ABSTRACT
Ten ships heard the call from over a hundred miles away and remained in contact but were too distant to help, as were also the Hellig Olav at 90 miles and the Niagara at 75 miles. The Mount Temple was 50 miles away but had to move slowly through ice fields. The Carpathia at 58 miles was the first to arrive, but not until almost two hours after the Titanic went down with 1,522 passengers. Another ship, close enough to have saved all the passengers, was not in wireless contact. The Californian was approximately 19 miles away, but its wireless operator had hung up his earphones
for the night about ten minutes before the Titanic sent out its first CQD. Two watchmen on the deck of the Californian saw the rockets that the Titanic fired but could not figure out what they meant or convince their captain to pull anchor and find out. What the eyes and ears of man could not perceive the wireless could receive over vast distances and through darkness and fog.
