JACK BINNS … AND THE FIRST AT SEA RESCUE COORDINATED BY WIRELESS

Chatham Marconi Maritime Center Welcomes Jack Binns’ Granddaughter, 
Virginia U. Lovelace MD, to its Ed Fouhy Distinguished Speaker Series

JANUARY 23, 1909 – “It was around 5:40 in the morning.  Jack Binns had just gone to bed after a long night at the wireless key of the Royal Mail Steamship "Republic" when he heard the foghorn grow more urgent and felt the ship slow down and reverse its engines.  Then came a great crashing sound and half of his wireless cabin was ripped away.  Had he still been sitting at his key, he would have been killed!  Thus began one of the greatest rescues at sea coordinated with the help of Marconi's new technology, wireless…” from http://www.jackbinns.org .

This season, Chatham Marconi Maritime Center introduces “Radio to the Rescue”, a series  of special events, fascinating speakers and new exhibits at the Marconi-RCA Wireless Museum.  At the turn of the 20th century, radio communication ended the isolation of mariners at sea.  Valuable lessons learned from the “Republic” rescue and from subsequent sea disasters help keep people safe today, and have saved countless lives.  

The Center leads off its 2020 season with a virtual presentation in its Ed Fouhy Distinguished Speaker Series.  Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace will tell the personal story of her grandfather, Jack Binns, who was the radio operator aboard the RMS “Republic” in 1909.  The ship was equipped with Marconi’s new wireless telegraph system.  Binns was the first to use wireless to organize an open-sea rescue after the “Republic” was rammed in the cold January fog by the SS “Florida” just south of Nantucket. 

Virginia Utermohlen Lovelace, MD obtained her undergraduate degree in physics from Washington University in St. Louis, and her medical degree from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons.  She was appointed a post-doctoral fellow at Rockefeller University, and recently retired from Cornell University where she was an Associate Professor in the Division of Nutritional Sciences, College of Human Ecology.  More background about both the topic and speaker may be found at http://www.jackbinns.org .