 On the night of 14 April 1912, Cottam was on the "Carpathia"s bridge reporting the day's communications, thus missing "Titanic"s first distress calls shortly after midnight.Afterward, he listened to the receiver before going to bed, waiting for a confirmation of that afternoon's communication with the SS "Parisian".While waiting, he received messages from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, stating they had private traffic for "Titanic".