The just over centenary of Titanic’s tragedy leads to a reflection on the safety of the maritime navigation and the role of wireless communication have played in the global shipping. The vessel, at that time, the largest and most luxurious ship ever build was equipped with one of the world’s most advanced radios: a 5-kilowatt rotary spark transmitter that on a clear night could send signals from the middle of the Atlantic to New York City or London. The equipment was owned by Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Co. and operated by two of its employees, Jack Phillips and Harold Bride.

The first note to point out is that the technologies and the technicalities were ready but what lacked almost completely were international protocols, standardizations and regulations. Shipboard operators were still an unregulated novelty, and they reported to their companies, not to the ship captain. They sent business and personal messages alike using assorted spark transmitters over various wavelengths. The vast majority of ships - at that time - had only one radio operator, who was obligated to serve only a 10-hour shift each day.

Titanic's loss was the subject of regulatory reviews covering a range of maritime practices, most notably the first International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (1914). One item of this wide- ranging legislation mandated that wireless reception on ships should be operated 24'hours a day for continuous monitoring of distress calls: this was the first time that the key importance that wireless could have in saving lives was recognised in laws that crossed international boundaries.

It should be remembered in mind that some important positive developments around communications technology in the last century giving rise to a need for ships to navigate safety and efficiently in all waters stem from the circumstances of the 'unsinkable' liner's fate.

The technical and procedural scenario of the distress calls on the night of 14 April 1912 and the efforts to regulate wireless at sea from governments and corporations (mainly Marconi’s own company) will be presented as well as the progress made to date and the expected development from the basic wireless telegraphy to the modern eNavigation systems.