Can You Hear Me Now · Episode 3 of 14 · 22 min
Dots, Dashes and Blinks
On May 2, 1966 a captured American naval aviator blinked the word torture in Morse code during a filmed interview in Hanoi, and naval intelligence read it off the film. The episode follows dots and dashes from the telegraph wire to Army heliograph mirrors, ships' lamps and S-O-S, then through Morse's long retreat from official use. It gives Morse's champions their case that the code was never obsolete in a crisis.
Who's who
- Jeremiah DentonNavy aviator who blinked torture in Morse on film in 1966
- Samuel Morse+1 more episodePainter and inventor, holder of the 1840 telegraph patent
- Alfred Vail+1 more episodeDeveloped the telegraph apparatus; his share of the code is debated
- Friedrich Clemens GerkeGerman engineer whose 1848 revision became the basis of International Morse
- Henry Christopher ManceBritish telegraph official who developed the heliograph around 1869
- Nelson A. Miles+1 more episodeArmy officer who built a heliograph network during the 1886 Geronimo campaign
- GeronimoApache leader whose band surrendered for the last time in 1886
- Carlyle HarrisAir Force pilot who taught the tap code at Hoa Lo
Where it happens
- Hanoi, VietnamWhere Denton blinked his message on camera
- Hoa Lo Prison, HanoiWhere prisoners first used the tap code in June 1965
- Skeleton Canyon, ArizonaWhere Geronimo's band surrendered in September 1886
- Karachi, PakistanWhere Mance developed the heliograph
- Chesapeake, VirginiaCoast Guard ended its use of Morse code there in 1995
Timeline
- June 20, 1840Morse receives United States Patent 1,647, Telegraph Signs
- May 17, 1865International Telegraph Convention in Paris standardizes International Morse
- 1886Miles's heliograph network spans Arizona and New Mexico during the Geronimo campaign
- April 15, 1912The Titanic's operators send C-Q-D and S-O-S
- May 2, 1966Denton blinks torture in Morse in a filmed interview
- February 1, 1999Global Maritime Distress and Safety System is fully implemented
Still debated
Historians disagree over whether Morse or Vail designed the dot-and-dash alphabet. The value of the heliograph against Geronimo is also argued, as is whether Morse is obsolete: maritime authorities judged it so for distress, while its champions call it the most robust channel when all else fails.
