by TheMadDreamer

Created on: May 01, 2008   Last Updated: May 02, 2008

I grew up in the Welsh valleys. That's in Wales. I imagine many of the Americans reading this won't know where Wales is, well, to put it simply it's a country which forms part of the United Kingdom. You'll find it on a map. 'The Valleys' is a nickname for the mountainous area toward the south of the country, near the capital; Cardiff. I come from a small town called Caerphilly. You probably haven't heard of that place either. But that's okay, many people haven't. Although Caerphilly has a few things to be famous for. We have a large castle and our own cheese, but we're a small community and like most of the south of Wales we're nothing to write home about. But...

When I was growing up I heard a story. About a man who once lived not to far from my home town. Who, 93 years ago became the first person to hear the Titanic's distress signal, apparently. I thought this was all a bit questionable. Surely, other ships heard it first, and if someone on land did hear it, they would have been in America. I never followed up on this story, I thought it was all very romantic, but unlikely to be true and I sort of wanted it to be. But years later, I moved to Southampton (where the Titanic began her maiden voyage) and curiosity got the better of me. I googled wisely, using relevant keywords. And I found out, that the man did exist, and he did live 10 miles to the north of my home town, and his name was Arthur 'Artie' Moore.

On the night of Sunday April 14th 1912, the White Star Line's 'unsinkable' ship, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg and began to sink. Between then and her demise on the ocean floor some two hours and forty minutes later, wireless operators; Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, sent out a distress signal. Combining the international distress signal: CQD (a signal used by Marconi wireless operators) and the less well known, SOS signal (which was a new signal, not regularly used by British ships, but had been used prior to Titanic's sinking, despite popular belief that this was the first time it was used). Their distress signal was picked up by four ships in vicinity, but even the closest one, the RMS Carpathia (at 58 miles away), did not arrive in time to make a successful rescue of all of Titanic's passengers. The SS Californian was close enough to see the lights of Titanic, but had shut off their wireless system for the night. The only place on land, it is believed, to pick up the distress signal was at Cape Race in Newfoundland, to the north-west of Titanic's position.

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