On July 18, 1907, Dr. Lee de Forest and Frank E. Butler, broadcast the world's first voice ship-to-shore radio message. From the steam yacht "Thelma" to the shore of Put-in-Bay harbor on Ohio's South Bass Island, the broadcast communicated quick and accurate race results of the Annual Inter-Lakes Yachting Association Regatta.
Dr. Lee De Forest was an American inventor and an early pioneer in electronics. His inventions, such as the first practical electronic amplifier, the three-element "Audion" triode vacuum tube, made the ship-to-shore broadcast possible.
In 1904, Franklin Butler of Monroeville Ohio became an associate of de Forest in the emerging field of wireless telegraphy, and acted as de Forest's chief assistant with the highlight of their work together being the broadcast at the annual Inter-Lakes Yachting Association regatta of 1907.
Getting the wireless transmission to work wasn't all smooth sailing. After a grounding connection to the propeller shaft was deemed insufficient, during testing, De Forest and Butler feared getting permission to create a better grounding system because of the yacht's luxurious mahogany wooden hull. So, they snuck on board, in the middle of the night and nailed sheets of copper to Thelma's sides, below the waterline.
The next morning, owner Commodore W. R. Huntington of Elyria, Ohio was stunned momentarily at the sight of the metal sheets nailed to his magnificent yacht. Eventually, Huntington complemented de Forest and Butler on their ingenuity and determination, remarking:
"Holes can be calked up again. Paint and varnish are cheap."
And so on the day of the race, de Forest boarded the yacht, "Thelma", temporarily renamed the "Electra'', and broadcast a wireless radio transmission to a receiving unit operated by Butler on the shore of Put-in-Bay harbor.
The exact words received and recorded by Butler, as spoken and transmitted by de Forest during the morning race of Friday, July 18th, 1907, are as follows:
"9:57 and one half . . . I will let you know when the first boat crosses the line."
"Spray crossed the line about 25 seconds after 9:59."
"Cleveland finished second at 10:03 and one half.
" "Borealis . . . 10:04 and one half."
"Here comes the Oseketa . . . you spell it . . . I can't."
The success of the broadcast permitted the rapid development of radio and eventually television. It was on the shore of Ohio's South Bass Island in Lake Erie that wireless-transmission radio broadcasting was born.
