A Historic Visit to Cape Cod, MA

I went to Cape Cod to visit Henry Beston's cabin, to see the place where Marconi transmitted his first transatlantic radio signal to England, and to visit an old friend - Ernest "Lefty" Cooper.

THE MARCONI SITE

At South Wellfleet, a small sign signaled the entrance: "MARCONI STATION SITE -- NO BEACH ACCESS. Site of first United States Transatlantic Wireless telegraph station. Built in 1901-1902."

 

Guglielmo Marconi, known as the Father of Radio, was the first person to send a signal across the Atlantic by radio. That pioneering feat, in December 1901, won Marconi the Nobel Prize for Physics. Marconi (1874-1937) was an electrical engineer and inventor from Italy, the son of an Italian nobleman.

As a youth Marconi studied the scientific accomplishments of Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison. He successfully transmitted wireless telegraph signals as early as 1890 - between tin plates mounted on posts in his father's garden in Italy. He was 16 years old.

Inspired by his short-range successes, Marconi gradually increased the distance between transmitters and receivers: In 1895 - one mile; in 1899 - 20 miles from a ship to the shore; then a signal across the English Channel. His premier dream was to send a signal across the Atlantic Ocean.

In December of 1901, at his Newfoundland station, Marconi received the first transatlantic signal; the letter "s" tapped out from a station in England.

On January 18, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt, using Marconi's equipment, sent a message from the South Wellfleet Station on Cape Cod to King Edward VII at Poldhu Station (Cornwall, England). It was to be the first two-way transoceanic communication and the first wireless telegram between America and Europe. The message was as follows:

 

"In taking advantage of the wonderful triumph of scientific research and ingenuity which has been achieved in perfecting a system of wireless telegraphy, I extend on behalf of the American People most cordial greetings and good wishes to you and to all the people of the British Empire."

Theodore Roosevelt, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, Jan. 19, 1903

Few people understood the importance of this event. No one could see a need for a radio. A radio? For what? To listen to all night talk shows, or political addresses, or baseball games? This futuristic thinking in 1903 meant nothing.

The night of April 14, 1912, changed everything. An American Marconi operator received a distress signal from the Titanic - the world's most technologically advanced ship. The operator noted that this "unsinkable" ship was sinking fast in the freezing darkness off the coast of Newfoundland. Many lives were saved because of these radio messages. The value of radio was never questioned again. The operator of Marconi's station was David Sarnoff, who later became the president of RCA and helped shape the evolution of radio and electronics in the United States and around the world.

A small monument with a reproduction of Marconi's head stood prominently in view beside the replica of his radio transmitter.

 

GUGLIELMO MARCONI
PIONEER OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION
SON OF ITALY
CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
Born in Bologna April 25, 1874
Died in Rome July 20, 1937
 

The honorable Ecideio Ortona, Ambassador of Italy to the U.S.A. to The Honorable John A. Volpe, Ambassador of the U.S. to Italy.

Shortly after my visit, this irreplaceable likeness of Guglielmo Marconi's head was stolen. There was much concern in the radio world; "Marconi's Head Gone," read ominous headlines. A collection of money from radio fans worldwide yielded a reward of $25,000 for the safe return of Marconi's head. The head soon appeared without fanfare.The only question to me was: why would anyone want Marconi's head sitting on the dining room table?' Or, perhaps more importantly, if you were to try to sell his head, who could you sell it too? Who was Marconi anyway?

A replica of four tall towers as they looked in 1903 was inside a covered pavillion. A small building was centered between the towers. Wires were draped in several directions. A chronology of the stations history was listed:

CHRONOLOGY

Marconi's South Wellfleet Wireless Station

• 1901 Marconi selects site and begins construction of the station.
• 1901 In November a severe storm wrecks the station.
• 1902 Station rebuilt with antenna supported by four heavy wooden towers.
• 1903 First transatlantic wireless messages sent between the United States and England.
• 1906 Marconi's engineers warn that cliff erosion is endangering the station.
• 1912 Station operator hears a distress call from the sinking luxury liner Titanic.
• 1917 After 15 years of commercial service, the United States Government closes the station for wartime security reasons.
• 1920 Equipment salvaged, towers dismantled, and buildings abandoned to the sea.
• 1961 Site acquired by National Park Service as part of Cape Cod National Seashore.

I read with interest several other notes describing the station:
Below is a transmitter schematic diagram. It included a 60 cycle alternator, 110 volt storage battery, condenser, charging generator, antenna tuning inductance, tape machine for automatic keying, rotary spark gap, high voltage keying relay, radio frequency chokes, and a rotary gap motor start box.

The headquarters included a manager, two engineers, and three operators who lived on the site. No trace of the building remains.

Twelve steel cables, each one-inch in diameter, secured each tower against high winds. The guy wires were anchored to "dead men" of crossed timbers buried eight feet in the sand.

 

The transmitter house held the 20,000 volt condenser, antenna tuning coil, and the whirling spark gap rotor could be heard four miles downwind. The foundation is still visible. The transmitter was powered by a 45 horsepower kerosene engine generator that supplied 2,200 volts of alternating current to a Telsa transformer that stepped it up to 20,000 volts. A smaller direct current generator kept the batteries charged. The antenna wire was shaped like an inverted pyramid. At the top was a square of heavy stranded copper wire. Attached to this were 200 smaller wires that converged in midair just above the transmitter house. There were four towers built almost entirely of 3" by 12" lumber which provided support for the antenna. Each stood 210 feet high. It was a magnificent structure.   Looking toward the sea, some of the concrete formations that held the towers in place were visible. These included: broken pieces of concrete and bent anchors that once held proud heavy guy wires, crossties strewn out across the sand, and a wooden fence that serves as a small barricade against the remains of the tough Atlantic Ocean. These are remnants of another day, of a generation of dreamers who didn't realize that this investment of their time would one day change the world.   In what seemed like an obituary was this sad note: Here stood one of the world's great pioneer radio stations. Marconi's South Wellfleet Wireless, or "Old CC." Unfortunately, the historic station was dismantled and abandoned in 1920, and the ocean has eroded away over half the land it occupied.   The model encased behind you depicts the station as it appeared in 1903 when it transmitted its first overseas message and this was followed by what seemed like a note of finality.   "The huge towers, the roar of the old spark-gap and the excitement of wireless contact with some distant listener are gone forever from the dunes of South Wellfleet."