Cyril Furmston Evans

Cyril Evans

Cyril Furmston Evans (born 1892 in Croyden, Surrey, UK, died 1959) was a 20th century wireless telegraphist notable for his involvement in the Titanic tragedy. Cyril Evans was 20 years old in April, 1912 when RMS Titanic embarked on her doomed Maiden Voyage and was the sole Wireless Operator on the SS Californian which was also crossing the Atlantic at the time.

On the night of April 14th, 1912, Evans was on duty aboard the Californian when his Captain, Stanley Lord, entered the wireless operator's cabin and informed him that they had stopped due to ice in the vicinity and ordered him to warn all other ships in the area, which he did. Meanwhile, in the Wireless Room of Titanic, senior operator Jack Phillips and Harold Bride, junior operator, were tirelessly working to clear a backlog of passengers' private messages that were to be relayed to the Cape Race wireless station.

When Phillips received Evans' ice warning, he was almost deafened by the sudden interference in his headset and sent an angry response telling Evans to keep out of the airwaves. Phillips also never passed this message to the bridge, but in his defense, Evans had not prefixed the message, with the letters, 'MSG' which stood for Master Service Gram and was customary for all messages intended for the bridge. Evans, feeling that he had done what was asked of him despite Phillips' rude apparent rejection of the message, then switched off his wireless equipment and went to bed. This exchange was to prove serious, as Titanic might have been able to reach out to Evans later on had he not gone to bed. The blunt approach of Philips may have motivated Evans to go to bed sooner, but it's hard to say.

In the early hours after midnight of April 15th, 1912, Philips communicated with the nearest ship responding to the CQD, which he sent out on the orders of Titanic Captain Smith. This ship was RMS Carpathia who steamed to the rescue of the stricken liner, but whilst she was 4 hours away, the Californian was much closer to Titanic and although Lord's officers informed him of the large ship which had stopped and was visible to them, firing rockets, Lord never thought to wake Evans (although his officers did try communicating with Titanic by Morse Lamp). For a while Third Officer Groves had started to fiddle with the device but had no idea how to switch her on. Evans was only woken once it was too late, probably after 4:30 A.M. and he learned from the SS Frankfurt via his headset what had happened to Titanic. The Californian still took her time and left at 6:00 A.M, she only arrived at the wrecksite around 8:30 A.M. After looking for any survivors that the Carpathia might’ve missed (which there were none of) and recovering bodies of people who died in the disaster, the SS Californian continued its route to America, where upon arrival, several key crew members, including Lord and Evans were summoned to give evidence at the American Inquiry. Evans also gave evidence at the British Inquiry into the Titanic tragedy and, like others involved in the disaster, was offered a lot of money from newspapers for his story, but refused.

Evans continued service with the Marconi Wireless company and its successor companies (Eastern Telegraph Company and Cable & Wireless. The later part of his career was spent as manager for Cable and Wireless on the West Indian island of St Lucia) for the rest of his life. He also served at sea in World War I and World War II, running mobile telecommunications for the British Army in North Africa and then Italy, and married and raised a family. Evans died of a heart attack in 1959.

Portrayals

'A Night to Remember' (1958)

Cyril Evans in A 'Night to Remember.' (1958)

Strangely, in 'A Night to Remember', he was portrayed by Geoffrey Bayldon, which was too old to portrayed Cyril Evans.

1996 Miniseries 'Titanic'

Cyril Evans in the 1996 Miniseries 'Titanic.'

In the 1996 Miniseries 'Titanic', he was portrayed by Gavin Craig, which was also too old to portrayed Cyril Evans.

'Titanic' (1997)

Cyril Evans in the 1997 Film 'Titanic.'

Cyril Evans was portrayed by Adam Barker in James Cameron's 'Titanic', but his scenes were cut from the film, and he was therefore, uncredited. However, he appeared in the film's deleted scenes.

References

2 _{'Titanic' ©1996 (second print, 1998) Edward P. De Groot}