The Quest for the Wreck of the Titanic
The Inaccurate C.Q.D call, the box office bomb, and the Texas oil millionaire with a trained monkey
About half an hour after midnight on 15 April 1912, Captain Arthur Rostron was drifting off to sleep in his cabin aboard the Cunard liner RMS Carpathia. The ship had left New York City four days before and was making its way steadily to Fiume on the Adriatic coast of Austria-Hungary. Suddenly, wireless operator Harold Cottam burst into his cabin and announced that he had received a cryptic message from the RMS Titanic.
“C.Q.D. here. Position 41’44” N., 50’24” W. Require assistance” the White Star Line ship had broadcast. C.Q.D. was the international distress call. Cottram replied, asking what had happened.
“Come at once. We have struck a berg. It’s a C.Q.D. O.M. [Old Man] Position 41’46” N. 50’14” W” was the urgent response.
Cottam had already taken message to the bridge to find the officers on watch sceptical. The Titanic was the largest and most modern ship afloat, and an iceberg shouldn’t have been able to seriously damage her. The C.Q.D. position was north-west of the Carpathia — back towards North America — and about 58 miles away. Turning a liner around, throwing it off its schedule and delaying its passengers wasn’t a small…