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46-668: The Admiral Sampson was one of several Admiral-class steamships built by William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the American Mail Steamship Company. Named in honor of U.S. Navy Admiral William T. Sampson , the other ships in the class were the Admiral Dewey , Admiral Schley , and Admiral Farragut . The Admiral Sampson was a steel-hulled, twin-propeller design with two upper decks constructed of wood, and

92-489: A great power . In 1896 Cramps united their artillery arm, the Driggs-Schroeder Ordnance Company, with its main competitor Hotchkiss Gun Company and a projectile manufacturer from Massachusetts into American Ordnance Company . The American Shipping and Commercial Corporation bought the yard in 1919 but closed it in 1927 as fewer ships were ordered by the U.S. Navy after the adoption of

138-914: A collision in Massachusetts Bay in dense fog. Bucki's Captain and three crewmen were killed. In 1909, the Alaska Pacific Steamship Company acquired the Admiral Sampson and its sister ship, the Admiral Farragut , as a result of its growing business on the West Coast shipping routes. Both ships were placed on the San Francisco -Puget Sound shipping route. In 1912, the Alaska Pacific Steamship Company acquired

184-416: A crew member (either a stoker or trimmer ) sneaked in and attempted to steal Phillips's lifebelt. Bride, outraged at the man's behaviour, attacked the man and might have hit him with an object. The water was beginning to flood the wireless room as they both ran out of the wireless room, leaving the motionless crewman where he fell. The men then split up, Bride heading forward and Phillips heading aft . This

230-557: A hospital. The wireless operators of both ships transmitted SOS signals constantly. Aboard the Admiral Sampson , wireless operator Walter E. Reker transmitted emergency messages and helped passengers board lifeboats; he then joined his captain on the bridge. Reker and Capt. Moore went down with the ship. Reker's name was added to the Wireless Operators Memorial in New York City's Battery Park. His name

276-558: A lineage of weavers , but moved to Farncombe around 1883. Phillips lived with his five siblings, of whom only two twin sisters survived to adulthood, above a draper's shop – Gammons – which his father managed in Farncombe Street. Educated at a private school on Hare Lane, then St John Street School, Phillips sang as a choirboy at St John the Evangelist – Farncombe's church. He finished school in 1902 and began working at

322-432: A passenger. The search failed to discover the safe, but the salvagers did recover the ship's engine order telegraph and various galley equipment. Since the pioneering dives in the early 1990s, the Admiral Sampson has become a destination for a handful of technically advanced and experienced divers. Owing to its depth and location, it is believed that fewer than 15 divers visited the Admiral Sampson before 2005. Diving

368-542: A single smokestack. Ordered by the American Mail Steamship Company, it was put in the service of the United Fruit Company and made regular trips between Philadelphia and Caribbean Sea ports. In February 1900, it came to the rescue of the U.S. Army transport ship McPherson , which was disabled by a broken propeller shaft off Hampton Roads, Virginia . On 4 November 1902 she sank the cargo schooner Charlie Bucki ( [REDACTED]   United States ) in

414-413: A warning of ice which, if heeded, could have prevented Titanic ' s sinking. Secondly, Californian was the closest ship to Titanic . As the radio had been switched off by Evans, Phillips had no way of communicating with Californian should Titanic require immediate assistance, which she very soon did. However, others point out that several ice warnings had already been received and communicated to

460-552: Is near that of Jack Phillips , who died from exposure after the sinking of the RMS Titanic . The Wireless World reported in April 1915: "As the cargo of his vessel consisted of oil, the horrors of fire were super-added to the situation and Reker found too much work to do to think of his own safety. He shared the fate of the captain side by side with him on the bridge." Telegraph and Telephone Age reported on May 16, 1915: "It

506-422: Is proof of the bravery and efficiency of the crew that [most] passengers were saved. Reker might have saved himself by taking to the boats with the passengers and the greater part of the crew. He remained at the wireless telegraph key, however, giving direction to the rescuing ship which proved invaluable. He ignored repeated appeals from the boats to save himself. When the last boat had left safely, Reker reported to

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552-542: The Mesaba , waited for Phillips to report that he had given the report to the bridge , but Phillips continued working Cape Race. The message was one of the most important warnings Titanic received, but it was never delivered to the bridge. Second Officer (Second Mate) Charles Lightoller reports in Chapter 31 of his autobiography: Phillips explained when I said that I did not recollect any Mesaba report: "I just put

598-515: The Admiral Sampson ' s passengers and crew to evacuate onto the Princess Victoria . Princess Victoria ' s crew lowered their ship's lifeboats to aid the Admiral Sampson ' s passengers and crew, as it was apparent that the latter ship was sinking. Capt. Moore ordered the same action aboard the Admiral Sampson , but only two boats could be lowered in time. Moore ordered that his passengers be dropped overboard for pickup by

644-400: The Admiral Sampson broadside, near the Admiral Sampson ' s after hatch, a spot about midway between amidships and the ship's stern . Capt. P.J. Hickey of the Princess Victoria kept his ship's engines ahead and pushed the Princess Victoria into the gash torn into the hull of the Admiral Sampson . This action both reduced the amount of water rushing into the hole and allowed some of

690-414: The Admiral Sampson remained undisturbed for 80 years, owing to its depth and the difficulty of a salvage operation. In 1991, Gary Severson and Kent Barnard used side-scan sonar to locate the Admiral Sampson ' s resting place. The following year, the two men obtained exclusive salvage rights for the ship. They began diving on the wreck with a small, two-man submarine and retrieved artifacts, including

736-639: The Admiral Sampson remains a highly technical and involved experience. Owing to its location in Puget Sound shipping lanes, coordination with the U.S. Coast Guard is required. Cave dive sites: William Cramp %26 Sons William Cramp & Sons Shipbuilding Company (also known as William Cramp & Sons Ship & Engine Building Company ) was an American shipbuilding company based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , founded in 1830 by William Cramp . During its heyday in late 19th century, it

782-525: The Carpathia , he saw that the dead man was Phillips. However, Bride, when testifying in the Senate Inquiry, changed his story, saying that he had only been told that Phillips died on Collapsible B, and was later buried at sea from Carpathia and had not witnessed this for himself. In his book, Colonel Archibald Gracie said a body was transferred from the collapsible onto boat #12 but said that

828-536: The Naval Limitations Treaty in 1923. In 1940, the Navy spent $ 22 million to reopen the yard as Cramp Shipbuilding to build cruisers and submarines . Cramp used the long slipways to construct two submarines at a time, with the intention of launching them simultaneously. However, the shipyard's submarine construction program was not especially successful, as poor management hindered the delivery of

874-493: The forward part of the ship was flooded, and they should put on more clothes and lifebelts . Bride began to get ready, while Phillips went back to work on the wireless machine. The wireless power was almost completely out shortly after 02:00, when Captain Smith arrived and told the men they had done their duty and were relieved. Bride later remembered being moved by the way Phillips continued working. While their backs were turned,

920-857: The Godalming post office, where he learned telegraphy . He started training to work in wireless for the Marconi Company in March 1906, in Seaforth , and graduated five months later in August. Phillips's first assignment was on the White Star Line ship Teutonic . He later worked on board Cunard 's Campania ; the Allan Line 's Corsican , Pretorian and Victorian ; and then Cunard's Lusitania and Mauretania . In May 1908, he

966-611: The Phillips Memorial Ground, which lies to the north of the Church of St Peter & St Paul, Godalming . On 10 April 2012, the 100th anniversary of the disaster, the BBC World Service broadcast Titanic – In Her Own Words ("Discovery" series), created by Susanne Weber and narrated by Sean Coughlan, the author of a book on Titanic's radio messages. The programme used voice synthesis to re-create "...

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1012-821: The boats. The first delivery was made two years after keel laying, and fitting out was then done by Portsmouth Navy Yard . The best construction time for a submarine was 644 days. Cramp closed in 1947 and the site, on the Delaware River in Philadelphia's Port Richmond neighborhood, was turned into a residential estate in early 2020s. Vessels built by the firm that are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places include: 39°58′18″N 75°7′6″W  /  39.97167°N 75.11833°W  / 39.97167; -75.11833 [REDACTED] Media related to William Cramp & Sons at Wikimedia Commons Jack Phillips (wireless officer) John George " Jack " Phillips (11 April 1887 – 15 April 1912)

1058-684: The body was definitely not that of Phillips. He reported that when speaking with Charles Lightoller , the Second Officer agreed with him that the body was not Phillips. In Lightoller's testimony at the United States Senate inquiry into the sinking of the Titanic , he says that Bride told him that Phillips had been aboard and died on the boat, but it is clear that Lightoller never saw this for himself. In Lightoller's 1935 autobiography, Titanic and Other Ships , he writes that Phillips

1104-540: The bow. “Her decks were crowded with people, half of them well-dressed and the other half with only fragments of clothing protecting them from the cold,” the Seattle Star reported. "A gaping wound loomed large in the vessel's bow, only two or three feet above the water line … In the breech hung a battered hatch cover from the Admiral Sampson." A roll call revealed the names of those killed. The wreck of

1150-503: The bridge and remained to share the fate of the captain. It proved to be too late for them to leave and eight of the men, including the wireless telegraph operator, went down with the ship." A large crowd met the Princess Victoria when it reached the Canadian Pacific Railroad wharf shortly after 10 a.m. The Princess Victoria had a gash two or three feet above the waterline, extending 20 feet (6.1 m) back from

1196-568: The captain, so he was aware that there was ice in the area, and a lookout had been posted. Furthermore, Evans did not request that the message be delivered to the bridge, and the crew of Californian did see the rockets from Titanic at 00:45 and woke their captain, Stanley Lord , who chose to ignore the rockets and returned to bed. Titanic struck an iceberg at 23:40 that night and began sinking. Bride had woken up and begun getting ready to relieve Phillips when Captain Edward Smith entered

1242-570: The lifeboats. He ordered the crew off the ship and said he would stay with the ship. In addition to tearing a gash that stretched below the Admiral Sampson ' s waterline, the impact of the Princess Victoria ruptured an oil tank aboard the Admiral Sampson and started a fire. The Princess Victoria was forced to pull away and the Admiral Sampson sank, about 15 minutes after the collision. All told, 114 passengers and crew members were saved. Eight crew members, including Capt. Moore, and three passengers drowned. One injured crew member died later in

1288-620: The message under a paper weight at my elbow, just until I squared up what I was doing before sending it to the Bridge." That delay proved fatal and was the main contributory cause to the loss of that magnificent ship and hundreds of lives. Had I as Officer of the Watch, or the Captain, become aware of the peril lying so close ahead and not instantly slowed down or stopped, we should have been guilty of culpable and criminal negligence. At 22:55, Phillips

1334-476: The new call was SOS and said, "Send S.O.S., it's the new call, and it may be your last chance to send it." (A myth developed after the disaster that this was the first time SOS was used, but it had been used on other ships previously. ) Phillips was able to contact the RMS ; Carpathia which headed for the scene. After taking a quick break, Phillips returned to the wireless room and reported to Bride that

1380-571: The remaining Admiral-class steamships and merged with the Alaska Coast Company to form the Pacific-Alaska Navigation Company . The new company offered freight and passenger service between San Francisco and Puget Sound and Alaska ports as far north as Nome . On the morning of August 26, 1914, the Admiral Sampson left Seattle en route to Juneau, Alaska with 126 passengers and crew aboard. Visibility

1426-431: The ship's whistle. The wreck rests about 320 feet below the surface of Puget Sound, directly under a major shipping route. The hull lies in two pieces, having broken apart either as it sank or shortly after it hit bottom. In 1994, the two men expressed hopes that they might find the ship's safe, which was believed to contain a valuable diamond necklace. Another potential prize was a suitcase containing gold brought aboard by

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1472-445: The voyage Phillips and Bride transmitted passengers' personal messages and received iceberg warnings and other navigational information from other ships. Phillips celebrated his 25th birthday the day after the voyage began. On the evening of 14 April, in the wireless room on the boat deck , Phillips was sending messages to Cape Race , Newfoundland , working to clear a backlog of passengers' personal messages that had accumulated when

1518-620: The wireless had broken down the day before. Bride was asleep in the adjoining cabin, intending to relieve Phillips at midnight, two hours early. Shortly after 21:30, Phillips received an ice warning from the steamship Mesaba reporting drifting ice , a large number of icebergs, and an ice field directly in Titanic ' s path in the area of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland . Phillips acknowledged Mesaba ' s warning and continued to transmit messages to Cape Race. The wireless operator on

1564-451: The wireless room and told Phillips to prepare to send out a distress signal . Shortly after midnight, Captain Smith came in again and told them to send out the call for assistance and gave them Titanic ' s estimated position. Phillips began sending out the distress signal, code CQD , while Bride took messages to Captain Smith about which ships were coming to Titanic ' s assistance. At one point, Bride jokingly reminded Phillips that

1610-458: Was Harold Bride, not Jack Phillips, as Lightoller thought in 1935. Lightoller's 1912 testimony contradicts his 1935 statements that he saw Phillips aboard B and that the body taken off the boat was Phillips. Salon Steward Thomas Whiteley may have been Bride's source for the story; in a press interview, Whiteley claimed that Phillips had been aboard the collapsible, died and was taken aboard Carpathia ; as no other witness in 1912 claimed Phillips' body

1656-457: Was a British sailor and the senior wireless operator aboard the Titanic during her ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912. On the final evening, Phillips had been exceptionally busy clearing a backlog of messages caused by a wireless breakdown. The steamship Mesaba sent an ice alert; he acknowledged it, but failed to pass it on to the bridge. Another from the nearby SS  Californian

1702-407: Was aboard Collapsible B and told everyone the position of the various ships they had contacted by wireless, and when they could expect a rescue, before succumbing to the cold and dying. He also claims that Phillips' body was taken aboard Boat No. 12 at his insistence. It is clear from Gracie and other 1912 evidence that the man on the upturned collapsible who called out the names of approaching ships

1748-537: Was again interrupted by another ship, this time the SS ; Californian . Cyril Evans, the only wireless operator on board the Californian , was reporting that they were stopped and surrounded by ice. Californian ' s relative proximity (and the fact that both Evans and Phillips were using spark gap wireless sets whose signals bled across the spectrum and were impossible to tune out) meant that Evans's signal

1794-765: Was assigned to the Marconi station outside Clifden , Ireland, where he worked until 1911, when he was assigned to the Adriatic and later, in early 1912, to the Oceanic . In March 1912, Phillips was sent to Belfast , Ireland, to be the senior wireless operator on board Titanic for her maiden voyage. He was joined by junior wireless operator Harold Bride . Stories have appeared that Phillips knew Bride before Titanic , but Bride insisted they had never met before Belfast. Titanic sailed for New York City , United States, from Southampton , England, on 10 April 1912, and during

1840-631: Was built by the Cramp shipyard in 1870 for the Delaware Bay & River pilots . She was one of the Philadelphia port's fastest pilot boats. In 1890 the company built the battleships USS Indiana and USS Massachusetts , armored cruiser USS New York , and protected cruiser USS Columbia . Three of these ships took a part in the defeat of the Spanish fleet in 1898 at Santiago de Cuba . The victory in this battle heralded America's emergence as

1886-521: Was ignored altogether. However, Phillips and his assistant, Harold Bride , had already passed along two dozen ice warnings to the bridge. After they struck the iceberg, Phillips did his utmost to contact other ships for assistance. He died in the sinking. Phillips was born on 11 April 1887 in Farncombe , Surrey. The son of George Alfred Phillips, a draper and Ann Phillips (née Sanders), Phillips' family originally came from Trowbridge , Wiltshire, from

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1932-469: Was poor because of fog; the ship's captain, Zimro Moore, ordered a slow crawl of 3 knots, extra lookouts and the ship's whistle sounded at regular intervals. At the same time, the steamship Princess Victoria was inbound to Seattle with similar precautions in place. Despite both ships' precautions, the Princess Victoria rammed the Admiral Sampson at approximately 5:46 a.m. near Point No Point, 18 miles north of Seattle. The Princess Victoria struck

1978-555: Was recovered, and his name was never mentioned by any source aboard Carpathia as being one of the four bodies buried at sea, it is possible that Whiteley was simply mistaken in his identification, or that if Phillips had been aboard Collapsible B, his body was not recovered. There are memorials to Jack Phillips in Nightingale Cemetery, Farncombe and in the Phillips Memorial Cloister, part of

2024-459: Was strong and loud in Phillips's ears, while the signals from Cape Race were faint to Phillips and inaudible to Evans. Phillips quickly sent back, "Keep out; shut up, I'm working Cape Race", and continued communicating with Cape Race, while Evans listened a while longer before going to bed for the night. It can be argued that this communication had important consequences. Firstly, Evans was giving

2070-404: Was the last time Bride saw Phillips. Conflicting and contradictory information led to popular belief that Phillips possibly managed to make it to the overturned lifeboat B , which was in the charge of Second Officer Charles Lightoller, along with Harold Bride but did not last the night. In his The New York Times interview, Bride said that a man from boat B was dead, and that as he boarded

2116-515: Was the preeminent American iron shipbuilder. William Cramp was born in the Kensington district of Philadelphia in 1807. In 1855, his sons Charles Henry (born 1828) and William C., became partners with their father. In 1872, his other sons Samuel H., Jacob C., and Theodore were taken into the firm. The company was incorporated under the name "The William Cramp and Sons' Iron Shipbuilding and Engineering Company." The pilot boat Thomas Howard

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