# Titanic and listening for distress

Canonical: https://worldradionow.top/museum/exhibits/titanic-wireless-safety/
Language: en

[← From sparks to streaming](/museum/exhibition/) Original interpretive illustration, not an archival photograph. 1912 / Sending without wires 

# Titanic and listening for distress

The 1912 disaster exposed weaknesses in wireless watchkeeping and coordination. ITU’s account connects it with further international radio safety measures. Written messages and later sound recreations are different kinds of evidence; no Titanic transmission is presented here as an original audio recording.

Look closer Why does a receiver need someone listening?

## Sources & further reading

ITU · Radio conferences and safety at sea

[View the original record ↗](https://www.itu.int/en/history/pages/itushistory-page-2.aspx)

[Listen today →](/?lang=en&country=GB)

## Keep exploring

[ 1895 

### Signals without a wire

Marconi experimented with wireless signals in 1895. Explore the step from laboratory work to communication over distance; wireless telegraphy and spoken broadcasting are different stages of this story.

Read the story → 

](/museum/exhibits/wireless-signals/)

[ 1920–1925 

### Listening through a crystal

This Science Museum Group record describes a crystal receiver made in Manchester around 1920–1925. A small object opens a question: how much skill did early listening require?

Read the story → 

](/museum/exhibits/crystal-listening/)

[ 1922 

### 2LO: a voice from London

The Science Museum dates the first BBC broadcast from 2LO to 14 November 1922. A transmitter helps us connect technical equipment with the growth of regular programmes.

Read the story → 

](/museum/exhibits/2lo-london/)

## Sources & further reading

- [Signals without a wire](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1909/marconi/biographical/)
- [Listening through a crystal](https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8414466/cats-whisker-crystal-radio)
- [2LO: a voice from London](https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/this-is-2lo-london-broadcasting-station-calling/)
- [The contested airwaves](https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80014599)
- [A radio you could carry](https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_713528)
- [The world is still on air](https://worldradionow.top/about/)
- [Who invented the telegraph?](https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/revealing-the-real-cooke-and-wheatstone-telegraph-dial/)
- [Who discovered radio waves?](https://www.deutsches-museum.de/museumsinsel/ausstellung/physik)
- [Morse: a language of timing](https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-M.1677-1-200910-I/)
- [Titanic and listening for distress](https://www.itu.int/en/history/pages/itushistory-page-2.aspx)
- [FM: changing how a signal carries sound](https://reach.ieee.org/multimedia/edwin-h-armstrong-radio-pioneer-fm-radio-and-the-later-years/)
- [Sputnik: a signal heard around the world](https://www.nasa.gov/history/65-years-ago-sputnik-ushers-in-the-space-age/)
- [Who invented the radio receiver?](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1909/summary/)