At 11.00 p.m. The California, ten miles away, sent the following message to the Titanic - "say, old man, we have stopped, surrounded by ice". It had been a tough day in the Titanic’s telegraph office. In 1912 the wireless was still in its infancy. The range was short, the operators were inexperienced and passengers kept sending telegrams to friends and relations. The messages had been piling up. The Titanic's operator snapped back "Shut up, shut up. I’m busy!"

At 12.15 p.m. Captain Smith came into the telegraph room. He handed a slip of paper with the Titanics’s position to first operator John George Phillips and gave the order - "send the call for assistance!" Phillips tapped the letters CQD - at the time the international call for distress – followed by MGY, the code for the Titanic.

At about the same time, Third Officer Groves onboard the California put his headphones down to leave duty. But the Carpathia picked up the signal, changed her direction and steamed towards the Titanic. Unfortunately she was 58 miles and 4 hours away.