1900.] on Wireless Telegraphy. 251 



Government, communication was established between the South Fore- 

 land Lighthouse and Wimereux, near Boulogne, over a distance of 

 thirty miles, and various interesting tests were made between these 

 stations and French war ships. The maximum distance obtained at 

 that time, with a height of about 100 feet on the ships, was forty- 

 two miles. The commission of French naval and military officers 

 who were appointed to supervise these experiments, and report to 

 their government, were in almost daily attendance on the one coast 

 or the other for several weeks. They became intensely interested 

 in the operations, and I have good reasons to know made satisfactory 

 reports to their government. I cannot allow this opportunity to 

 pass without bearing willing testimony to the courtesy and attention 

 which characterised all the dealings of these French gentlemen with 

 myself and staff. 



The most interesting and complete tests of the system at sea were, 

 however, made during the British naval manoeuvres. Three ships of 

 the "B" fleet were fitted up, the flagship Alexandra and the cruisers 

 Juno and Europa. I do not consider myself quite at liberty to 

 describe all the various tests to which the system was put, but I 

 believe that never before were Hertzian waves given a more difficult 

 or responsible task. During these manoeuvres I had the pleasure of 

 being on board the Juno, my friend, Captain Jackson, B.N., who had 

 done some very good work on the subject of wireless telegraphy 

 before I had the pleasure of meeting him, being in command. With 

 the Juno there was usually a small squadron of cruisers, and all 

 orders and communications were transmitted to the Juno from the 

 flagship, the Juno repeating them to the ships around her. This 

 enabled evolutions to be carried out even when the flagship was out 

 of sight. This would have been impossible by means of flags or 

 semaphores. The wireless installations on these battleships were 

 kept going night and day, most important manoeuvres being carried 

 out and valuable information telegraphed to the Admiral when 

 necessary. 



The greatest distance at which service messages were sent was 

 60 nautical miles, between the Europa and the Juno, and 45 miles, 

 between the Juno and the Alexandra. This was not the maximum 

 distance actually obtained, but the distance at which, under all 

 circumstances and conditions, the system could be relied upon for 

 certain and regular transmission of service messages. During tests 

 messages were obtained at no less than 74 nautical miles (85 land 

 miles). 



As to the opinion which naval experts have arrived at concerning 

 this new method of communication, I need only refer to the letters 

 published by naval officers and experts in the columns of ' The Times ' 

 during and after the period of the autumn manoeuvres, and to the fact 

 that the Admiralty are taking steps to introduce the system into 

 general use in the navy. 



As you will probably remember, victory was gained by the " B " 



s 2 



