The K1USN Radio Club is pleased to announce that our next K1USN Zoom presentation will feature the granddaughter of shipboard radio operator hero, Jack Binns. Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace has just recently published an updated biography about her grandfather.If anyone would like to attend, they just need to send me an e-mail at k1rv@arrl.net. I will be sending out invitations starting on Sunday, Jan 17th. As always, we ask that the Zoom login information not be shared with others to help us minimize the possibility of “Zoom Bombing.”
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CQD! Here MKC! Shipwrecked!In 1909, three years before the Titanic disaster, a massive rescue at sea electrified the world. In the frigid pre-dawn hours of January 23rd, the Italian refugee ship Florida had collided with the luxurious White Star liner Republic off the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, ripping a huge gash in the Republic’s side.
More than 1500 lives were at stake. All these lives were saved thanks to the heroism of the crews and captains of the two ships, and the pluck and persistence of the Republic’s Marconi Wireless operator, Jack Binns.
Here is Binns’ story, brought to life by his granddaughter Virginia, from his birth in an English Poorhouse to his surprising and heretofore unknown roles in the events surrounding the sinking of the Titanic.