Taneys radio had been down for close to a month, the District Communication's Officer, Henry Arnold had tried to assist the ship's senior radio operator in fixing it, without success. When they left, on Friday night, Bell asked the junior radio operator who was on duty if he could try fixing the radio. Bell had been watching closely, and he avoided duplicating anything the senior officers had already tried. He was thorough, and methodical. He ended up opening up the panel in the floor and methodically tracing and testing the leads coming to and leading away from the radio, and he found that an incoming relay had a short circuit. After he replaced the relay with a spare, and powered up the radio, he found he had fixed it. When he informed the radio operator on duty, he sent a signal to District HQ, informing them the ship was back online. Arnold, the District Communication Officer, was on duty, and asked who fixed the radio. When he was informed the radio he had tried and failed to fix had been fixed by a 19-year-old mess attendant, he took Bell under his wing.
