Squires, Harold. Interview about his life as a Marconi Operator.

• Other Authors: Squires, Harold
• Format: Audio
• Language: English
• Published: 2001
• Subjects: Work; Squires; Harold; Antarc*; Antarctic; Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/ich_avalon/id/6222

Harold Squires talks about his life as a Marconi Operator. Squires worked abord the S.S. Eagle, at Cabot Tower, and abord sealing ships. 00:00 - Harold Squires talks about his first job with radio during WW2. Too young to go to war, he joined the Merchant Navy and worked on the deck and cook house. Then he applied to the Marconi Company; 03:42 - Received his certificate and became known as a Marconi Sparks, the nickname for wireless operator. Every ship he was known as “Sparks. ” 04:37 - Tells story about boarding a new ship and someone calling him “Marky” short for Marconi; 06:08 - Tells story of starting work at the Cabot Tower Marconi station in 1948; Lost ships would call for bearings; They would have to walk to and from Cabot Tower every day for work; 10:57 - Tells story about getting a job to go to the Antarctic for a year. They sailed from St. John’s October 1944 on an old sealing ship called the S.S. Eagle; Tells story about pitch and blubber oozing up from the deck; Repairs that had to be made to the ship; 16:26 - When he got back to St. John’s he was kept on, told they were going back on another ship and he spent another year as a Canadian Marconi operator in the Antarctic; 18:44 - talks about why they went, to look for oil and minerals; 21:29 - When he came back to Newfoundland he worked at Cabot Tower, and got a call saying he had been picked to go to the ice fields for that year; Talks about what he did when he wasn’t working; Talks about using the loudspeaker and the Gerald S. Doyle news bulletin; Talks about sleeping quarters, the mess room; 31:15 - Squires talks about the messages he received, distress calls; 32:16 - Talks about the equipment they used at Cabot Tower; 33:55 - His tasks during his shift; 36:10 - Talks about funding; 37:17 - Accommodations at Cabot Tower; The Marconi Company; 39:46 - Talks about the first ship he went on; 40:50 - His schedule while on working on ships; 44:50 - The British Government funding the trip to the Atlantic and talks about the Battle of the Atlantic; ...