Jack Tattersall, the wireless man of the steamship _Baltic_, which
went to the aid of the _Republic_ on January 23, 1909, is said to
have sat at his key for 52 hours. In relating his experience he said:
It wasn’t the actual work that bothered me, you know. That’s not
so difficult.
No; it’s the awful nervous strain of striving, always striving,
to get the message right, when half a dozen gigantic batteries
are jerking flashes to you at the same time, drowning each other
out, pounding in your ears, making the night seem to swarm with
sparks before your eyes. That’s what gets on a man’s nerves;
that’s what makes you next to insane. I hardly knew what to do,
with the _Republic_ signaling me, faintly, so faintly that
I could not make out whether they were saying, “We are sinking,”
or “All safe.” (Text.)
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