As a Ham operator, we owe alot to this man. For all the controversy, he did make it happen. The slate slab in our pocket makes it easy to video call anyone at a whim. But it's such a thrill to light up your own antenna and get a contact with another nerd 1000's of km away, with nothing but the sky connecting you. It bakes in a "we all look at the same moon" mentality
@@robertbridges517Popov’s work predates Marconi’s, but due to the bureaucracy of tsarism, he has failed to commercialise it. A common story in inventions.
@@arjovenzia As a Tech working on my General I can attest to your sentiments. There's something about reaching radio-to-radio with just the atmosphere in-between. Not to mention learning how it all works and being able to build and experiment as you go. Ham radio is the original social media and it's still going strong.
Merry Christmas, Mike to you and all your family . Marconi certainly made a huge difference to safety and communication at sea . A somewhat forgotten hero .
1845; John Tawell was arrested for the murder of Sarah Hart: He tried to flee by taking a train from Slough to London but he was spotted and slough station had a telegraph. His description was sent to Paddinton station where a plain clothes officer tailed him when he left the train and was later arrested. The first criminal arrested using telegraphy.
Oh boy… I was deeply, DEEPLY fixated by Marconi when I was wee, to the point I used to build tiny radio transmitters after school based on his patents (only so much you can do with spare wires and a rusty toolbox in fairness lol) Was so deeply emotional about it. He was kind of my hero (his station in Cornwall wasn’t far from where I grew up which I forgot about until this video!). Oh I’m so happy Our Friend Mike Brady is talking about this, I’m delighted, maritime and telegraphy history are my twin passions and have been since I was 10 and it is all flooding back. Yay!!
@ oh certainly! I used to have a picture of Tesla on my desk (what little kid didn’t lol) - but this video unlocked a ton of 20 year old memories. Honestly, the entire history of radio is just so wonderful and rich! Thank you for mentioning this part of it as well!!
Otis Pond, an engineer then working for Tesla, said, "Looks as if Marconi got the jump on you." Tesla replied, "Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents." But Tesla's calm confidence was shattered in 1904, when the U.S. Patent Office suddenly and surprisingly reversed its previous decisions and gave Marconi a patent for the invention of radio. The reasons for this have never been fully explained, but the powerful financial backing for Marconi in the United States suggests one possible explanation. Tesla was embroiled in other problems at the time, but when Marconi won the Nobel Prize in 1911, Tesla was furious. He sued the Marconi Company for infringement in 1915, but was in no financial condition to litigate a case against a major corporation. It wasn't until 1943-a few months after Tesla's death- that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tesla's radio patent number 645,576. The Court had a selfish reason for doing so. The Marconi Company was suing the United States Government for use of its patents in World War I. The Court simply avoided the action by restoring the priority of Tesla's patent over Marconi.
Nicola Tesla was a brilliant, troubled mind whose backers, like JP Morgan, frequently ended up cheating him because he was a poor businessman. The phrase 'being Westinghoused' also reflects Tesla's experience with the company. Tesla's wireless system used wooden towers, which had range issues. He invented many things, the ideas coming too fast to write down, but didn't have the finances to pursue them, nor the ability to adapt to trying to create on less budget. Tesla is credited with many things, including florescent lights and discovering alternating current. He should be recognized for all his contributions, despite many of his beliefs. He wasn't a bad man, by any means. More like he led a very unfortunate life. Despite that, every person should be recognized as worthy of all of their accomplishments.
One thing, Mike. Radio waves, for the most part dont bend with the earth. The frequency used back then, and the HF frequencies now, refract off of the ionosphere, and bounce back to earth over the horizon. Thats how you can talk across the world in certain atmospheric and ionospheric conditions. Now, VHF frequencies pretty much do go straight out into space. You can get a few miles over the horizon sometimes, and if you install your antenna very high, your reach will be a lot further. VHF is "line of sight" communications. Merry Christmas!
MF does bend around the earth. Thats why in some instances (particularly at night), a transmission's "sky wave" will interfere with its own "ground wave" as they will have both traveled different distances by the time they reach the receiver.
Radio waves are simply very long wavelength electromagnetic waves, much, much longer than the light waves our eyes can see. All electromagnetic waves can refract to a more or less degree and the longer the wavelength, the more they refract. For technical reasons related to the operation of the early spark gap transmitters, the radio wavelengths were 500 meters (a half a kilometer long!) and longer which means that they could and indeed DID refract following the curvature of the earth. In fact, similar long wavelengths can penetrate into the earth and more importantly, penetrate the surface of the sea so that submarines, to this day, can receive long wave broadcasts without having to surface.
@@oldgeezerproductions Indeed - a caving friend of mine was able to pick up BBC Radio 4 on long wave (1500m) while fairly deep underground in a cave in Spain. No other communication possible in either direction without spending hours climbing or descending many hundreds of metres of rope, but they could still listen to news, dramas, and the shipping forecast.
General statements are often disproven, there are exceptions to most rules. Sometimes the unexpected happens. All these things are more complex than can be summarized in comments to social media... (Let's not fight.) All are good comments here.
I've seen at least a dozen videos about this topic but this channel never fails to approach topics from a fresh angle that always results in a superior viewing experience.
I live in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Signal Hill, in the city of St. John's is where Marconi received the first trans Atlantic wireless message. It was in one of the old hospital buildings on the hill. Signal Hill is a Parks Canada national historic site and they have a display on Marconi along with Cabot Tower and the remiains of military fortification.
Merry Christmas Mike. Another totally absorbing video. When I was at sea as an Electrical Officer, Radio Officers were referred to by the nickname of Sparks or Sparky's ( a term that is also used here in the UK as a nickname for electricians ). Some companies still employed Marconi Radio Officers, many of the ones I sailed with came from the Irish Republic the others being mainly British, I believe Marconi may have had a training school there, the rest were mainly from the UK. At the time most radio traffic was still undertaken with the Morse key ( hence the nick names of Sparks and Sparky ) but by the late nineteen eighties things were changing rapidly, with the introduction of Single Side Band radios, automatic distress beacons, telex and fax machines and in 1990 for the first time I boarded a Ship that didn't carry a designated Radio Officer, as all that was required was for someone to hold a certificate to say they were competent to use an SSB radio. Most of the Radio Officers I sailed with were also expected to maintain the Radars and certain other navigational equipment.
It's Boxing Day in Oz, but here in southern New Hampshire it's Christmas Day. Christmas is a season that doesn't end until the Sunday after Epiphany, so Merry Christmas to my friend Mike Brady who has left us all this great gift of a new video. Happy New Year my talented friend.
Merry Christmas, Mike, and thanks for keeping us entertained. I am a Radio Ham (Amateur Radio operator) and I am pleased to finally see your take on how all this began especially the birth of communication at sea. Job well done.
Marconi was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, which in 1909 he shared with Professor Karl Braun. He shared the prize without any protest as both Marconi and Braun were working diligently on wireless technology at the same time. He felt it only fitting they share the award together as they would share information back and forth on each of their progress. It wasn't that they were directly working together on wireless, but a bit of cooperation between the two had been exchanged. Marconi WAS the first to get it working properly and patented, but Braun's work was also recognized by both the Nobel Foundation and both Braun and Marconi. In the acceptance speech, Marconi admitted that there were still aspects of his invention he didn't understand. "It just worked". He didn't know why. I think that we can all agree Marconi and Braun definitely deserved this award if for no other reason than making shipping journeys across the seas more safe and for all the lives that had been saved. That alone deserves top recognition.
Great video Mike. Thanks. I was a ship's radio officer for 5 years and can relate to this story very well. Sadly these radio networks have been replaced by even more advanced technology - the satellite systems. No more radio men on ships. It was a great way for young men and women to see the world.
I can remember waking up one morning, looking out of the porthole, and seeing that, during the night, another ocean liner had moored near to us. It was the Guglielmo Marconi, of the Italian Line, painted entirely in white and looking very impressive. This was in the port at Genoa, in 1967, when we were travelling on the Achille Lauro. While the Achille Lauro had been acquired by the Lauro Lines (“Flotta Lauro”) only two years earlier and had been refurbished and modernised throughout, it could not compete in elegance with the white fleet of the Italian Line - the Leonardo da Vinci, the Christoforo Columbo, etc. Naturally, the Italian Line wanted to honour Marconi, a great Italian hero. His mother, in fact, was Irish and he spoke very good English and did much of his business in Britain and the USA, where he is remembered, of course, for the “Marconi Scandal” which almost brought down the Government, but it was nothing to do with Marconi, personally, of course, but with the Attorney-General, and his brother, speculating in shares in the Marconi Company - allegedly.
yes his mother was of the Jameson whiskey distilling family. Also, their Dublin residence was Montrose house - which we find in this video is the name of the vessel on which Crippen was caught! Montrose house was central to the broadcasting of RTÉ the state broadcaster
Coast Guardsman here. We still use a lot of the pre-Marconi stuff today. We’re still required to memorize all of the signal flags and meanings. I also had the privilege of being able to man the fog bell aboard the USCGC Eagle during one of our graveyard shifts.
Great video Mike. Yes we had Capital Punishment here in Canada, up until as recently as 1962. The last person was hung in the infamous Don Jail in Toronto. It's closed now and is a historic site. 🖖😁🇨🇦🍻🕊️
Spark gap technology is known as diathermy in my profession, as an operating theatre nurse. It's great at closing all the small blood vessels that get cut during surgery. A bit like spot welding.
My father-in-law was a radioman on the USS Jacob Jones, DD-130 in 1919-1920 operating a spark gap radio telegraph. I've got his notebook from radio school training.
This is a chilling and fascinating story. "Doctor" Crippen was a real sicko. Hats off to Marconi; the lives saved alone make his invention one of the greatest and most important of all time.
Another professionally produced video full of fascinating facts ! It always amazes me that these events took place just over a hundred years ago. As a child in the 1950's I remember talk about Crippen, also he featured in the 'Chamber of Horrors' at London Madame Tussauds wax museum where I was taken on a few occasions living at the time in West London. Keep up these brilliant productions and I look forward to future ones.
In very late 1906 or early 1907 my grandmother, then 14, was sailing on a Feldherren (Field Marshal) class NDL ship in the Indian Ocean when she caught fire. The ship's marconi, recently installed, was able to summon a British or American Cruiser and all passengers were transferred by the war ship's boats. Because of the help the Marconi brought, all passengers were saved and the ship too. Not to mention me who came along about 50 years later. Marconi saved my life before I was even born. I still have her photos of that day.
Another interesting video. Thanks Mike. One of the first distress calls made by wireless was received at Marconi station on The Lizard (Cornwall, UK) in 1910. The Minihaha had run aground off The Isles of Scilly and sent a radio signal for help.
His brilliance not only culminated in the wireless transmitter, it also was evident in the way he kept control of his patent. You had to purchase a license just to have a set and the operator had to come from his company as well.
My father was a radio Office in south Pacific in WW2. Until the day he died he could still 'read' morse code. Some 50 years later it is nice to know more of the story.
I learned a lot from this video. I knew Marconi invented the wireless, but that was about it. I had heard about Dr. Crippen and his murder of his wife, but didn't realize how much the wireless helped catch him. Thank you for this video. I greatly enjoyed it.
Thank you for this great presentation Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs was as always very interesting and at the same time very informative Thank you very much ♥️
AAaaaaaandd once again, our Good Friend Mike Brady has caused me to tear up. That was so beautifully written, narrated, and illustrated that it will rank high in your best-of list.
Really enjoyed this, so interesting hear all about the history of Marconi and how it changed the world, also amazing how so many ships showed up for Republics rescue
MERRY CHRISTMAS MIKE! Thank you so much for creating Ocean Liner Designs. You have brought hours and hours of ship eye candy. Wishing you and your channel nothing but success. Hopefully it's warm over there! 😀
Love your channel, Mike! Just one observation: I believe that the second “g” in “Guglielmo” is not pronounced as a hard “g”, but sounds more like “Goo-lyel-mo”.
I love history and I didn’t think I would enjoy this video, but I was wrong! It’s interesting in learning about the Marconi system that I didn’t know I needed to know!
New Bosun reporting for duty, Friend Mike Brady 🫡 Truthfully, I've been around for quite some time. Not sure how I never managed to join. I skitter around behind the scenes and occasionally in the comments. Once upon a time, maaaany years ago, I had someone challenge me in a comment thread of a video on Phillips. I pointed out how long Phillips had been awake working the broken set, how it was against Marconi policy, and if he had not made that decision, no one would have survived. Someone official seeming asked me where I had obtained such information. I'm certain you've read the inquests backwards and forwards so you know. (I know that you have a video on the NY inquest at the very least.) It was a lovely documentary otherwise. I always try to remember that Titanic alone has SO MUCH information that we're lucky enough to know. Cheers, mate! Have an awesome Summer!
Great video! It is truly amazing how far we have come from the spark gap transmitter to the cellphone, but we need to study the past to see how we achieved all these breakthroughs. Super research.
Marconi point, on Cape Cod in Massachusetts,USA,has been a place I visited as a kid. The site has been destroyed by several hurricanes, but the cement pads for the transmitter were there, and a model.
Hello Mike Brady, it's your friend GoesBoom from the comments section. Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for a year full of interesting and well presented content. Here's looking forward to more in the coming year.
Happy Holidays Mike. You are the rock in the waves of the internet. Amazingly, our silly smart phones today still have several small technical details that go way way back to Marconi.
Marconi got "his" wireless system working making use of several of Nikola Tesla's patented techniques. Tesla was quirky and Marconi had better people skills, so he became the face of the wireless and Marconi himself was more than happy to accept the credit (as he stood on Tesla's shoulders).
Naval captains had centuries of tradition on how to act without recent news or orders. They often ordered the radio to be shut off as they left port in the early years. Also, it is interesting that at 4:10, we see flags answering a different wind than the sails.
There's a monument on the corner of Stuart and Cleveland St in Wahroonga, where the first wireless transmission between UK and Australia was received. PM Billy Hughes sent a message back in 1918 to Ernest Fisk, who had built a massive mast in his backyard.
Wow, that was interesting. I cannot imagine being off shore beyond sight without radio. I grew up with radio, my Dad was an Amateur (Ham) Radio operator and electronics (radar?) engineer. He built some impressive tube equipment to transmit. (As a child, I was most impressed by 866 mercury vapor rectifiers but later learned to love the 813s in the output.) But I grew up with transistors and now entirely store (or Internet) bought radios. I do not leave home without at least a VHF/UHF portable. (I am a bit of old-fart resisting the cell phone.)
Amazing to remember in the age of cellular and satellite communication that this is where it all began. The initial systems pioneered by Morse and Marconi still serve to connect millions of radio Amateurs worldwide to this day. 73 and Merry Christmas!
Marconi's first across the sea broadcast was from Barry in South Wales to Flatholm Island in the Bristol Channel - not a great distance, but - the proof that it could be done across water.
This is a channel about ships and of course the direction taken is about communication with ships. It's worth mentioning that Marconi was originally most interested in competing with underwater cables for transmitting financial data. Banks and stock markets paid huge amounts of money for this kind of instant communications. Marconi's idea was to undercut the price and make a bundle, which he did.
An interesting little variation on coded ship to shore messages was used by the ‘pirate’ radio ships in the 1970s and 1980s when telephone or other methods of direct private communication to their onshore office was unavailable. Some stations played a particular song on air to indicate that assistance was required. Others would broadcast coded messages on air - for example, at certain times, Radio Caroline would broadcast a list of numbers with specific meanings, such as notifications that fuel or other supplies were at low levels, or that some emergency had arisen. The numbers and their meanings were changed regularly, to prevent them being understood by the authorities.
Another great video. One other means of communication was, at least for the portuguese, was the use of the portugues water dog which would swim with messages between ships. Greetings from an American retired in portugal
As always, a fascinating look into history. I miss the days when we could send a telegraph, which was more personal than an email or text message, but less personal than a handwritten letter. But, I mark the invention of the telegraph and Marconi, as the first to connect everyone on earth. Have a Happy Christmas!!! Be safe, and be well.
As a Ham operator, we owe alot to this man. For all the controversy, he did make it happen. The slate slab in our pocket makes it easy to video call anyone at a whim. But it's such a thrill to light up your own antenna and get a contact with another nerd 1000's of km away, with nothing but the sky connecting you. It bakes in a "we all look at the same moon" mentality
Tesla created the path, Marconi made it functional.
Never operated a Ham radio but love the post. Happy Holidays Mike and all.
@@robertbridges517Popov’s work predates Marconi’s, but due to the bureaucracy of tsarism, he has failed to commercialise it. A common story in inventions.
KB3ODK
@@arjovenzia As a Tech working on my General I can attest to your sentiments. There's something about reaching radio-to-radio with just the atmosphere in-between. Not to mention learning how it all works and being able to build and experiment as you go. Ham radio is the original social media and it's still going strong.
Merry Christmas, Mike to you and all your family . Marconi certainly made a huge difference to safety and communication at sea . A somewhat forgotten hero .
He isn’t forgotten in Italy, many schools and monuments are named after Marconi
😢😢😢😢😢
*christmas
RIP
Unfortunately he was also a fascist so I'd say it's a stretch to call him a hero.
1845; John Tawell was arrested for the murder of Sarah Hart: He tried to flee by taking a train from Slough to London but he was spotted and slough station had a telegraph. His description was sent to Paddinton station where a plain clothes officer tailed him when he left the train and was later arrested. The first criminal arrested using telegraphy.
Oh boy… I was deeply, DEEPLY fixated by Marconi when I was wee, to the point I used to build tiny radio transmitters after school based on his patents (only so much you can do with spare wires and a rusty toolbox in fairness lol) Was so deeply emotional about it. He was kind of my hero (his station in Cornwall wasn’t far from where I grew up which I forgot about until this video!). Oh I’m so happy Our Friend Mike Brady is talking about this, I’m delighted, maritime and telegraphy history are my twin passions and have been since I was 10 and it is all flooding back. Yay!!
In 1943 the US Supreme Court invalidated marconi's patents, declaring that Oliver Lodge, Nikola Tesla and John Stone are the real inventors of radio.
@ oh certainly! I used to have a picture of Tesla on my desk (what little kid didn’t lol) - but this video unlocked a ton of 20 year old memories. Honestly, the entire history of radio is just so wonderful and rich! Thank you for mentioning this part of it as well!!
Otis Pond, an engineer then working for Tesla, said, "Looks as if Marconi got the jump on you." Tesla replied, "Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents."
But Tesla's calm confidence was shattered in 1904, when the U.S. Patent Office suddenly and surprisingly reversed its previous decisions and gave Marconi a patent for the invention of radio. The reasons for this have never been fully explained, but the powerful financial backing for Marconi in the United States suggests one possible explanation.
Tesla was embroiled in other problems at the time, but when Marconi won the Nobel Prize in 1911, Tesla was furious. He sued the Marconi Company for infringement in 1915, but was in no financial condition to litigate a case against a major corporation. It wasn't until 1943-a few months after Tesla's death- that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tesla's radio patent number 645,576. The Court had a selfish reason for doing so. The Marconi Company was suing the United States Government for use of its patents in World War I. The Court simply avoided the action by restoring the priority of Tesla's patent over Marconi.
Wish I could say any of this surprises me ( even though I didn't know any of it before reading this comment ) but I can't say it does.
Is there a video of this? If not one needs to be made!
Nicola Tesla was a brilliant, troubled mind whose backers, like JP Morgan, frequently ended up cheating him because he was a poor businessman. The phrase 'being Westinghoused' also reflects Tesla's experience with the company. Tesla's wireless system used wooden towers, which had range issues. He invented many things, the ideas coming too fast to write down, but didn't have the finances to pursue them, nor the ability to adapt to trying to create on less budget. Tesla is credited with many things, including florescent lights and discovering alternating current. He should be recognized for all his contributions, despite many of his beliefs. He wasn't a bad man, by any means. More like he led a very unfortunate life. Despite that, every person should be recognized as worthy of all of their accomplishments.
Marconi was an aristocrat, it figures.
@@SquishyZoran Yep, It was on Tv back then,,
Santa gives us gifts once a year. But our friend Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs keeps giving us great videos every week.
I’m so sad I’ve seen most of his as I love to binge listen to his videos
One thing, Mike. Radio waves, for the most part dont bend with the earth. The frequency used back then, and the HF frequencies now, refract off of the ionosphere, and bounce back to earth over the horizon. Thats how you can talk across the world in certain atmospheric and ionospheric conditions. Now, VHF frequencies pretty much do go straight out into space. You can get a few miles over the horizon sometimes, and if you install your antenna very high, your reach will be a lot further. VHF is "line of sight" communications.
Merry Christmas!
ULF and VLF do bend with the earth. That's how the Navy sent signals to the submarines back in the day. Rick RM2
MF does bend around the earth. Thats why in some instances (particularly at night), a transmission's "sky wave" will interfere with its own "ground wave" as they will have both traveled different distances by the time they reach the receiver.
Radio waves are simply very long wavelength electromagnetic waves, much, much longer than the light waves our eyes can see. All electromagnetic waves can refract to a more or less degree and the longer the wavelength, the more they refract. For technical reasons related to the operation of the early spark gap transmitters, the radio wavelengths were 500 meters (a half a kilometer long!) and longer which means that they could and indeed DID refract following the curvature of the earth. In fact, similar long wavelengths can penetrate into the earth and more importantly, penetrate the surface of the sea so that submarines, to this day, can receive long wave broadcasts without having to surface.
@@oldgeezerproductions Indeed - a caving friend of mine was able to pick up BBC Radio 4 on long wave (1500m) while fairly deep underground in a cave in Spain.
No other communication possible in either direction without spending hours climbing or descending many hundreds of metres of rope, but they could still listen to news, dramas, and the shipping forecast.
General statements are often disproven, there are exceptions to most rules. Sometimes the unexpected happens. All these things are more complex than can be summarized in comments to social media... (Let's not fight.) All are good comments here.
I've seen at least a dozen videos about this topic but this channel never fails to approach topics from a fresh angle that always results in a superior viewing experience.
I live in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Signal Hill, in the city of St. John's is where Marconi received the first trans Atlantic wireless message. It was in one of the old hospital buildings on the hill. Signal Hill is a Parks Canada national historic site and they have a display on Marconi along with Cabot Tower and the remiains of military fortification.
Merry Christmas Mike. Another totally absorbing video. When I was at sea as an Electrical Officer, Radio Officers were referred to by the nickname of Sparks or Sparky's ( a term that is also used here in the UK as a nickname for electricians ). Some companies still employed Marconi Radio Officers, many of the ones I sailed with came from the Irish Republic the others being mainly British, I believe Marconi may have had a training school there, the rest were mainly from the UK. At the time most radio traffic was still undertaken with the Morse key ( hence the nick names of Sparks and Sparky ) but by the late nineteen eighties things were changing rapidly, with the introduction of Single Side Band radios, automatic distress beacons, telex and fax machines and in 1990 for the first time I boarded a Ship that didn't carry a designated Radio Officer, as all that was required was for someone to hold a certificate to say they were competent to use an SSB radio. Most of the Radio Officers I sailed with were also expected to maintain the Radars and certain other navigational equipment.
@16:39 This ship showed up, then another showed up, and then ANOTHER showed up... It was so touching I actually teared up!
It's Boxing Day in Oz, but here in southern New Hampshire it's Christmas Day. Christmas is a season that doesn't end until the Sunday after Epiphany, so Merry Christmas to my friend Mike Brady who has left us all this great gift of a new video. Happy New Year my talented friend.
Merry Christmas, Mike, and thanks for keeping us entertained. I am a Radio Ham (Amateur Radio operator) and I am pleased to finally see your take on how all this began especially the birth of communication at sea. Job well done.
Marconi was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics, which in 1909 he shared with Professor Karl Braun. He shared the prize without any protest as both Marconi and Braun were working diligently on wireless technology at the same time. He felt it only fitting they share the award together as they would share information back and forth on each of their progress. It wasn't that they were directly working together on wireless, but a bit of cooperation between the two had been exchanged.
Marconi WAS the first to get it working properly and patented, but Braun's work was also recognized by both the Nobel Foundation and both Braun and Marconi.
In the acceptance speech, Marconi admitted that there were still aspects of his invention he didn't understand. "It just worked". He didn't know why.
I think that we can all agree Marconi and Braun definitely deserved this award if for no other reason than making shipping journeys across the seas more safe and for all the lives that had been saved. That alone deserves top recognition.
Great video Mike. Thanks. I was a ship's radio officer for 5 years and can relate to this story very well. Sadly these radio networks have been replaced by even more advanced technology - the satellite systems. No more radio men on ships. It was a great way for young men and women to see the world.
I can remember waking up one morning, looking out of the porthole, and seeing that, during the night, another ocean liner had moored near to us. It was the Guglielmo Marconi, of the Italian Line, painted entirely in white and looking very impressive. This was in the port at Genoa, in 1967, when we were travelling on the Achille Lauro. While the Achille Lauro had been acquired by the Lauro Lines (“Flotta Lauro”) only two years earlier and had been refurbished and modernised throughout, it could not compete in elegance with the white fleet of the Italian Line - the Leonardo da Vinci, the Christoforo Columbo, etc. Naturally, the Italian Line wanted to honour Marconi, a great Italian hero. His mother, in fact, was Irish and he spoke very good English and did much of his business in Britain and the USA, where he is remembered, of course, for the “Marconi Scandal” which almost brought down the Government, but it was nothing to do with Marconi, personally, of course, but with the Attorney-General, and his brother, speculating in shares in the Marconi Company - allegedly.
Lloyd George Prime Minister, and the then Lord Chancellor (top British Empire Judge) were amongst those who were believed to have hands in the till.
yes his mother was of the Jameson whiskey distilling family. Also, their Dublin residence was Montrose house - which we find in this video is the name of the vessel on which Crippen was caught! Montrose house was central to the broadcasting of RTÉ the state broadcaster
Thanks!
Look at this here, ladies and gentleman, it's our friend Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs!
Yo??? Mike is classy and polished. Nothing he does starts with yo.
Coast Guardsman here. We still use a lot of the pre-Marconi stuff today. We’re still required to memorize all of the signal flags and meanings. I also had the privilege of being able to man the fog bell aboard the USCGC Eagle during one of our graveyard shifts.
Merry Christmas to the most Genuine & Authentic content creator out there ! Thank you Mike for all you do !
Bedankt
Great video Mike. Yes we had Capital Punishment here in Canada, up until as recently as 1962. The last person was hung in the infamous Don Jail in Toronto. It's closed now and is a historic site. 🖖😁🇨🇦🍻🕊️
Merry Christmas to all at Oceanliner Designs!
Thanks!
Spark gap technology is known as diathermy in my profession, as an operating theatre nurse. It's great at closing all the small blood vessels that get cut during surgery. A bit like spot welding.
My father-in-law was a radioman on the USS Jacob Jones, DD-130 in 1919-1920 operating a spark gap radio telegraph. I've got his notebook from radio school training.
Another extremely well produced documentary. Great work Mr Brady
One of my favorite early casual criminalist episodes is about this story. Thanks for covering it.
Merry Christmas, Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs
🌲🎁🎅🏻🚢
This is a chilling and fascinating story. "Doctor" Crippen was a real sicko.
Hats off to Marconi; the lives saved alone make his invention one of the greatest and most important of all time.
Kate Bush's early song "Coffee Homeground" contains the line "Pictures of Crippen, lipstick smeared". I never got the reference until now.
Another professionally produced video full of fascinating facts ! It always amazes me that these events took place just over a hundred years ago. As a child in the 1950's I remember talk about Crippen, also he featured in the 'Chamber of Horrors' at London Madame Tussauds wax museum where I was taken on a few occasions living at the time in West London. Keep up these brilliant productions and I look forward to future ones.
Thanks for this fascinating gift today, Mike! It's much appreciated.
Merry Christmas, Mike and all those responsible for Oceanliner Designs and followers! May God bless and protect you all!
Merry Christmas to you Mike, all of your team and every viewer of Oceanliner Designs!
Awesome factual explanation re Marconi. My father was a telegraphist on HMNZS Achilles in WW2. Merry Christmas to you and your crew.
This is the first time I had a Science Class on Christmas Day.........
Thanks to Mike and a Merry Christmas to all.
Merry Christmas, Mike. All the best!
Merry Christmas! Thank you for all that you do.
Outstanding, as always Mike.
As a 'sparker' on ships and various shore stations from 1954 until 1977, I enjoyed watching this video.
Thanks to our revered friend Mike for yet another wonderful presentation. I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas.
In very late 1906 or early 1907 my grandmother, then 14, was sailing on a Feldherren (Field Marshal) class NDL ship in the Indian Ocean when she caught fire. The ship's marconi, recently installed, was able to summon a British or American Cruiser and all passengers were transferred by the war ship's boats. Because of the help the Marconi brought, all passengers were saved and the ship too. Not to mention me who came along about 50 years later. Marconi saved my life before I was even born. I still have her photos of that day.
Merry Christmas Mike and the Oceanliner Designs crew!
I just love the way you tell all those stories.
Another interesting video. Thanks Mike.
One of the first distress calls made by wireless was received at Marconi station on The Lizard (Cornwall, UK) in 1910. The Minihaha had run aground off The Isles of Scilly and sent a radio signal for help.
His brilliance not only culminated in the wireless transmitter, it also was evident in the way he kept control of his patent. You had to purchase a license just to have a set and the operator had to come from his company as well.
My father was a radio Office in south Pacific in WW2. Until the day he died he could still 'read' morse code. Some 50 years later it is nice to know more of the story.
Merry Christmas my friend! I wasn't even interested in oceanliners until I found your channel. Now I'm hooked!!
I learned a lot from this video. I knew Marconi invented the wireless, but that was about it. I had heard about Dr. Crippen and his murder of his wife, but didn't realize how much the wireless helped catch him. Thank you for this video. I greatly enjoyed it.
Happy Christmas to my good friend Mike Brady. I just found your channel this year and love the content you have created. This video was excellent!
Merry Christmas all and thank you Mike for all the wonderful videos you and the team have brought us this year
Thank you for a very Merry Christmas, Mike!🎄🎄🎄
Thank you for this great presentation Mike Brady from Oceanliner Designs was as always very interesting and at the same time very informative Thank you very much ♥️
10 out of 10 experts agree that Mike Brady is indeed.. our friend
Merry Christmas to my friend Mike Brady. Thank you for all the well researched and well prepared episodes. 🎄
AAaaaaaandd once again, our Good Friend Mike Brady has caused me to tear up. That was so beautifully written, narrated, and illustrated that it will rank high in your best-of list.
Mike, thanks for yet another quite interesting and well presented video.
Great video, Mike. A great Xmas gift of yours to all your channel viewers. Thanks!
Thank you for being our friend!!
The world and history of radio is such an interesting one.
What a fascinating story, thanks Mike all the best to you.
Really enjoyed this, so interesting hear all about the history of Marconi and how it changed the world, also amazing how so many ships showed up for Republics rescue
MERRY CHRISTMAS MIKE! Thank you so much for creating Ocean Liner Designs. You have brought hours and hours of ship eye candy. Wishing you and your channel nothing but success. Hopefully it's warm over there! 😀
Love your channel, Mike! Just one observation: I believe that the second “g” in “Guglielmo” is not pronounced as a hard “g”, but sounds more like “Goo-lyel-mo”.
0:24 - if this guy had a wife AND a mistress there might be some hope for me 😂
I love history and I didn’t think I would enjoy this video, but I was wrong! It’s interesting in learning about the Marconi system that I didn’t know I needed to know!
New Bosun reporting for duty, Friend Mike Brady 🫡
Truthfully, I've been around for quite some time. Not sure how I never managed to join.
I skitter around behind the scenes and occasionally in the comments. Once upon a time, maaaany years ago, I had someone challenge me in a comment thread of a video on Phillips. I pointed out how long Phillips had been awake working the broken set, how it was against Marconi policy, and if he had not made that decision, no one would have survived.
Someone official seeming asked me where I had obtained such information.
I'm certain you've read the inquests backwards and forwards so you know. (I know that you have a video on the NY inquest at the very least.)
It was a lovely documentary otherwise. I always try to remember that Titanic alone has SO MUCH information that we're lucky enough to know.
Cheers, mate! Have an awesome Summer!
Great video! It is truly amazing how far we have come from the spark gap transmitter to the cellphone, but we need to study the past to see how we achieved all these breakthroughs. Super research.
Merry Christmas to you and yours Mr. Mike Brady, our friend.
Excellent presentations of interesting subjects! Thank You for posting!
Marconi point, on Cape Cod in Massachusetts,USA,has been a place I visited as a kid. The site has been destroyed by several hurricanes, but the cement pads for the transmitter were there, and a model.
Hello Mike Brady, it's your friend GoesBoom from the comments section. Just wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and thank you for a year full of interesting and well presented content. Here's looking forward to more in the coming year.
Another great episode Mike, well done. :)
Merry Christmas, Mike. Fair winds to you and yours.
Happy Holidays Mike. You are the rock in the waves of the internet. Amazingly, our silly smart phones today still have several small technical details that go way way back to Marconi.
Marconi got "his" wireless system working making use of several of Nikola Tesla's patented techniques.
Tesla was quirky and Marconi had better people skills, so he became the face of the wireless and Marconi himself was more than happy to accept the credit (as he stood on Tesla's shoulders).
any patent numbers to back up your claim?
In 1943 the US Supreme Court invalidated marconi's patents, declaring that Oliver Lodge, Nikola Tesla and John Stone are the real inventors of radio.
Naval captains had centuries of tradition on how to act without recent news or orders. They often ordered the radio to be shut off as they left port in the early years. Also, it is interesting that at 4:10, we see flags answering a different wind than the sails.
There's a monument on the corner of Stuart and Cleveland St in Wahroonga, where the first wireless transmission between UK and Australia was received. PM Billy Hughes sent a message back in 1918 to Ernest Fisk, who had built a massive mast in his backyard.
In 1943 the US Supreme Court invalidated marconi's patents, declaring that Oliver Lodge, Nikola Tesla and John Stone are the real inventors of radio.
Wonderful transmission.
Wow, that was interesting. I cannot imagine being off shore beyond sight without radio. I grew up with radio, my Dad was an Amateur (Ham) Radio operator and electronics (radar?) engineer. He built some impressive tube equipment to transmit. (As a child, I was most impressed by 866 mercury vapor rectifiers but later learned to love the 813s in the output.) But I grew up with transistors and now entirely store (or Internet) bought radios. I do not leave home without at least a VHF/UHF portable. (I am a bit of old-fart resisting the cell phone.)
Thanks Mike, well researched and presented as is your style!!!
Amazing to remember in the age of cellular and satellite communication that this is where it all began. The initial systems pioneered by Morse and Marconi still serve to connect millions of radio Amateurs worldwide to this day. 73 and Merry Christmas!
In 1943 the US Supreme Court invalidated marconi's patents, declaring that Oliver Lodge, Nikola Tesla and John Stone are the real inventors of radio.
Marconi's first across the sea broadcast was from Barry in South Wales to Flatholm Island in the Bristol Channel - not a great distance, but - the proof that it could be done across water.
I think he demo'd some for Victoria around her Isle of Wight home to a yacht; not saying it was earlier but better marketing !
Merry Christmas to you and yours Mike! And thanks for all you do!
Merry Christmas Mike and the team
This is unique. It's both a shipping history documentary and a true crime video. Cool.🎉
Merry Christmas Mr Brady.
Merry Christmas, Mike!
Really good history lesson Mike! Merry Christmas!
Learning so much from this channel🚢⚓
Bravo Mike. This was a very entertaining and educational video. Kudos!
This is a channel about ships and of course the direction taken is about communication with ships. It's worth mentioning that Marconi was originally most interested in competing with underwater cables for transmitting financial data. Banks and stock markets paid huge amounts of money for this kind of instant communications. Marconi's idea was to undercut the price and make a bundle, which he did.
Mike, you just made this day so very much better. Thank you.
Happy holiday
An interesting little variation on coded ship to shore messages was used by the ‘pirate’ radio ships in the 1970s and 1980s when telephone or other methods of direct private communication to their onshore office was unavailable. Some stations played a particular song on air to indicate that assistance was required. Others would broadcast coded messages on air - for example, at certain times, Radio Caroline would broadcast a list of numbers with specific meanings, such as notifications that fuel or other supplies were at low levels, or that some emergency had arisen. The numbers and their meanings were changed regularly, to prevent them being understood by the authorities.
thank you, I have waited for this kind of video for such a long time
mike keep it up 🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢🚢
Another great video. One other means of communication was, at least for the portuguese, was the use of the portugues water dog which would swim with messages between ships. Greetings from an American retired in portugal
Thank you Mike, great video as always. You are super, best wishes for getting millions of subscribers!
Thanks for making legit content that is concise, factual, and not clickbait.
As always, a fascinating look into history. I miss the days when we could send a telegraph, which was more personal than an email or text message, but less personal than a handwritten letter. But, I mark the invention of the telegraph and Marconi, as the first to connect everyone on earth.
Have a Happy Christmas!!! Be safe, and be well.
Awesome video Mike well done merry Christmas