Radio Broadcast - 1923, August - 86 Pages, 8.5 ... - VacuumTubeEra

Adventures inRadioPerhaps no other branch of science enjoys the romance and the spirit of adventure ever present in radio.It matters not whether it is the radio telegraph or the radio telephone; both have equal advantages in thisrespect. Of course, radio telegraphy is the older of the two, and its exploits are more numerous; up to now,it has covered a wider field of endeavor, both on land and on sea.Aside from its everyday uses, radio figures in a great many strange happenings which few devotees ofbroadcasting know about. Many of these are unique, not always possible or practicable to duplicate; someare accidents, others mere incidents, still others great adventures adventures never to be forgotten andwhich stand out as red-letter days for the individuals concerned.By adventures in radio we mean that which deviates radically from the commonplace. Radio has beenresponsible for many innovations. Some of them stand out as monuments of scientific achievement; othersare ignominious exploits to which this high art has been subjected. All, nevertheless, are intensely interesting,breathing the very spirit of adventure and romance.It will be the purpose of this department to report, from time to time, such radio adventures as haveactually taken place, with real human beings as principals. The series will range over the entire world,including incidents in Sweden, Patagonia, and far-off Japan as well as in the United States.We shall be glad to receive accounts of radio adventures from readers of the magazine, eithertheir own experiences or authentic experiences of others. THE EDITOR.When Messina was Destroyedfollowing paragraphs are from aletter received by RADIO BROADCASTTHE from Mr. Stuart Lupton, now AmericanConsul at Chefoo, China:In the latter part of 1908 I was appointed ViceConsul at Messina, Italy, arriving at my post onDecember 22nd. At 5:20 A.M., December 28th, thecity was almost totally destroyed by a disastrousearthquake. Owing to my having changed mylodgings on the 26th, was fortunate I enough toescape injury. As soon as I could I made my wayto the Consulate, becoming more and more aware ofthe tremendous damage done as walked I along inrather a dazed condition. On my arrival, foundIthe place a heap of ruins which had 1great difficultyin Idistinguishing. realized that there was nochance of the Consul or his wife having escaped, andalso that matters looked black for me. I knew veryfew people in the city, was practically penniless as Ihad not drawn any money after my arrival, and myknowledge of Italian consisted of less than a dozenwords. I found all public services had stopped,cables were broken, land lines down and altogetherthings looked hopeless. That nightI was a refugeeon board a merchant vessel in the harbor. Seventyeightpeople were packed in a small saloon, two orthree cabins, and connecting passageways, with therain coming down in sheets. The next morning weall had to go ashore again, as the steamer was to sailfor Constantinople. Shortly afterward the Britishcruiser Suite j came into port, stopped for about fourhours, and left again with 1,100 wounded on board.As the last boat was leaving for the ship,I had aninspiration. Seeing a piece of brown paper lyingon the ground picked up the cleanest Iportion andscribbled a message to the Captain of the Sutlej,asking if he would wireless a message to our Consulat Malta, to be relayed to the Department of State.A sailor said he would giveit to the Captain, butdid not know whether it could be sent or not.On the Ifollowing Saturday, found that the messagehad been sent, and that it was the first authenticnews of the disaster received in the UnitedStates.About this time I went on board the British CruiserMuierva to call on the Captain, and while onboard was told the following story. Captain Cagni,one of the best known and bravest officers of theItalian Navy at the time, had arrived in Messinain command of the battleship Napoli. On arrival,he paid several visits of ceremony, one of them beingto Captain Wake, of the Muierva. He told CaptainWake that he had started from Naples toGibraltar a day or two before the earthquake, andwhen nearing the latter port his wireless operatorhad intercepted a fragment of a message. All thatwas received was, "Messina destroyed." At thattime there was a great deal of friction between Italyand Austria, so Cagni jumped to the conclusion thatwar had been declared and that an Austrian squadronhad bombarded the city. Hence he turned andwent full steam for Messina with the full intentionof engaging any Austrian man of war he might meet.Fortunately, none was encountered, or the WorldWar would have started ahead of time.