"SPARKS" IN WARTIME

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 217, 7 June 1919, Page 9

"SPARKS" IN WARTIME

: WIRELESS WONDERS ON LAND AND ' SEA . A GREAT LIFE-SAVER In a recent interview Mr. Godfrey Isaacs, managing dirootor. of Marconi s Wireless Telegraph Company, lifted the .veil which has hidden from the world soine of the remarkable achievements oi wireless in wartime. "You want to know," said Mr. Isaacs,"what part wireless has played Huring ; the war? Well, to begin with, it has ; bean relied upon very largely indeed for communication with distant countries. In 6ome cases wireless alono ha 3 been.available j in others it has served largely to relieve the cables, and it has, been 'a ; general standby for all purposes in. case the cables were cut. All cable communication with Germarfy was cut immedi- ,- ateiy war broke out. Without wireless Germany would have been completely isolated. Our own country was extremely fortunate not to have had the' cables cut.'. If they had 'been we should hays appreciated the value of wireless for longdiSance communication even more than is possible under existing circumstances. /'The many stations which we possess in this ■ country have been of inimenso service. They have been so organised under the direction of the. naval and military authorities as to enablo them to receive praotically. every tireless message from any part of the world, and to deliver them where, they were required. Every German messago, for instance, either emanating from Germany .or ' addressed to Germany, .was received by the company here in theStrand,- as well as every message'to and from Austria, Bulgaria, and Turkey. A ;-laige. number of stations at home , and abroad, manv of whioh we have.equipped and erected during the. war .for the Navy ■and Army, have aided largely in this . valuable service] ' Wireless Heroes at Sea., "Atsßea, except for enemy warships, I thinklt may be said there was hardly a. vessel .which had not a Marconi telegraph station on-board, and, so far-as'the mercantile marine was concerned, Marconi operators also. .At the outset there w-ere, roughly speaking, some fifteen' hundred merchant ships equipped with the Marconi apparatus, and this number, after allowing for losses, lias been increased to about four thousand. . At all times-the Allied naval authorities .were in Jouch by wireless with' every ship at,sea. iho value of such a service under one organination'cannot perhaps Ids adequately apv preciated, but since theo submarine warfare, whatever it may have been before, it was multiplied-manyfold. It may be stated, indeed, that beyond all doubt the Marconi telegraph installations on ships on the high seas played a very substantial part, in defeating the submarine menace. • '•■ ■ ■ ~ , L. "I oannot pass from this subject without, saying a word,or two about the. Marconi operators. I do not know, of any. single instance when an operator fltesitated even' to go .to sea immediately upon receiving instructions, notwithstanding the' dangers. . When -one bears in piihd that in-.consequence of the. manpower problem the company had to take in hand and train very young men in-, deed, many of them quite down to the age of 17, the courage, respurce, and ' discipline,they all showed will bear the most favourable comparison with any other service, not .excluding the Navy. "One hundred and eighty-four of our operators have been drowned__ owing to vessols in which they were engaged being torpedoed. A very large number—some hundreds, indeed woro torpedoed, but saved, and many were torpedoed several times.. Often we have received, a telegram from an operator after being tor- ■ pedoed, merely stating where- he has. landed, and asking tho name of his next ship. ; Boy Hero Who Saved 200._. "Innumerable instanoes. of conspicuous bravery and the'niost heroic conduct on .the part of these young men could; be i recorded, and the following;may be cited las.typical:—A ship was being heavily 'shelled, and the'operator 'called' for , assistance. He got. into touch with'a! vessel, and' learned that help would reach them in about four hours. He .was then directed by the captain to leave the ship, as everyone was doing, it being no longer said'to remain. , "He pointed out, however, that it would take four liours for help to arrive, "that it was unlikely, in the weather that prevailed, that many of those who took I to the boats would be able to survive for that time, and that he wanted to see if ho could not get some assistance more quickly. So he remained on board, and continued to 'call' -for help, with the result that he succeeded in bringing, a' vessel ,to their assistance in an hour and a;halx. As this vessel came into Bighi ■ the shelling ceased, and those who had taken to the boats were ablo to return on board;, 1 '"In the wireless cabin the operator was found sitting at his desk, having just completed writing down the mes- • saga fie had received from the re ; scuing ship. ' "His . pencil' was still on the end of the message. • His head had . been blown off by ,a shell just as his work was done. It is more than prob- • able that that boy who gave up his own life saved the lives of more than £00 persons. . \ < "Un -, the Md lof battle . wireless served ft great numoer of purposes. By means

of a, small transportable apparatus it was used for communication where .it would have been impossible to provide a telephoug. A special apparatus, . too, was used for locating enemy positions, eneiny headauarters, enemy guns. "The artillery scarcely fired a gun before receiving wireless messages from the observing aeroplane giving the. exact position of tnelr target. Aeroplanes were fitted with ' instruments specially constructed for wireless . service. Many n situation on tho field of. battle, and I do not think I am exaggerating if I say. tens of thousands of men's lives, were saved by wireless messages, giving vital .information.

The Wireless Telephone. "Aeroplanes in flight were generally in touch by wireless telegraph wireless telephone, or both, with tho authorities. Wireless telephony existed before the war but was specially adapted during the war for aeroplane worE The apparatus that is used is very .similar to that for wireless telegraphy. In fact, wo are now constructing wireless sets ... which serve both for telegraphy and ' telephony, At this moment- 200 of Uicso sets are being made for the use of tho Chinese Government. The. voice is heard the samo as it is over, tho'ordinary telephone. It is carried through tho ether just as signals are carried through tho ether if wireless telegraphy is used. From aeroplanes the observer can speak continuously from tho air to'men on '.he ground. 'Generally, the distance has been only a few miles,' but .greater distances are already practicable. In fact, wo from' this office in the Strand are talking by wireless with Chelmsford daily, and Mr. Marconi has talked to Africa from Italy, a distance of 350 miles, , ... "There is no limttatton'of distance for wireless telephony, it is now only a question of adjusting mechanical contrivances before we can,telephone across tho Atlantic and even, prater distances.' There is no doubt that' had we not all had otir hands absolutely'full with tho work which was essential to win'tho war we should long ago have established a wireless telephone service between this country and America. As soon as wc are free from the war restrictions such n service will be'completed, and I, sitting at my office hero in London. 6hall be able to talk with the managing director of tho Marconi Company in' America sitting m his office in ft ew York. The immediate utility of wireless telephony is-for'long rather than short distances."- I will not say anything about its future.

Zeppelins Located. ' ' t "Another use. to which wireless has been put," Mr. Isaacs continued, "is that of locating ships at sea, and-Zeppe-lins and: other airships and aeroplanes in- the air. By means of a special wire-, less instrument, in whoso development the Marconi Company ..took a leading part, the authorities were always, able to follow the movement of enemy 1 airships, aeroplanes, and men-of-war provided they used their own wireless apparatus, which, speaking generally, they always did sooner or later.' . "It was that, perhaps," it was suggested,. "which gaVo rise to'the report, as persistent ns that of the march of tho Russians through England, that the Zeppelins which came to grief in this country were in some way. 'fixed' by wireless before 6oiug brought down. , I don't know 'what may have been , tho origin of -the': report," Mr. Isaacs • added, "I only know it was-not true." The First pnd Last Messages., Many people often wondered how tho German communiques reached London every day of the war with" the regularity and about the time'of afternoon tea. Mr. Isaacs explained how it was done. "In Berlin,' he said, "tho authorities sent put to the world~all day long-'mes-sages, propaganda, * and general news of what was transpiring in (Germany. The whole world was waiting for this news, for "there was',no other means at the time of knowing what was happening. Day and night they sent out the news by wireless, and day and night we sat down here, at Marconi House in the Strand, and took down every word they sent,. "The first message of the war we received consisted of four words: 'War declared against Eussia!' Then followed, after an interval of two days, a message of six words: 'War declared against Eussia and France.' Two days later, again, oame the third "message: 'War declared against England. All ships make for neutral ports.' "The last message we received .at 5 o'clock in the morning, saying: 'Armistice- signed. All hostilities, to cease at 11 o'clock.' This message . came from French Headquarters on November 11, and was received at Marconi House practically at the samo instarit that' Marshal Focli sent it out," . '

It is proposed to confer the honorary freedom of , the Borough of Plymouth on the Prince of Wales,) who i t s High Stew, ard of the borough. ■" s