“Well, several ships were quickly located in the vicinity, and before long a small fleet was rushing to the Joachim’s aid. There was no fear on board. In fact, William Jennings Bryan, who was a passenger, could not resist the opportunity to make a speech. He suggested that they form a republic on the island, and that, as he could not be elected president of the United States, they make him chief executive of the island realm.
“Then take the case of the steamer Momus, carrying one hundred and twelve passengers, that caught fire off Cape Hatteras. Every effort was made to fight the blaze, which started among cotton bales in the forward hold; but to no avail. In this emergency, wireless signals were flashed in all directions.
“Before long they were answered. The Comus, a sister ship, heard them and informed the Momus that she was seventy-eight miles away and would come at top speed to the rescue. The two ships, by constant interchanging of their positions through the night, came together at two o’clock in the morning. Naturally, every passenger was up and about, but on the other hand there was no panic. The fact that wireless was on board gave a feeling of security to all, which they certainly would not have had otherwise.
“All the passengers were taken off in safety, and the relief ship stood by till the Momus was beached in shallow water and the fires drowned out. Twelve hours afterward the water was pumped out. The passengers re-embarked and the ship resumed her voyage. Incidentally, the ship and her cargo, valued at three million dollars, were saved. Not the least remarkable feature of this rescue was that throughout the whole affair the general manager of the line at his desk in New York was kept in constant touch with the situation and directed the operations.
“But I’m preaching a regular sermon,” broke off Joe.
“No, no; heave on, Joe. I like to hear about it,” declared Hank, who, to tell the truth, was anxious to stave off the inevitable time of explanation of his presence on the island, which he felt was close at hand.
“To switch to the naval uses of the wireless, then. The torpedo boat Beale was overtaken by a heavy storm off the Virginia capes. The waves were mountain high and it soon became clear that unless assistance came, and that speedily, the long, lean craft would be unable to ride out the gale. The S. O. S. signal, which means ‘in dire distress,’ was sent out, and was read by the wireless station at Norfolk. It was quickly passed on to Washington and received by the assistant secretary of the navy, who at once got into communication with the Beale. He asked for further details so that he could despatch relief intelligently. The Beale responded, and all this within a few minutes, that she was awash and making bad weather of it. This reply was in the secretary’s hands in time to enable him to send relief ships out from Norfolk, and the Beale and her crew were saved.
“There is one other field in which the wireless plays an important part. That is in the capture of criminals. A runaway now stands a much greater chance of being caught at sea than he does ashore. In former years the exact reverse was true. A man who tries to flee from America to Europe to avoid the consequences of a crime is, so to speak, like a runner caught between bases. The wireless spreads a net about him from which he cannot escape.
“One notable case occurred in 1911. A crime had been committed in London, and the search for the man who did it was carried on by an immense corps of police and detectives all over Europe working in harmony. London, Paris, Berlin were all searched, but without results. The runaway had vanished utterly.
“While the search was at its height and hope of capturing the man had been about given up, a wireless call was picked up one night at a station on the Irish coast from the captain of a trans-Atlantic steamer in mid-ocean. It asked for a detailed description of the man who was wanted. It was sent, and the captain of the vessel replied that he believed that he had the man, for whom a fine-tooth comb search had been conducted, on board his ship.