294 WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 



It was durinjy these tests that it was found possible to communicate 

 direct from Wimereux to Harwich or Chehusford, the intervening- 

 distance being 85 miles. This result was published in a letter from 

 Professor Fleming addressed to the Electrician on September 29. The 

 distance from Wimereux to Harwich is approximately 85 miles, and 

 from Wimereux to Chelmsford also 85 miles, of which 30 miles are 

 over sea and 55 over land. The height of the poles at these stations 

 was 150 feet, but if it had been necessary for a line drawn between the 

 tops of the masts to clear the curvature of the earth, they would have 

 had to have been over 1,000 feet high. 1 give these results to show 

 what satisfactory progress is being made with this system. 



In America wireless telegraphy was used to report from the high 

 seas the progress of the yachts in the international yacht race, and I 

 think that occasion holds the record for work done in a given time, 

 over 4,000 words being transmitted in the space of less than five hours 

 on several different days. 



Some tests were carried out for the United States Navy ; but, owing 

 to insufficient apparatus, and to the fact that all the latest improve- 

 ments had not been protected in the United States at that time, it was 

 impossible to give the authorities there such a complete demonstration 

 as was given to the British authorities during the naval maneuvers. 

 Messages were transmitted between the battle ship Massachisetfx and 

 the cruiser Wew York up to a distance of 36 miles. 



A few days previous to my departure from America the war in South 

 Africa broke out. Some of the officials of the American line suggested 

 that, as a permanent installation existed at the Needles, Isle of Wight, 

 it would be a great thing, if possible, to obtain the latest war news 

 before our arrival on the St. Paul at Southampton. I readily con- 

 sented to fit up m}^ instruments on the 8t. Paul., and succeeded in call- 

 ing up the Needles station at a distance of ^'o nautical miles By means 

 of wireless telegraphy, all the important news was transmitted to the 

 St. Paul while she was underway, steaming 20 knots, and messages 

 were despatched to several places \iy passengers on board. News was 

 collected and printed in a small paper called the Transatlantic Times 

 several hours ))efore our arrival at Southampton. 



This was, I believe, the first instance of the passengers of a steamer 

 receiving news while sevei'al miles from land, and seems to point to a 

 not far distant prospect of passengers maintaining direct and regular 

 communication with the land they are leaving and with the land they 

 are approaching, l)y means of wireless telegraphy. 



At the tardy request of the war office, we sent out Mr. Bullocke 

 and five of our assistants to South Africa. It was the intention of 

 the war office that the wireless telegraph should only be used at 

 the base and on the railways, but the officers on the spot realized 

 that it coidd onl}^ be of any practical use at the front. They there- 

 fore asked Mr. Bullocke whether he was willing to go to the front. 



