Before Titanic

Jack Phillips was the senior wireless operator aboard the RMS Titanic. He was born on 11 April 1887. Phillips was educated at the St. John Street School in Farncombe, a small village located in Surrey, England, where he had grown up. He even sang in his local church’s choir. After finishing up his schooling he began work at post office where he learned how to operate a telegraph. He became Marconi certified at the age of 19 in August of 1906 after having been trained specially for wireless by the Marconi Wireless Company. He then began work on ships such as the Teutonic, Oceanic, Adriatic and even the Lusitania. After his time aboard the Adriatic and Oceanic in early 1912, he was sent to Belfast as he had been assigned to the ill-fated RMS Titanic. After arriving in March he met Harold Bride, the Junior Wireless Operator. 

Final Assignment

Throughout the voyage Bride and Phillips were occupied with passenger messages until the wireless set broke down. On 13 April Phillips and Bride worked hard and through the night to get it fixed a mere day before the collision. Had they not been able to repair the system prior to Titanic’s rendezvous with the iceberg the death toll could have been much greater. Throughout the day leading up to the collision (14 April), the two were busy and backlogged with messages from when the wireless system was down and they were more than likely flustered. 

Phillips and his junior received numerous ice warnings throughout the course of the voyage. Most of these were posted to the bridge however one in particular did not and could have potentially been a fatal error. At 9:30pm (Ship’s Time) Phillips was on duty when he received an ice warning from the Meseba. Said warning disclosed the location of an ice field that was located directly in Titanic’s path. In an exchange between Phillips and the ship’s Second Officer, Charles Lightoller, Phillips stated that he had placed the message to the side to be sent to the bridge shortly after he had wrapped up what he was doing. Lightoller claimed in his autobiography, Titanic and Other Ships, that this delay contributed to the demise of the ship. In order to make up for the down time the ship’s wireless system had experienced the two wireless operators worked long and hard, taking shifts longer than what was the norm. The two men were short on sleep and were most likely quite irritable which is understandable. What sent Phillips over the edge is when he had his ears assaulted by the Californian messaging Titanic about ice. The spark-gap system ships used at this time meant the closer one ship was to another, the louder the signal would be. The Californian was roughly only 10 miles away which explains the volume of the transmission. There was no way to tune out other ships’ signals either. At 10:55pm Phillips was working passenger messages when a signal from the Californian interrupted his communications with Cape Race. (Cape Race is where he was forwarding passengers’ messages.) Phillips told the Californian to stay out. According to the Californian’s wireless operator, Cyril Evans, he responded with, “Keep out; shut up, I’m working Cape Race.” Shortly thereafter the Californian (which had come to a complete stop in the ice field during the night) shut down its wireless system. 

Some like to argue that this is what doomed Titanic however the Californian’s radio operator would have more than likely shut down even if he had made proper communications with the Titanic as it was not common practice to have a ship’s wireless on 24/7. Also, the Titanic would have more than likely maintained its course and speed, despite Lightoller’s claims, as the crew had already received dozens of ice warnings from other ships throughout the voyage. 

When the Titanic collided with the iceberg at 11:40pm, Bride had woken up shortly thereafter to take over the wireless set from Phillips, having slept through the collision. (Unrelated but more proof that the collision was near undetectable in some parts of the ship) The two men were interrupted by Captain Smith telling them they had struck a berg and were going down by the head and needed to send out distress calls for immediate assistance. Smith gave them their approximate location and the two men began pounding out distress calls. The Senior Wireless Operator began his calls for assistance using the distress code, “C.Q.D.” Shortly thereafter Bride jokingly told Phillips, “Send S.O.S., it’s the new call, and it may be your last chance to send it.” Having left the wireless room to see what was happening up on deck for himself, Phillips saw that the bow of the ship was going under and reported back to Bride, who had assumed operation of the wireless set, telling them they needed to dress warmly and put their lifebelts on.

Having taken control of the set from Bride, Phillips pounded away at the key attempting to contact any and all ships. A little after 2am Smith relieved the men of their duties but Phillips continued to intensely send out messages. Bride recalled having been moved by Phillips’ will to continue working. The ship’s wireless system was extremely compromised at this point in the sinking but he worked on regardless. This is because a ship’s wireless strength was usually directly related to how much power the ship was producing and Titanic was losing power fast. As the two men continued to work, an unidentified crew member snuck into the wireless room and attempted to steal Phillip’s life belt. Bride quickly grabbed him and Phillips punched him in the face knocking the crew member out completely. 

Eventually water began entering the wireless room and the two men were forced to abandon their posts. Luckily, before they were forced to evacuate, the Carpathia responded to Phillips’ distress call and was heading towards Titanic. The Carpathia would later save the remaining 706 survivors that morning. Bride went forward towards the ship’s collapsible boats which were located above the wireless room and below the forward-most funnel. Phillips headed aft, most likely in hopes of finding a remaining lifeboat. This is the last time the two men saw each other.

There are conflicting reports as to how Phillips met his end: There are claims he made it to one of the upturned collapsibles and later died of hypothermia in the boat. Another states Phillips’ body could have made it onboard Carpathia. There is no way to be certain though as a body was never identified. It is possible however that Phillips was one of the four unidentified bodies buried at sea on Carpathia. Bride would survive the sinking and go on to recall the heroic tale of his deceased partner’s efforts to save the ship. Phillips was only 25, having celebrated his birthday during the first day of the voyage. 

A Lasting Legacy

When Phillips had departed this earth the world had lost a man responsible for saving the lives of hundreds. Were it not for his drive to continue working despite the oncoming danger many more could have perished. His actions were once again brought to public attention in 2012 when the BBC produced a show which replicated and broadcasted the Titanic’s radio messages. A memorial ground in his home town was erected to honor him. His memorial was set up along with his family’s grave in Nightingale Cemetery, in Surrey, England.

Jack Phillips – 11 April 1887 – 15 April 1912

Harold Bride – 11 January 1890 – 29 April 1956