Marconi Establishes Transatlanic Wireless Service and Help Rescue Titanic Survivors

On October 17, 1907, Guglielmo Marconi’s company begins the first commercial transatlantic wireless service between Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada and Clifden, Ireland. This service, also known as radio communications, proved instrumental on April 14, 1912 when the RMS Titanic sank in the four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City.

The Titanic’s two radio operators where employed by Marconi’s company and a third on land relayed emergency information for 72 hours to the rescue ship the RMS Carpathia. On 18 June 1912, Marconi gave evidence to the Court of Inquiry into the loss of the Titanic regarding the marine telegraphy’s functions and the procedures for emergencies at sea. Britain’s postmaster-general summed up, referring to the Titanic disaster, “Those who have been saved, have been saved through one man, Mr. Marconi…and his marvelous invention.”