The End of SOS.
This follows another recent story here in the Last Mile concerning the demise of commercial grade telegraph services.
Can you discern the disruptive technologies in the following article? How about those which were merely sustaining in nature?
For another view of the disruptive and sustaining attributes of today's "instantaneous highway of thought" technologies, see my earlier post in the Gilder/ASAP thread which highlights David Isenberg's treatment on the subject.
Message 10766034
Regards, Frank Coluccio
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End Of Road For Morse Code's Dots And Dashes
(Last updated 10:25 AM ET February 1, 1999)
By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Morse Code, which spelt out the demise
of the Titanic and the end of two World Wars, Monday fell victim
to the relentless march of technology.
For those in peril on the sea, three dots, three dashes and three
dots once spelt out SOS -- the universally recognized call sign for
a ship in distress.
Now Morse is being replaced by a satellite-based "Mayday"
system on all ships over 300 tons which have to carry satellite and
radio equipment for sending and receiving distress alerts.
"Morse is a system that has played an incalculable part in the
development of trade and history itself -- but it has now died of
old age," said Roger Cohn of the International Maritime
Organization.
It was invented in 1832 -- appropriately enough on a Transatlantic
sea crossing -- by Massachusetts portrait painter Samuel Morse.
His system, the 19th century precursor of the Internet, was hailed
in its heyday as "the instantaneous highway of thought."
By the time of his death in 1872, the world boasted 650,000 miles
of telegraph lines on land and 30,000 miles of submarine cable.
With Marconi's invention of the wireless, Morse Code was given a
new lease of life. In 1899, the first shipwreck was reported by
Morse Code in the English Channel.
By 1910, Morse had even trapped its first murderer when the
notorious British killer Dr Crippen was trapped. A message was
tapped out to the liner Montrose on which he was trying to escape
to Canada with his mistress.
Tragedy struck in 1912 when the fateful message "SOS. Come at
once. We have struck berg" was tapped out by the Titanic.
Hundreds of lives could have been saved by the liner California,
just miles away. But its radio operator was not on duty and never
heard the message. From then on, all ships maintained a 24-hour
radio watch.
The radio telegraph station in Isahaya, Japan closed Sunday after
more than 90 years of operation.
And Scottish coastguards, who picked up a Morse Code message
from a listing cargo ship last month, confessed they were so
surprised that they thought it was a joke.
The London Times, reflecting nostalgically on the 19th century
answer to e-mail, said in an editorial Monday: "Morse broadcast
the cease-fires of both World Wars.
"It was used by generals and spies, speculators, journalists and
prisoners communicating with the next cell."
And then it concluded sadly..."Over and Out."
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