HELIGOLAND 



3922 



HELIGOLAND 



without success. In January, 1921, 

 Etienne Oehmichen tested a heli- 

 copter in France which offered a 

 part solution of the problem. The 

 helicopter screws lifted 584 Ib. 

 with a 25-h.p. engine, over 23 Ib. 

 per h.p. No attempt was made, 

 however, to provide a method for 

 balancing or moving forwards. 

 Both the British and French 

 Governments experimented with 

 helicopters in 1920 and 1921, and 

 great advances have been made 

 towards the solution of the problem. 



The greatest difficulty to be 

 faced with the helicopter is that of 

 stability when once in the air. Ex- 

 periments have proved that it is 

 perfectly possible to construct a 

 machine that will lift itself, but it 

 must also support itself partially 

 if the engine stops, so that it can 

 make a safe gliding descent as in 

 the case of an aeroplane. The 

 first attempt to construct a heli- 

 copter on scientific lines was by 

 Leonardo da Vinci about 1500, 

 since which time there have been 

 many machines built, none of 

 which have raised themselves more 

 than a few inches off the ground. 

 See Aeronautics. 



Heligoland OR HELGOLAND. 

 Island in the North Sea, included 

 in the Prussian prov. of Slesvig- 

 Holstein. It is rocky, with an 

 elevation of about 190 ft., and is 

 situated about 44 m. from the 

 mouths of the Weser and "Elbe 

 rivers. Its circumference is about 

 3 m., having been steadily reduced 

 by erosion from 120 m. in A.D. 800 

 and 45 m. in A.D. 1300. Heligo- 

 land, which means " Holy Land," 

 was taken from Holstein by Britain 

 in 1807. Its limestone' and sand- 



bours were made 

 for war craft, and 

 airship sheds were 

 built. A light- 

 house was con- 

 structed and fur- 

 nished with the 

 most powerful 

 light in the 

 world, having a 

 lighting power of 

 40,000,000 can- 

 dles, a magnitude 

 of light difficult to 

 realize. There is 

 a cluster of three 

 lights, on the 

 searchlight prin- 

 ciple, and the 

 cluster is sur- 

 mounted by a 

 single light of the 

 same kind and 

 size, that can be 

 revolved independently and three 

 times as fast as the three lights. 

 The single light is to take the place 

 of the cluster in the event of any 

 accident happening to it. 



The peace treaty of Versailles 

 (1919) compelled Germany to dis- 

 mantle the whole of the fortress of 

 Heligoland, including the removal 

 of all guns and gun emplacements, 

 harbour works and aircraft stations. 

 This was carried out by German 

 labour under the supervision of an 

 inter-allied naval and military 

 mission. 



Heligoland, BATTLE OF. Naval 

 engagement between the British 

 and the Germans, Aug. 28, 1914. 

 On the outbreak of war, British sub- 



and depositing on Heligoland the marines were sent to watch Ger- 

 material obtained. Enormous gun man naval movements in the 

 emplacements were erected, bar- bight of Heligoland, and acting on 



Heligoland. Map illustrating the effects of erosion, by 



comparing the island coast-line of 120 m. in A.D. 800 



with the coast-line of 3 m. in 1900 



From Hobb's "Earth Feature* and Their Meanings," by courtesy 

 of Macmilllan & Co. 



stone cliffs rise sheer from the 

 ocean on all sides but the S.E., 

 where there is a fiat bank of sand 

 called the Unterland. It is | sq. m 

 in area, was much visited for its 

 sea-bathing facilities, and at one 

 time had a pop. of 3,400, mainly 

 Frisian fisher-folk and pilots. 



Ceded by Britain to Germany in 

 1890 in exchange for certain rights 

 on the E. coast of Africa, it there- 

 after became a strategic point in 

 connexion with the German naval 

 defence. The inhabitants were 

 transferred to the mainland, and 

 the island was strongly fortified. 

 Artificial cliffs were constructed 

 and the area of the island was 

 increased by dredging the Elbe 



Heligoland, as it appeared when the Great War was at its height; the war harbour, which was practically impregnable, 



full of war vessels 



