WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY. 291 



land day and night, in storm and sunshine, in fog and in gales of wind, 

 without breaking down on any single occasion, can believe or be justi- 

 fied in saying that wireless telegraphy is untrustworthy or uncertain in 

 operation. The light-ship installation is, be it remembered, in a small 

 damp ship, and under conditions which try the system t<> the utmost. 

 I hope that before long the necessary funds will be at the disposal of 

 the Trinity House authorities, in order that communication may be 

 established between other light-ships and light-houses and the shore, 

 by which millions of pounds" worth of property and thousands of lives 

 may be saved. 



At the end of March, 1899, by arrangement with the French 

 Government, communication was established between the South Fore- 

 land light-house and Wimereux, near Boulogne, over a distance of 30 

 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 42 miles. The com- 

 mission 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 Govern- 

 ment. I can not 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 maneuvers. 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 maneuvers 1 had the pleasure of 

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

 done some very good work on the subject of wireless telegraphy 

 before 1 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 maneuvers 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 Eurqpa and the Juno, and 45 miles. 

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



