Marconi story, with graphics, for later publication in
International Marine Communications Com- local newspapers, in part because the internal
pany, by H. E. Hancock, Wireless at Sea (1950) graphic of The Marconigram is dated May 21—
tells the same story and reports the same traf- perhaps the Chronicle jumped the journalistic
fic at page 22 virtually word-for-word and gun.
notes the newspaper memorialized by a then- 7. “Wireless News at Sea: Successful Experiment,”
standing monument on the Isle of Wight. Daily Telegraph [London], (Feb. 11, 1903);
2. Roland Wenzlhuemer and Michael Offer- reproduced in Papers Past [,] Wireless News
168 The AWA ReviewLee
At Sea, from the New Zealand newspaper Auk- Telegraphy, 1899–1917,” American Journal-
land Star, (April 4, 1904). https://paperspast ism, Volume 30, Number 2, (2013), page 174.
.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/all. 15. The book that Professor Arceneaux quotes is:
8. “Wireless Station On Tamalpais,” Sau- Alfred P. Morgan, Wireless Telegraphy and
salito [California] News, (Sept. 2, 1905), Telephony Simply Explained, (Norman Henley
Internet sourced by Barry McMullan, Publishing Co., New York, 1913).
CH R S . ht t ps://cd nc .ucr.edu /cg i-bi n / 16. Ibid., pages 95–96.
cdnc?a=d&d=SN19050902.2.19. 17. Ocean Wireless News, Volume IX, Num-
9. See Ellery W. Stone, “Returns From Fight Sent ber 2, (March, 1914) from a current book-
By Wireless,” Modern Electrics, Volume 3, seller’s advertisement: https://www.abe
Number 5, (August 1910), page 257. The text b o o k s . c o m / O c e a n -W i r e l e s s - N e w s -
is from the cylinder recording that may be Volu me-Nu mber-Ma rconi/745749169/
heard at http://www.tinfoil.com/cm-0406.htm; bd.
‘Ed’ Trump, AL7N, of Fairbanks, Alaska tran- 18. Dr. Adrian Peterson, “Radio Newspapers
scribed the then American Morse code. The Aboard Ship” from the Adventist World Radio
cylinder recording is in the Frank V. de Bellis AWR Wavescan, posted at http://mt-shortwave
collection at San Francisco State University. .blogspot.com/2010/07/radio-newspapers-
David Ring, N1EA found this remarkable aboard-ship.html.
record. Dr. Adrian M. Peterson of Adventist 19. Conrad First, The Joseph Conrad Periodical
World Radio found Stone’s article. “U.W. Co.” Archive, about the Conrad story “The Brute: A
refers to United Wireless, operating in the Tale of a Ship That Wouldn’t Behave” published
marine service from what is now Daly City. It in Ocean Wireless News for January 1912. The
is possible that the transcribed text emanated Conrad Archive is a program of the University
from PH, not TG, although Stone seems to be of Uppsala, Sweden. http://www.conradfirst
saying PH sent out only the news of the victory .net/view/periodical?id=12536.
at the end of the match. Nonetheless the text 20. Federal arc transmitters, usually 2 kW, served
appears to be a prepared broadcast and not a many ships on the Pacific routes into the 1920s
wireless operator extemporizing. A series of and 300 vessels of the United States Shipping
numbers appears at the end of the message but Board. Federal sited its main transmitter in
its intent is unknown now. Palo Alto, California. A publication, Federal
10. Jane Morgan, Electronics in the West, (1967) Radio News, A Daily News Journal for Ocean
page 35. Travelers survives from 1921 in the collec-
11. Stone, op cit. tion of Joe Knight, CHRS, AWA, with a scene
12. Richard Johnstone, Commander, U.S.N.R. from Ceylon on its cover. A photograph of a
(Retired), My San Francisco Story of the federal arc in a ship’s radio room is available
“Waterfront and the Wireless,” (1965), pri- at: http://www.telegraph-office.com/pages/
vately printed and now in the Library of the images/Kdid.jpg. By inference, a ship equipped
California Historical Radio Society, page 50. with Federal equipment took its press from
13. James A. Maxwell, [W6CF], “Copying WHB as Federal stations primarily. The arc technology
Recorded by Charles Apgar, 2MN, in 1915,” did not, however, long survive the development
Journal of the California Historical Radio Soci- of power vacuum tubes.
ety, Volume 13, Number 1 (1994). The correct 21. Peterson, “Radio Newspapers Aboard Ship,”
callsigns WHB and W6CF are emended. The op cit.
audio recording comes from the archives of 22. http://museumvictoria.com.au/collections/
the Antique Wireless Association in New York, items/1125171/magazine-the-wireless-news-
part of an NBC 1934 interview with Charles the-wireless-press-1928.
Apgar during which two of his Edison cylinder 23. http://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/
recording were played on the air. Apgar also articles/3665. The museum adds: “On 5
recorded the then-German Sayville, L.I., NY November 1940, HMS Jervis Bay was sunk
station on Edison cylinders in 1915 for U.S. in the Atlantic by the German pocket battle-
authorities. ship Admiral Scheer after the convoy Jervis
14. Noah Arceneaux, “News on the Air: The New Bay was escorting came under attack. Jervis
York Herald, Newspapers, and Wireless Bay turned toward the Admiral Scheer and
Volume 30, 2017 169The Wireless News
diverted her fire while the 38-ship convoy the World was Paper and All the Sea was
HX84 which included the cargo liner Rangitiki Ink: Ships’ Printers and Printing 1890–1960
escaped. Her captain, E.F.S Fegan (a former (Draft)” (no date) at https://www.academia.
commanding officer at the RAN College at edu/7882257/ . . . The disproportionate sur-
Jervis Bay) was killed and the ship sank with vival of the First Class passengers of the RMS
the loss of 198 men. Fegan received a posthu- Titanic tells the same story in starker terms.
mous Victoria Cross for his actions during The Great Eastern, laying the Atlantic cable
this engagement. . . .” in 1866 took news through the cable it laid
24. Peterson, “Radio Newspapers Aboard Ship,” down, and provided it as daily summaries
op cit. of shoreside events. The information thus
25. Ibid. conveyed by lithograph related primarily to
26. Ibid. finance in London. http://atlantic-cable.com/
27. These two issues of the Canadian Pacific line’s Article/GreatEasternDocuments/ (Shipboard
Wireless Press recently appeared for sale on Publishing and Printing on Great Eastern).
eBay. eBay often provides images and informa-
tion not otherwise easily available.
28. Peterson, “Radio Newspapers Aboard Ship,” About the Author
op cit. Bart Lee, K6VK, xKV6LEE, WPE2DLT,
29. Ibid. is a longtime member of AWA and a
30. According to Wikipedia, which supplies con-
siderable detail about the line and the vessels.
Fellow of the California Historical
31. I am indebted to my friend Michi Osada for Radio Society (CHRS), for which he
the translations from the Japanese. serves as General Counsel Emeritus
32. Kashiwara-Maru at sea by “carsdude” (David
and Archivist and an historian. He
“Alan” Urban, Jr.) on DeviantArt.com cap-
tioned “The Japanese liner as she was intended holds both FCC commercial (GROL
before being transformed into aircraft car- with radar endorsement) and amateur
rier Junyo” (enhanced here to show anten- extra class licenses. He has enjoyed
nas), http://carsdude.deviantart.com/art/
kashiwara-maru-506523859. radio and radio-related activities in
33. Notice in the ARA (American Radio Associa- many parts of the world. He has in
tion, CIO) ARA Log for January and February recent years spent a fair amount of time
1953. The logo says: “ARA on the Air” showing
a radio tower and a long antenna.
on the high seas and is thus indebted to
34. Ibid. today’s Wireless News. Radio technol-
35. From the article about Alfred Noyes in ogy and history have fascinated him
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
since he made his first crystal set with
Alfred_Noyes.
36. Seth Cayley, “Publishing at sea,” in Research a razor blade and pencil lead 60 years
Information [which declares itself to be] The ago. He is especially fond of those sets
essential link between publishers, librarians of which it is said: Real Radios Glow
and researchers (August 7, 2013). https://www
.researchinformation.info/feature/publishing- in the Dark. Bart is a published author
sea. This article notes that each vessel carried on legal and other subjects and exten-
an Atlantic Times editor to turn the wireless sively on the history of radio. The
traffic into newspaper stories. That traffic
came from Massachusetts (RCA’s Chatam,
AWA presented its Houck Award for
MA station WCC) and Marconi in England documentation to him in 2003, and
but also directly from U.K. Foreign Office CHRS presented its 1991 “Doc” Her-
transmissions.
rold Award to him in connection with
37. For an interesting discussion of technology,
even at-sea newspapers, illuminating class his work for the Perham Foundation
differences, see Teresa Breathnach, “If All Electronics Museum. In 2001, during
170 The AWA ReviewYou can also read
