Show ka X M d ve n t ur rs club i 44 9 death over miami mami by FLOYD FLOTD GIBBONS famous headline hunter of sparks Spark st as the seamen tale of the high seas ERES a his set HERES hhall and night over call the radio operator who sits day i death to some hapless life or that may m mean ean picking up messages souls island city N Y it hutchens of long in this case thanks thank s to ray of hurricane which had just swept a path of meant life to the victims a and destruction over Flo florida ridal death with him on ship siboney line passenger ward the tells me ray named milton kitchen as chap and a board as chief wireless operator 18 1926 new york on september havana bound for of out junior pulled hurricane warning received a just be before fore they left the dock at noon they call letters were orleans whose from a station in new such warnings were a dime a dozen and most now ray says into a gale nothing so when they ran to exactly of them came little of thought morro castle they with moderate sea on passing it all unsuspecting they turned toward key west somebody called the siboney th that it night he was on watch static was tells us that at 10 p in m ray heavily and the wind at gale force bit more bad the sea was running a sounded threw clusters of spray against the radio room ports so forcibly it their vacations over were asleep or preparing like hail the passengers for bed secure in the thong thought of the trained men in whose hands they had entrusted th their air welfare R ray ay watching with anxious eyes the rising storm could think only of the helplessness of even these trained teamed men when nature goes on a rampage idly running through the meter band ray found things dull with against a rasping background of static some little traffic at ten thirty fellow called the siboney rays vessel slowly and repeatedly shucks ray thought to himself be some two by four tanker about to ask tor for a relay unable to send their messages the full distance because of lack of power the smaller ships occasionally asked help from a ship with better equipment ray was certainly justified in jumping to this co conclusion nc lusion for what else would be sending a signal that was not the clear musical note of the shore stations but a weak straggling sputter like someone shaking a bucket of pebbles as ray puts it but when this puny station signed WAX which was the shore station at miami florida ray was shocked into action miami whose high clear note always rang with ample volume through the thirty miles of static that separated them something was radically wrong ray was relayed the tale of disaster to the world sure of that hurriedly he snapped back a brief go ahead ray knew the shore station must be able to hear the siboney much better than ray could catch the thin signal that trickled in from miami miam ham told of miami hurricane and WAX miami came back with the hottest row of dots and dashes ray ever had directed toward him in his life A pitiful appeal for food clothing and medical supplies for the victims of the miami hurricane which had just swept a path of death and destruction across florida there was not a second to be lost out there in those waste stretches battered and swept clean by the fury of a nature gone mad were helpless men women yes and little children their homes destroyed their last link with the world this little ships radio room where a horrified man sat over a delicate instrument and relayed the tale of their disaster to the world ray jumped to his feet ran into their quarters slapped his junior kitchen on the stomach for the next twelve hours while kitchen stood by and tended the arc and spark transmitters ray alternately received from miami and sent to in east moriches Mo riches long island A pal of rays al kahn who was on the orizaba near hatteras helped to keep other ships signals off the air while ray was slowly trying to pound through the thousand miles between the siboney and static made it almost impossible you fellow adventurers who are hams as the radio amateurs call themselves will know ow what ray was up P against trying to pick up the faint brwn code 8 of WAX with static buzzing sputtering crackling crashing drowning out the almost inaudible signal that meant aid and succor to thousands of souls ray sat there glued to his chair for twelve hours straining ap his ears va to catch ata the pitiful appeal receiving under almost superhuman B conditions so bad was the static ray tells me that each dot was a propof drop of sweat and each dash a moan captain F L miller liller Il hove tue the ship P to so as to keep the oper acors sit within range S of WAX low power transmitter he had been asked SL to bring his ship into the harbor with th tood food and medicine but the ships draft would not allow it even in calm weather and all the time ray was racking S his brains wondering how the mia es mi operators hase whose big g station was obviously out of whack were getting 8 even this t faint amt signal ga through those boys certainly deserve credit ray says 8 proudly all their towers were ion down the root roof was blown from froth their quarters power w and telegraph lines were all out they were sheltering ST one hundred men 16 women and children in the control room and even then they rigged SS up P an emergency transmitter pow ered with batteries stolen from wrecked cars to get the first word of the hurricane to the worldly so far as I 1 know ray says it was the first time a land station ever sent an SOS to a chipi guess we can sympathize with ray when hen we imagine B the feelings 0 ot that operator at WAX who called the ship so slowly and prayer full y with that pathetic little sending shebang knowing that the siboney w a s due to pass and had continuous watch those boys got very lit ti e credit in the papers at the time but ut ray will always remember member with pride ta in his profession profession the them m 0 service |