Titanic Tropes: Radio Operators' Last Moments (1912-1997)

Scenes depicting Titanic's radio operators in the ship's last moments.
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[@MightyMezzo]

Something really heartbreaking about the closeup of Jack Phillips’ face in “SOS Titanic.”

[@randomlyentertaining8287]

"The first wireless officer remains unshaken at his post." Umm, they look very shaken and panicked lol For any that somehow don't know, the last anyone heard from Titanic's wireless was; SOS SOS CQD CQD TITANIC CQD THIS IS TITANIC CQD THIS IS

[@trustno173]

Never forget the 96' Jack Phillips is played by Matt Hill, the voice of Ed from Ed, Edd n Eddy!

[@NorthWestern1919]

Well... the more you know!

[@CaptainJZH]

Phillips: "The Carpathia will tell the Olympic and the Olympic will tell Cape Race and Cape Race will just sit there and watch TV!!"

[@hurricanefury439]

WHAAAAAAT!!!!

[@chadbrown748]

The part of Captain Smith telling the wireless operators, Bride and Phillips to "abandon [their] cabin" is quite accurate, according to many books about the Titanic"

[@Rudnaz_127]

"Blimey you've killed him!" "Well he didn't deserve to die like a sailor." Phillips gave no sh*ts.

[@Airland_combat]

The fact that Barry Pepper Renown for his roles in Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, We were Soldiers, Flags of our Fathers. The fact is that it actually amazes me that I've only heard him speak in a General American accent. So hearing a British accent coming out of Barry Pepper is a rarity to me.

[@NorthWestern1919]

It's possible, not certain, but possible, that after Bride last saw Phillips, Phillips actually went back to the wireless room and stayed at the key until the very end. There's no concrete evidence, of course, but it's possible, and it seems like something Phillips would have done. Not to downplay the other heroic actions of that night, but perhaps the greatest heroes of the Titanic were John Phillips and Harold Bride. Were it not for the Marconi operators, Carpathia wouldn't have arrived on the scene and even the fate of those in the lifeboats would have been uncertain.

[@CaptainJZH]

There is some indirect evidence of that; according to the radio logs Titanic's last two messages were at 2:10am and 2:17am respectively, and it was after 2:10am that the forward boat deck became flooded and Phillips & Bride abandoned the wireless room - meaning that unless there was a mistake in transcribing the times when messages were received, someone would have had to have been in the wireless room at 2:17am to transmit that message and the fact that the last message cuts off mid sentence ("CQD THIS IS TITANIC, CQD THIS IS") is particularly telling

[@NJPurling]

The scuffle with the crewman attempting to steal the lifejacket : Was it from the testimony of Harold Bride?

[@CaptainJZH]

@@NJPurling yes I believe so

[@NorthWestern1919]

@@CaptainJZH Yes, that's right! I wanted to mention that, but I didn't want to make any concrete statements. Walter Lord said it himself in A Night to Remember; only a fool would state themselves to be "final arbiter" on all that happened the night the Titanic went down. But that certainly gives some credit to the possibility that Phillips returned to the wireless room at the very end.

[@jodij2366]

@@CaptainJZH, in saying that, Lightoller claimed the senior wireless operator (i.e. Phillips) made it to Collapsible B, but later perished when he fell off into the water.

[@Silver_Owl]

1:54 David McCallum. Such a great actor, and only in his mid twenties here.

[@deweymartin678]

He sadly passed away on Sept. 28 I think

[@Silver_Owl]

@@deweymartin678 Yes - September 25th last year.

[@deweymartin678]

He was one of my favorite British actors Philips, Kenneth griffin

[@deweymartin678]

Died 10 years ago

[@aleksanderkorecki7887]

I loved him in NCIS.

[@aidandunn1009]

I hope the bird That Harold Bride rescued in the 1943 version somehow made it 2 land.

[@edoardoedob6001]

It's a bit impossible that a canary can survive at night in the middle of the ocean

[@aidandunn1009]

@@edoardoedob6001 They weren't quite in the middle of the Ocean. Then again it's only a movie I'm not sure this version was supposed 2 be this realistic.

[@berndbastian2802]

Wie immer klasse gemacht. Aber eine Kasten 110 mit Wendezugsteuerung habe ich bisher nicht gesehen außer es gibt im BW Harrstadt eine. Dein Kurswagen im Urlauberzug ist übrigens ein Bm 239. Die wurden in den 1970ern aus Liegewagen der Baureihe Bcüm 241 umgebaut. Auf es genug Liegewagen der Bauart Bcm 243 gab. Die Scharnow und Touropa Liegewagen waren auch Eigentum der DB. Sie wurden nur von den Reiseunternehmen betreut einige davon hatten auch eine kleine Küche oder ein Friseurabteil. Bei der Touropa gab es später noch Liegewagen mit größeren Abteilen in 27,5 m länge. Die Firma LS hat ein sehr schönes Modell davon. Die Lima Wagen habe ich auch die sind fast 30 Jahre alt. Damit ist Lima ja zu einer ernstzunehmenden Modellbahn Marke aufgestiegen. 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

[@William_James_Official]

You forgot about "The Last Signals" which is a independent film made by Part time explorer

[@CaptainJZH]

True, although I was mostly focusing on major film adaptations

[@germanname1990]

I’m not the kind of person who believes in giving up even when there’s not much of a choice. In addition, I tend to have a case of tunnel vision when handling certain tasks because I’m very keen on getting them done. That said, I very likely would’ve done the same thing as Phillips did. He kept going even after he was told he could do no more. Now some of you may notice just by looking at my avatar just how big of a game show fan I am. I remember a few years ago, there was this Final Jeopardy! clue in which the category was about the Titanic. The answer was in regards to many people saying that 700 people lived because of “this Italian.” I didn’t get the correct question because of the way the clue was written out, but for those who want to take a jab at it, this heroic Italian was alive at the time of the disaster but was not on board.

[@CaptainJZH]

Guglielmo Marconi?

[@germanname1990]

@@CaptainJZH Yep. Who is Guglielmo Marconi?

[@Glip_Jip]

​​@@germanname1990Guglielmo invented the wireless system used aboard titanic

[@jazdajazda2191]

Where did 1996 Phillips get that pipe from?

[@frankrtwiw]

Why did the 1943 radiomen have a canary?

[@endermanwithalowercasee]

Probably the least egregious inaccuracy in that one honestly, if you've never seen it it was a Nazi propaganda movie made during World War 2. As for why, the writers probably just liked the idea so they could have the touching final the scene we saw in the video

[@CanalPSG]

Is there any historical truth in the sailor trying to steal the life jackets?

[@dogman15]

It was in Harold Bride's testimony, so that's kind of the only source we have. The knocked-out sailor (who was either killed then or died while unconscious) would be unidentified among the hundreds of male crew members who perished that night.

[@WeaselKing1000]

Harold Bride described a man who he thought to be a fireman (stoker) coming in and trying to steal the lifejacket, and then the two operators knocking him out. As dogman15 says, it's the only source we have (Phillips didn't survive and the fireman certainly wouldn't have), but there's no particular reason to disbelieve it that I can see.

[@CanalPSG]

Thank you both!👍

[@dogman15]

@TheMaritimeproductions I suppose that makes the depiction shown here to be slightly inaccurate. How much coal dust did that actor have on his face?

[@DANIELLE_BREANNA_LACY]

@@CanalPSG It’s actually in the New York Times newspaper titled: THRILLING TALE BY TITANIC'S SURVIVING WIRELESS MAN

[@giovannirastrelli9821]

The scene with a man trying to steal Phillips’ lifebelt was also filmed for the 1943 version, but the thief was changed from a crew member to a cowardly British aristocrat in a tuxedo. He is stopped by the heroic (and fictitious) German First Officer Petersen with the help of a revolver. It’s unknown why this scene was cut and the footage is most likely lost, but a production still exists.

[@William_James_Official]

Yea, you also forgot Atlantic, it also features the marcroni officer.