Dedication

John George Phillips, sometimes known as Jack Phillips, was the Senior Marconi Telegraph Operator for the Titanic on her maiden voyage. Age 25, he had just been transfered to Titanic from a school of Telegraph Operating. His Junior Officer, Harold Bride, age 22, told the story of him and Jack that one aweful night.

"Earlier that day the system broke down, and it took us seven hours to fix it. If it had broken any later, we might not have had it repaired in time for the sinking. We had so many letters to catch up to, hundreds that we were delayed with. "

Both of them frayed and exhausted, and the two decided that one of them should get some sleep.

"You turn in, boy," said Phillips. "I'm all done with this work of making repairs. I don't know if we'll ever empty the 'in' basket, now. But you turn in, and as soon as you can, come back and relieve me."

When Bride was in bed, Jack frantically tried to get some messages from the passengers telegraphed. There was an interuption from the Californian, something about being stopped by ice... SHUT UP, he tapped back... SHUT UP. I AM WORKING AND YOU ARE JAMMING ME...

Bride then awoke and realized the engines had stopped. Captain Smith entered, saying they had struck an iceberg, and he should call for assistance. "What call should I send?" he asked. He replied, "The regulation international call for help. Just that."

Thirty-five minutes after impact, the first distress call went out: DA-DIT-DA-DIT DA-DA-DIT-DA DA-DIT-DIT, representing the letters CQD, the distress call. After a fifteen-minute discussion, both the operaters still believed in the ship's unsinkable construction.

"Won't we be a sorry sight?" Bride asked Phillips. "Won't we look silly? The biggest and classiest ship ever built having to be towed home from its first voyage - probably in some rust bucket!"

Phillips was stricken with giggles.

The Captain soon returned, asking what signal they were sending. CQD, they replied. He suggested in using the new SOS. Laughing as they did, Phillips and Bride stepped into the history books with the first use of the SOS call.

As Bride searched through his drawers for a sweater for himself, he also pulled out an overcoat and threw it over Phillips' shoulders. He continued sending. As Bride cracked another joke, Jack didn't laugh, and his mood for jokes left him as he began to ponder the sixth ice warning that had come nearly two hours earlier. It came from the Californian. They had tried to tell him they were stopped and surrounded by icebergs and- 'God forgive me,' Phillips thought. 'I told them to shut up... we hit the iceberg a half hour later... God forgive me... God forgive me...'

Bride tried to tie a lifebelt over Phillip's back. Phillips wouldn't slip his arms through the straps. He was too busy with the telegraph key. The message went out through his fingers, an electronic, despairing shriek in the night. Jack let out an acidic laugh. "Maybe you should look out and see if all the people are off in the boats, or if any boats are left."

When Bride returned, he stated, "She can't have many minutes left. The last raft is gone -" Just then the Captain came into the Marconi shack and said, "You can do nothing more, look out for yourselves." Phillips looked up for a moment, then returned obsessively to his work. "You have done your full duty!" the Captain shouted. "I release you. Abandon your cabin." And then he was gone.

Jack didn't budge. So long as there was electricity and the cabin remained above water, he would cling on. Bride went into the room to gather their money. He glanced out the door and saw a fellow crewman trying to slip the life jacket off of Phillips' back. Phillips did not notice, as he tapped off two "V's" - the last word anyone heard from the Titanic. The clock on the cabin wall read 2:10. Bride came out kicking and screaming at the intruder. He had murder in his eyes, as he recalled the example Phillips had set, sticking to his work, tring to save what men might save, while all around the world was coming to pieces.

He struck the man on the head, dropping him to the floor, clubbing him to death with a length of steel. After the lights started dimming, they both cleared the shack, and they separated. After many troubles with a collapsible lifeboat, Bride managed to get in when Titanic sank, and when he stood as the last man standing in the lifeboat when Carpathia loomed ahead of him, he looked down at the one dead man.

"It was Phillips. I tried to fight back the tears, remembering his bravery. But I couldn't. He must have tried so hard to save us that he collapsed from cold and exposure."

Jack Phillips, a wonderful, brave man. Unwilling to leave. Fighting for life, for freedom of the passengers. Jack, I dedicate this site to you, for your honor, compassion, loyalty and bravery. You are greatly remembered.