[Milsurplus] Ship spark transmitters still in 1942

[Hubert Miller]

"19 January 1942....
In the radio room, we switched on the 600 meter wave, to listen in, for when a 
steamer called for help. On the steamer wavelength it was still lively traffic. The
lead station was Halifax. Some of the ships still had the old quenched - spark 
transmitter. "

This from 'Feind Farhrten - Das Logbuch eines U-bootfunkers', Wolfgang Hirschfeld.
Above quote is my translation; the book also is available in English. Hirschfeld 
survived the war; his boat was at sea at war end and surrendered there. He also
describes the crew being pelted with garbage on their walk to a jail. The U boat
captain was apparently beaten during interrogation and committed suicide in his cell.
The abuse was short and in the end, Hirschfeld became friends with Americans he
met, some even life-long friends. Pretty interesting book. I was interested to read that
spark transmitters were still in common use this late. I still also recall the case of a
Brit collier that disappeared in the No. Atlantic 1947. The Court of Inquiry report 
listed the ship's radio equipment as a spark transmitter and a Marconi 730 regnerative
receiver of 4 valves. I wanted to revisit that report but now I just cannot remember or
discover the name of that ship.
-Hue Miller