0:00 On the night of April fourteenth, 1912, the steamship SS Californian was stopped, surrounded by an ice field, reportedly just nineteen miles from the sinking RMS Titanic.0:12 Nineteen miles.0:13 Close enough to see the lights of another vessel.0:17 Right.0:17 And on last week's episode, "Unsung Eyewitnesses," we talked about these forgotten figures at history's turning points.0:26 This story...0:27 it feels like the ultimate example of that.0:30 One person, one decision.0:32 It all comes down to a twenty-year-old named Cyril Evans.0:36 And the crucial thing to understand is that he was the only wireless operator on the Californian.0:43 Wait, one person was responsible for all communications, for the entire ship?0:49 One person.0:50 It was common at the time.0:52 So Evans has been on duty for hours, tapping out routine messages.0:56 His shift is almost over.0:58 But before he signs off, he notices his ship is completely surrounded by icebergs.1:04 So, he does his job.1:06 He tries to warn other ships.1:08 Including the Titanic.1:10 Mmm-hm.1:10 Around 10:30 PM, he calls the Titanic.1:13 The operator on the other end, Jack Phillips, is completely overwhelmed.1:18 He's trying to clear a huge backlog of private telegrams for the wealthy passengers.1:24 So when Evans breaks in with his warning—"I say, old man, we are stopped and surrounded by ice"—Phillips is annoyed.1:33 He's annoyed by a warning that could save his life?1:37 He doesn't see it that way.1:39 To him, it's just another interruption.1:41 The signal from the Californian is loud, it's blasting his ears because they're so close.1:48 So he just snaps back, "Shut up, shut up!1:51 I am busy." Wow.1:52 Okay.1:53 So what does Evans do?1:54 He's a twenty-year-old who's just been yelled at by the senior operator on the most famous ship in the world.2:02 He does what any of us might do.2:05 He's tired.2:05 It's 11:30 PM.2:06 His shift is over.2:08 So he takes off his headset, turns off the wireless equipment, and goes to bed.2:13 Oh, no.2:14 Yeah.2:14 Just thirty-five minutes later, the Titanic hits the iceberg.2:19 And for the next two hours, it's frantically sending distress calls.2:24 CQD.2:24 SOS.2:24 Messages of pure desperation.2:27 And the Californian, the ship that's practically next door...2:31 its radio room is dark.2:33 Silent.2:33 But they must have seen something.2:36 Nineteen miles isn't that far on a clear night.2:39 They did!2:40 This is the part that is just agonizing.2:43 The crew on the Californian's deck saw white rockets being fired from the distant ship.2:49 They even woke their captain.2:51 But at the time, distress signals were supposed to be a specific color or fired in a certain pattern.2:59 They just looked like celebratory fireworks.3:02 So they saw the visual signal...3:04 but they were missing the audio context from the radio that would have told them what it MEANT.3:11 Exactly.3:12 Without the radio, the rockets were just ambiguous lights in the sky.3:17 So the captain, Stanley Lord, tells them to keep watching and goes back to bed.3:23 The connection was never made.3:25 So when did they find out?3:27 The next morning.3:28 Cyril Evans wakes up, turns his set back on, and the air is just full of the news.3:34 The Titanic is gone.3:36 He wakes his captain, and they immediately steam over to the location, but...3:41 it's too late.3:42 All they find is the rescue ship, the Carpathia, sailing away with the few survivors it could pull from the water.3:51 What happened to Evans?3:52 I mean, he was just following his schedule.3:56 He was just a kid.3:57 He was.3:57 And he was never formally blamed, not in a legal sense.4:02 But he was questioned intensely in the American and British inquiries.4:07 He lived the rest of his life with this...4:10 shadow.4:10 He rarely spoke of it.4:12 He was the man who could have saved them.4:15 The man who was close enough to hear the screams, if only he'd been listening.4:21 It’s not an evil act, or a malicious one.4:24 It’s just...4:25 a routine one.4:26 Going to bed when your shift ends.4:28 And that’s the most haunting part.4:31 It was a system failure personified in one man.4:34 A single point of failure.4:36 And it reminds you that sometimes, history doesn't turn on grand gestures.4:41 It turns on a tired young man taking off his headphones.
