Marconi 157 



one but Marconi, who seemed quite cool. At midnight 

 on the Tuesday the signals came clearly as ever, and 

 on Wednesday, when the ship was one thousand five 

 hundred and fifty-one miles from Poldhu, there came 

 the message again : " All in order. Do you under- 

 stand? " 



To make a long story short, messages were received at 

 a distance of two thousand and ninety-nine miles, and 

 before witnesses whose word could not be doubted. The 

 Newfoundland record had been broken, and Marconi 

 reached America tired from lack of sleep, but triumphant. 



Now for the first time in all his years of work Marconi 

 permitted himself to prophesy. " Give me," he said, " a 

 week at Nantucket, and I will guarantee to receive signals 

 from England. We shall be able to transmit and receive 

 any and all kinds of messages across the Atlantic.' ' 



The world doubted no longer, and Marconi's triumph 

 was assured. The Italian Government put a warship at 

 his disposal, and that summer he cruised in the Baltic and 

 the Mediterranean, sending messages over distances up to 

 fifteen hundred miles and proving that great mountain 

 ranges such as the Alps and Apennines had no effect in 

 blocking his signals. In the autumn he went back to 

 Newfoundland, where he set up the wireless station at 

 Glace Bay. Before the year was out messages were flying 

 to and fro across the Atlantic. 



The very first message from Newfoundland conveyed 

 the " respectful homage " of Marconi himself to King 

 Edward VII, and instantly there came back congratula- 

 tions from his Majesty on " the successful issue of your 

 endeavours." " The King," continued the message, " has 

 been much interested in your experiments, as he remem- 

 bers that the initial ones were commenced from the Royal 

 yacht Osborne in 1898." This refers to the fact that 

 while the King (then Prince of Wales) lay ill aboard the 

 Osborne no fewer than one hundred and fifty messages 



