Cyril Furmstone Evans (1892 – 1959) was a British wireless telegraphist who was sole operator aboard the SS Californian the night the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912.
Cyril Evans | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. March 1892 Croydon, Surrey, England |
| Died | c. July 1959 (aged 67) |
| Occupation | Wireless operator |
| Employer | Marconi International Marine Communication Company |
| Known for | Wireless operator of SS Californian during the sinking of RMS Titanic |
Earlier, on 14 April, Evans had sent an ice report to the Titanic and called the ship up again around 11:00 pm. During the sinking, when Titanic was sending distress signals and the ship was firing rockets, he was off duty, having turned in around 11:30 pm. He was not woken up by the crew until hours after the disaster occurred.
Evans was subsequently called to testify at both the American and British inquiries into the disaster. Amongst other changes, the disaster and inquiries led to the policy of 24-hour watches being mandated aboard ships to prevent any ship from missing a distress call.
Early life
editNot much is known about Evans' early life. He was born in 1892 in Croydon, Surrey, and joined the Marconi Company in 1911 after going to the British School of Telegraphy, along with Harold Bride. His first assignment was aboard the RMS Cedric where he made one voyage, before he was transferred to the SS Californian which had recently been installed with a wireless.[1]
Sinking of RMS Titanic
editIn April 1912, when Titanic embarked on her maiden voyage, Evans was making his third voyage on the Californian, under Captain Stanley Lord, westbound for Boston. He was the sole wireless operator on board.[1]
On the night of 14 April 1912, Evans was on duty aboard the Californian when Captain Lord entered the wireless operator's cabin and informed him that they had stopped because of ice in the vicinity and ordered him to warn all other ships in the area, which he did.[2] At the time Titanic's on-duty wireless operator, Jack Phillips, was busy clearing a backlog of passengers' messages with the wireless station at Cape Race, Newfoundland, 500 miles (800 km) away. Evans sent an informal message of "Say old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice." Due to the proximity of the two ships, the signal was heard very strongly on Titanic and drowned out a separate message Phillips had been in the process of receiving from Cape Race, prompting Phillips to tell Evans to stop transmitting with the signal "DDD" which Evans interpretted as: "Keep out; I am working Cape Race."[1] Contrary to common belief, Evans was not offended nor did he take the common code for "stop transmitting" to be an insult; at the British Wreck Commissioner's inquiry, Evans told the Viscount Mersey:[3]
Lord Mersey:
In ordinary Marconi practice is that a common thing to be asked?
Evans:Yes. And you do not take it as an insult or anything like that.
Evans had not prefixed the message with the letters, "MSG," which stood for Master Service Gram and had also failed to provide their position. Instead, he listened in for a while before he switched off his wireless equipment and went to bed.
In the early morning hours of 15 April 1912, Phillips communicated with the nearest ship responding to the SOS call that he sent out on the orders of Titanic Captain Edward Smith. The ship was RMS Carpathia, which steamed to the rescue of the stricken liner but was 4 hours away, while the Californian was much closer to Titanic. Although Lord's officers informed him of the large ship, which had stopped and was visible to them, firing rockets, Lord never thought to wake Evans, but he tried to communicate with Titanic by Morse lamp. Evans was woken when it was too late and learned by his headset what had happened to Titanic. The Californian, after looking for any survivors that had been missed by Carpathia, found none and continued on its route to America.
Inquiries
editUpon arrival, several key crew members, including Lord and Evans, were summoned to give evidence at the American inquiry. Evans also gave evidence at the British inquiry into the tragedy.
The fact that the SS Californian, which was much closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia missed the ship's distress calls entirely because Evans was asleep, added to the evidence for consistent safety measures regarding wireless and led to the Radio Act of 1912, requiring all ships to man wireless distress frequencies around the clock.[4]
Later life
editEvans continued his service with the Marconi Company and its successor companies (Eastern Telegraph Company and Cable & Wireless: the later part of his career was spent as manager for Cable and Wireless on the West Indian island of St Lucia) for the rest of his life. He also served at sea in World War I and World War II, running mobile telecommunications for the British Army in North Africa and then Italy.
He married and raised a family. He died of a heart attack around July 1959.
Cultural portrayals
editIn the 1958 film A Night to Remember, Evans was portrayed by Geoffrey Bayldon.
References
edit- 1 2 3 "United States Senate Inquiry, Day 8: Testimony of Cyril F. Evans". Titanic Inquiry Project. Retrieved 26 February 2026.
- ↑ Lord, p. 24.
- ↑ "British Wreck Commissioner's Inquiry, Day 8: Testimony of Cyril F. Evans". Encyclopedia Titanica. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
- ↑ "Robot is Made to Pick Up S O S". The New York Times. 28 February 1937. p. 174.
Book sources
edit- Lord, Walter (1981) [1955]. A Night to Remember. R & W Holt. ISBN 978-0805077643.
- Hughes, Michael; Bosworth, Katherine (2012). Titanic Calling : Wireless Communications During the Great Disaster. Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1851243778.
- Halpern, Samuel (2011). Report into the Loss of the SS Titanic: A Centennial Reappraisal. The History Press. ISBN 978-0752462103.