Marconi in Wales

Wales has an important place in the history of communication.

Did you know that one of the world’s greatest inventors carried out much of his work around the coast of Wales, both in the north and south? Though this gentleman was of Italian birth he spent much of his youth working with British born scientists and inventors here, including in Wales. His name became famous as he was one of the pioneers of radio communication. He is considered to be the inventor of radio telegraphy.

Guglielmo Marconi commenced an experiment in which he attempted to transmit Morse Code signals across the Bristol Channel to the island of Flat Holm in 1897. He was seen by many onlookers as somewhat eccentric however his perseverance paid off when the first message was transmitted, and an answer was received from his team on the Island where he installed a similar set of equipment.

The radio equipment became very popular and Marconi Radio Telegraphy was eventually used by luxury liners around the world. Eventually in 1914 he managed to transmit Morse Code all the way to north America. His transmitting station at Waunfawr, approximately 6 kilometres east of Caernarfon, near the Snowdonia National Park was a very sturdy building. During World War 1 (1914-1918) it was heavily guarded by British soldiers as it was seen a very sensitive military site of significant importance for communication.

In July 1910 there was an extraordinary story in the national newspapers of the wonder of the first “wireless” arrest being made on a ship as a result of a radio telegraph message in morse code.

Marconi’s equipment was also involved in the saving of lives. Most people will have heard the true story of the tragic loss of the Titanic. The ship was on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic when it hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on the April 15th 1912. Some 1500 people lost their life that night, but more lives could have been lost. As the ship began to sink the radio operators Bride and Phillips stayed in what was known as the “Marconi Room” on board the Titanic and continued to put out a “mayday” call or SOS message by radio telegraphy. Other ships in the area including the RMS Carapathia picked up the radio telegraph message also called “marconigrams” and were able to pick up over 700 survivors from lifeboats including those clinging on to floating wreckage just as the dawn was breaking.

Recently Marconi and the Titanic have been in the news again. The Smithsonian Museum in New York recently reported that divers are proposing to cut into the Marconi Room which is still in the wreck of the Titanic on the ocean floor. They wish to recover the Marconi equipment and put it on display in the museum.

Relatives of those who perished and others are arguing that the ship should be left undisturbed as it is a “sea grave” and bodies of the unfortunate people who were never rescued or recovered should be left to “rest in peace”.

Glossary

Invention

Something, typically a process or device, that has been created from an idea by a person or team.

Morse Code

Morse code is a method used in telecommunication to communicate text through a sequence of dots and dashes.

Kilometre

Kilometer is a unit of length in the metric system equal to one thousand metres.

Perished

A polite way of saying someone has died most commonly in an accident

Radio Telegraphy

The sending of messages usually by Morse Code using radio waves from one place to another

Smithsonian Museum

An important and very large institiution of museums, galleries and zoo in the United States of America

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Diary entry

18th September 2020

My Marconi Trail

After starting my own research whilst deciding on a new mobile (for when I am old enough!) I have found myself so “into” finding out more about Mr Marconi who it seems sent the first “text messages” when he was only 23 years old using equipment that people of the time thought were a sort of “magic”.

Mum says that I am “fixated” with this, but I asked mum to take me to Lavernock. We travelled in mums trusty old bone shaker from Cardiff along the winding roads to Lavernock Point. We saw the remains of the original transmitter tower that Marconi built. I wonder if his experiments had not been so successful where things would have gone by today? Would someone have discovered a different way to communicate? Mum wouldn’t have to worry about my fixation with mobile phones!

20th September 2020

Today I read more about Mr Marconi his experiments and where he went. It appears that it was just men who had all the fun inventing in those days. There is very little mention anywhere of women inventors or scientists during that time. I don’t know why? It turns out he fine-tuned (get it!) his transmission equipment to the point where Marconi Telegraphy could send messages almost as far as the United States- wow!

They even installed them on ships in special “Marconi Rooms” and eventually in 1914 he completed the building of a “long Wave” transmitter at Waunfawr in north Wales from where he was able to send and receive messages from America. The first transatlantic text , wow! Later his messages could be picked up from as far away as Australia! Amazing!

Mum (I love her - she is so patient when I get a “bee in my bonnet”!) has promised to take me all the way to Caernarfon for a break so I could visit Waunfawr which evidently was a very important place during the First World War. I must find out some more about it on the Coflein web site!

30th September 2020

We got back home from our trip together to Snowdonia this morning. Had a really tasty full Welsh breakfast in Caernarfon!.

As soon as we got in I went over to see Tadcu. He told me that Marconi had been in the news! I said he was joking as Marconi had died well over a hundred years ago! It appears that Marconi’s radio telegraph equipment had been installed on the Titanic that sank in the Atlantic on 10th April 1912 (way back in time) with over 1500 “souls perishing” he said.

They have more recently discovered the wreck and some divers want to break into the “Marconi Room” and recover the radio equipment that is still under water and thought to be deteriorating by now.

Tadcu said there are other people who are opposed to this as it should be seen as a “sea grave” and a memorial to all those who died back then. I am not certain what should happen here. I will ask my friends what they think of this idea. Is it right? Not sure. The positive thing though is that Tadcu said if it hadn’t been for Mr Marconi and his invention there would be no survivors at all as a few other ships did hear the “mayday” message sent by the radio telegraphy operator and eventually picked up survivors from the lifeboats and floating debris! I am not sure what I think about them diving down and breaking entering the Marconi Room.

Conversation

Letter

Letter to my friend Sara about my research

01/10/2020

Dear Sara,

I hope that you and your family are keeping well! I am working hard in school and am trying to improve my own letter writing skills as well as using email on the computer at home.

Tadcu has given me one of his old fountain pens. They are not so easy to use as it tends to drop blots of ink all over the place. I am taking my time writing this letter to you. So far so good! I have also spent time with Tadcu researching Marconi’s inventions! Did you know as well as in Lavernock he worked in Snowdonia, that’s not that far from you!

In another set of experiments at Waunfawr on the coast of north Wales he managed to send the first text message (of course it was a radio telegraph message using Morse Code in those days) from Wales all the way to north America using radio. What an achievement and he was still quite young!

Did you know that it was Mr Marconi’s equipment that enabled the doomed ship ‘The Titanic’ to radio telegraph other ships close by that were close that the Titanic was sinking.

There would have been even greater loss of life on that tragic evening if it hadn’t been for Mr Marconi and his “magic” invention!

When you are near a computer then you can read more here about Marconi’s Waunfawr Radio Station here:

http://www.heneb.co.uk/ww1/marconi.html

I have enclosed a picture of some of the lifeboats that was picked up as a result of the mayday signal sent from the Titanic’s Marconi Room which you should find in the envelope. It must have been awful to have to wait and hope that you would be rescued whilst others around you were drowning.

I hate being on a ship and would have been absolutely frightened to my core to be in a lifeboat! They say that in those days it was “women and children first” as they got people into the lifeboats, I looked that phrase up on the Internet with Tadcu and there is a great amount of history connected with “women and children first”.

Did you know that the Titanic only had 20 lifeboats that could only carry 1,178 people, even though there were over 2,200 on board that night? I wonder why they hadn’t enough spaces for so many people!

Well Sara I will let you know how I get on with my research and when I get the new mobile phone then we can keep in touch by text and voice. I am hoping to have unlimited texts and calls!

Stay safe!

Pob hwyl, Sofia

Letter

News article

Dr Crippen arrested on the high seas

The Cardiff Bugle

Murderer Crippen apprehended by Melrose Captain

July 2nd 1910

On June 30, 1910, Scotland Yard detectives were told of the disappearance of Cora, the wife of ‘Doctor’ Hawley Harvey Crippen of North London. Dr Crippen’s attractive typist, Miss Ethel Le Neve, had been identified after the murder wearing one of Cora’s brooches. Crippen had told police that Cora had run off with another man, but the next day he and Ethel mysteriously disappeared. Police searched Crippen’s Camden Town house and found Cora’s remains buried under the floor.

It has been reported that clues eventually led Superintendent Kendall and his team of detectives to suspect that Crippen and Ethel had indeed boarded the passenger ship the Melrose heading to the USA. With no time to waste a message was sent by radio to the “Marconi Room” of the Steam Ship Melrose – this was what it said:

“…. have strong suspicions that Crippen London cellar murderer and accomplice are amongst saloon passengers STOP… moustache taken off growing beard STOP… accomplice dressed as boy voice manner and the boy undoubtedly a girl stop… both travelling as Mr and Master Robinson STOP…Superintendent Kendall – message ends”

The Captain of the Canadian Ship Melrose waited until the suspect couple who were in the heavy disguise, dressed to be a father and son were walking out on deck. The Captain called out loudly “Crippen” at which point the passenger turned around without thinking and they were immediately asked to come quietly to the Captain’s rooms.

We are pleased to report to our esteemed readers that the cold blooded murderer Crippen is now behind bars onboard ship and when the steamship arrives in New York will be taken ashore and eventually returned to London be tried for the despicable murder of his wife in London.

This is the first time that a message sent by Mr Marconi’s equipment has been used to apprehend a criminal and commentators are now moving from being sceptical to praising this new invention.

The Cardiff Bugle first reported some years ago on the exploits of the inexperienced Mr Marconi at Lavernock we were very sceptical but now people are beginning to realise that this invention may well have the potential to be of benefit to society. Marconi is now saying it might in the future be possible to transmit sounds and even pictures. This though is too far fetched to ever happen in the humble opinion of your Daily Bugle! The next thing you know they will be predicting that news stories sent over the air will replace your trusty newspapers!

Footnote In modern times it would appear that not everything was as it had been reported at that time. In an edition of the Daily Mail from this century we now read:

‘Crime scene investigation proves Dr Crippen was innocent: DNA tests reveal remains in the cellar ‘were not his wife’

Modern CSI methods have been used to prove Dr Hawley Crippen who gained a reputation as one of the most notorious murderers in British history did not kill his wife.’ Patrick Crippen, his closest living relative, said last year: ‘It is a celebrated horror case but the prosecution was entirely wrong. 

The DNA evidence now available reveals this is a gross miscarriage of justice.’

Perhaps we will never know the truth!

News article

Marconi at Lavernock News Article

The Cardiff Bugle

Eccentric inventor Mr Marconi sends the first “magic” message through thin air!

May 20th 1897

The very young 23 year old Mr Guglielmo Marconi who was born in the Italian city of Bologna and later studied in Florence and is already well known as an inventor and scientist and is currently working in Wales as he has become good friends with a Welsh post office telegraph engineer.

Marconi is passionate about his ideas. He told our reporter that he believed that the current methods of sending telegraph messages by wires could become a thing of the past and that he believed that the future would be to be to use so called magical “radio waves” where telegraphic Morse Code messages could be sent “over the ether”. We understand that critics say that this is “youthful folly” and will never catch on.

Readers may be concerned at this new-fangled science, but Mr Marconi assured our reporter that there would be no danger to anyone who gets too close to such electricity signals. We hope and trust in Mr Marconi’s integrity but must admit that we are somewhat concerned Marconi’s youth and lack of experience.

Some Bugle readers may have had sight of these eccentric gentlemen in their fine moustaches and bowler hats climbing laden with coils of copper wire, strange looking poles, accumulators and other equipment up to Lavernock Point where they have built a sturdy wooden hut to house their equipment from which extremely tall poles have been installed and lengthy wires are strung out down the cliffs to the beach.

Inside the hut Marconi and his colleagues have connected a Morse telegraph key to his new-fangled equipment which enables the equipment to send morse code through the air over the Bristol Channel to another hut on Flat Holm Island!

Marconi sent an initial message in Morse code. It read: "CAN YOU HEAR ME". Shortly after, Marconi received a reply from his co-experimenter, a gentleman called Mr Kemp, who was the wireless operator on Flat Holm: "YES LOUD AND CLEAR".

The experimenters appeared overjoyed that their theory had now been proven and there was no evidence of harm to anyone involved.

It was said by an observer at Lavernock Transmitting Hut that:

On the 13th the receiving apparatus was carried down to the beach at the foot of the cliff and connected by another 20 yards of wire to the pole above, thus making a height of 50 yards in all.

Result, magic! The instruments, which for two days failed to record anything intelligible, now rang out the signals clear and unmistakable, and all by the addition of a few yards of wire!

We at the Cardiff Bugle Newspaper would like to congratulate the young Marconi on his success but are sceptical (as indeed are many others) as to whether there is need for such an invention and whether there is any scope to develop the use of “wireless” any further.

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Image & text

A Stay in Snowdonia following the Marconi Trail

Sofia has persuaded her mum to take her up to North Wales and to take her to visit the remains of the Waunfawr Transmitter site. There is not that much there to see now according to Google Maps.

The closest town is Caernarfon which is famous for its castle. You might like to have a look with them at the hotels and guest houses that are available there as well as chalets and caravan accommodation using the Internet.

They decide they would like to stay at The Celtic Royal Hotel which Marconi himself stayed at many times. Or they could stay in a chalet at Glan Gwna in Caeathro which is also close to Waunfawr. You can search for information on the Internet about this chalet park as well as look at the Celtic Royal Hotel.

You might also like to use Google Maps to have a look at both locations

Tadcu has promised to “dip into his savings” to pay for three nights in the Celtic Royal. He has asked Sofia to check out the costs; or if that works out to be too expensive he would pay for a chalet for them for a week’s stay instead.

Sofia looks up the costs for the rooms at The Celtic Royal (without including breakfast). On the date they plan to arrive they can share a twin room for £95 or they could choose to have two single rooms at £85 for each of them.

The cost for a Chalet for a week (seven nights) at Glan Gwna is £427 for both of them.

Sofia would of course choose the Celtic Royal as she then might actually stay in a room that Marconi had stayed in so long ago. Mum says she would rather the peace and tranquillity of the lake at Glan Gwna!

Get your mathematics hat on and decide on an answer to each question!

1. What is the total cost for three nights in one twin room at The Celtic Royal?

£85

£190

£285

£185

2. What is the total cost for the three nights if both of them have a single room each for all three nights at The Celtic Royal?

£210

£255

£305

£510

3. How much more would it be for them to stay at Glan Gwna for the whole week instead of the three nights at The Celtic Royal in a twin room together?

£320

£125

£42

£67

4. What is the equivalent cost per night at Glan Gwna if they choose to stay for one week (that is seven nights)?

£90

£60

£120

£55

Answers

1. £285

2. £510

3. £125

4. £60