BETTER SEND OUT A CALL FOR ASSISTANCE.
The witness said that according to arrangement he relieved Phillips. “Immediately the captain came in and said we had better send out a call for assistance,” testified Bride. “Phillips asked if he wanted to send a distress call. The captain said he did. I could read what Phillips sent—C. Q. D.”
“How soon did he get a reply?”
“As far as I know, immediately. I could not hear what he received, however.”
The witness told of having intercepted a message from the Californian intended for the Baltic, which told of the presence of three huge icebergs in the vicinity of the former vessel.
“I gave the message to the captain personally,” he said.
Bride did not take down the message and could not give its precise form. “The Californian was seeking out the Baltic, and I merely noted that it was an ice report and told the captain,” he said.
Under a fire of questions Bride acknowledged that a half hour previously, or at 4.30 Sunday afternoon, he was working on his accounts in the wireless room when he heard the Californian trying to raise the Titanic. He did not respond, he said, because, he was “busy.”
“You had the telephone apparatus at your ear?” inquired Senator Smith, in surprise.
“Yes, sir.”
“And you did not respond to the call?”
“No, sir.”
“Then a half hour later on, about five hours before the disaster, you took the message when it was intended for another vessel, the Baltic?”
“Yes, sir.”
In an effort to determine whether the signal “C. Q. D.” might not have been misunderstood by passing ships Senator Smith called upon Mr. Marconi.