I think that the facts are that this whole episode was right in the time
line of the transition from the more or less official original distress
signal which was the 'CQD' cited here and in many other references, to the
'SOS'. And .. had the operator of the Titanic actually been using the
then newly 'adopted' 'SOS' distress signal, it is actually likely that the
Californian marine operator, even though he retired and went to bed
*MIGHT* have caught the call for help in time and many more lives had been
saved.



SOS had been the official distress call for about 3 years when the Titanic
went down, but CQD was the long established distress call used by the
Marconi Company. Marconi had such a strangle hold on marine radio at that
time that old habits died hard. That said everyone knew what CQD meant
regardless of the company they worked for.

I doubt that the Californian's R/O would have heard any SOS or CQD in his
sleep. At that time it was general practice to shut down the Equipment when
not on watch.The receivers needed constant attention to keep the coherers
functioning properly..

Regards
Jeff