The Republic
January 23, 1909. Fog. At 5:47 in the morning, the liner Florida came out of it and struck the Republic amidships.
Her wireless man was Jack Binns. He sat in a room the size of a closet and sent CQD, which means come quick, danger, and ships heard him and came. About fifteen hundred people were saved. It was the first great rescue made by radio. Six died in the collision. She sank under tow the next day.
Someone has written on the facing page: He did not know who would answer. He sent anyway.
On the sill, the radio taps short and short and long again. You tap it back. You are not sure what you said.
- Turn the page. Found in the chute “The wind has a smell of wet stone and a man's cigarette, though there is no man.”
- Go and find who is answering. Found on the sill “A bus shelter with nobody in it, lit like an aquarium.”
The book · Colophon and credits
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