FATHER OF PIGEON-FANCIERS 63 



Knock, on December 6th, when some seventy 

 lives were lost, appears to have been the incident 

 which most inclined Trinity House to adopt 

 Tegetmeier's scheme. 



The Brethren placed at his disposal a disused 

 lighthouse at Harwich to serve as a pigeon 

 station, and there he established a loft of the 

 best Belgian " homers " he could procure. His 

 plan was to rear at this lighthouse loft the birds 

 required for distribution among the lightships of 

 the adjacent coast, to the end that they should 

 be released by the lightship men in the moment 

 of need, and return to the Harwich lighthouse 

 loft with their messages. A cede of signals 

 was arranged by Trinity House — a series of 

 groups of letters which could be stamped upon 

 the wing feathers of the birds and interpreted 

 by the men at the lighthouse. By the year 

 1878 Tegetmeier was ready with a large stock 

 of birds which had been trained over the inter- 

 vening distances between the various lightships 

 and the shore. Six pigeons were allotted to 

 each vessel, and the scheme was put in working 

 order. 



For a few years the pigeon service was 

 maintained, and did excellent work. For 

 example : in September 1879, two birds arrived 

 from the Sunk lightship, their wings stamped 

 with the letter denoting a vessel in distress. 

 Thus warned, the lifeboat was put out in a few 



