The Washington herald., 1915-04-18
the party heard them, there was no

the party heard them. there was no
doubt OF it.
AT sixteen miles and at twenty
five miles," said Mr.. Perkins, relating
the experience, tho signals were so
plain that you could hear them with
the telephone receiver a foot away
| from your car
! Suddenly a squall and snow storm
came up, but the tug pushed on until
! they heard the Peaked Hill bell buoy
sounding on their starboard, and this
is thirtyonc miles from the Boston
lightship. In whirl of snow flakes
they stopped AMI listened for the last
! timc-thc five hours was nearly up
and night was coming on-and here
again they caught the submarine
! tootings OF the Susie ID. little faint
er, but quite unmistakablc. Thirty
one miles by water wireless!
A Check to Sea Horrors.
Coming to the general future OF
, this invention, its many advantages
insure its wide adoption on vessels
OF all sorts. In fogs and dangers OF
the night every ship will sound its
code letter two or three times a min
ute, thus revealing its identity to
other ships miles away. And the To-
cation and distance OF each vessel
will be made known by the auto
matte swing OF an electric needle
mounted beside the compass-thc
greater the swing on a graduated
dial, the less the distance. This
means no more collisions like that
on the St. Lawrence, when the En-
press OF Ireland went down. The
Empress OF Ireland would have been
talking that night to the other ships,
listening to her signals and steering
accordingly, if they had both carried
water wireless oscillators.
As to icebcrgs, the echo method
insurcs safety, since it indicates dis
lance and direction, as already cN-
planned. The Titanic would have
known (by an electric indicator) the
precise direction and distance of that
tragic iceberg while she was still
three miles from danger. AS to the
perils OF shoals and reefs along rcgu-
larly navigated coasts, it is plain that
a line of oScillator stations placed at
intervals, as lighthouses and bell
buoys are placed, and sounding forth
water wireless code signals at brief
intervals in bad weather or at night
woul create a continuously sounding
zone of safety. reaching ten or TWEEN
~ miles out to sea, and making 1t
practically impossible for vessels to
drive upon the rocks.
During my stay in Boston | wit
messed demonstration OF this i'm
portant submarine signaling work on
board an occan-going collier, the
Devercux, long iron vessel that
plies down the coast to Norfolk, and
unguestionably the most scientific
collier i'll cxistc&ee. being equipped
with three oScillators and used rcGu-
larly for sending and receiving Wa
ter wireless messages.
| stood in the captains cabin on
the Dcvercux. beside the switch
board, while Operator Danny Price
through the depths of Boston harbor
listening miles away with micro
phones newfoundland then out into
the sea beyond The turn of brass
wheel and the throw OF a switch con-
ncctcd him with ono or the other of
the oscillators. or with two at a time.
Price glanced at his volunteers and
ammctcrs, then pressed key.
'Tooooooooo-toot-too answered
ono OF tn: steel diaphragms eighteen
feet below the water line. Up here
on deck it was like a boys wooden
. whistle. rather low-pitchcd and mu-
sically pleasant. but Swedish sailor
, known as Charley, who happened to
} dive overheard while the oscillator
was sounding, declared that it nearly
: split his noodle All sounds arc
greatly intensified under water.
| myself had the experience of
) both listening and sending. l SPELL
cd water wireless signals in dots and
dashes and heard them go forth, and
l caught answering messages that
came vibrating among the islands
. and shoals and flashing lights of the
harbor.
Darkness was coming on as the old
|; barge with her red and black huh
steamed past the spar buoy of Nash's
! Rock and came abreast with Boston
Light, and l reflected that all these
vessels lying abount us were safer
than they had ever been from dam
gers of the sea because of this inven-
ton.