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Deaths on April 15

Jack Phillips (wireless officer)
1912Apr, 15

Jack Phillips (wireless officer)

Jack Phillips, English telegraphist (b. 1887)
John George Phillips (11 April 1887 – 15 April 1912) was a British sailor and the senior wireless operator aboard the Titanic during its ill-fated maiden voyage in April 1912.

On the final evening, Phillips had been exceptionally busy clearing a backlog of messages caused by a wireless breakdown. His consequent failure to respond to incoming signals is cited as a principal cause of the disaster. When the steamship Mesaba sent an ice alert, he acknowledged it, but failed to pass it on to the bridge. Another from the nearby SS Californian was ignored altogether. After they struck the iceberg, however, Phillips did his utmost to contact other ships for assistance. He died in the sinking.

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Events on 1912

  • 6Mar

    Airship

    Italo-Turkish War: Italian forces become the first to use airships in war, as two dirigibles drop bombs on Turkish troops encamped at Janzur, from an altitude of 6,000 feet.
  • 15Apr

    Sinking of the RMS Titanic

    The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 710 of 2,227 passengers and crew on board survive.
  • 14Oct

    Theodore Roosevelt

    While campaigning in Milwaukee, the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, is shot and mildly wounded by John Schrank, a mentally-disturbed saloon keeper. With the fresh wound in his chest, and the bullet still within it, Mr. Roosevelt still carries out his scheduled public speech.
  • 17Oct

    First Balkan War

    Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia declare war on the Ottoman Empire, joining Montenegro in the First Balkan War.
  • 26Oct

    Thessaloniki

    First Balkan War: The Ottoman occupied city of Thessaloniki, is liberated and unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.