BRITAIN’S NAVY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 110, 3 February 1930, Page 10

BRITAIN’S NAVY

THE MASTER SCIENTIFIC MIND Dominion Special Service. London, December 19. Admiral of the Fleet Sir Henry Bradwardine Jackson, whose death occurred this week, has been described as the master scientific mind of the Navy, as we know it to-day. In the course fo his long and varied career in the Navy—he entered the service fifty-six years ago—he witnessed numerous changes, the most vital of which he himself suggested and inaugurated. His chief claim to distinction was the work he performed as one of the pioneers in wireless telegraphy. In this region his discoveries and research must take rank with those of Marconi, for it is admitted that when the latter was but a lad of seventeen Sir Henry Jackson had applied, In face of discouragement from the Admiralty, the Hertzian waves to the transmission of telegraphic messages. The story runs that had his suggestions been adopted at the time, the Navy would have found itself in the position of possessing a wireless system then at a cost infinitely smaller than it had to'pay years after. What he accomplished in rendering the torpedo the effective weapon it has proved itself to be is hidden in the naval records. As First Sea Lord In succession to Lord Fisher, he was responsible for the staff work connected with the Battle of Jutland. With all his honours he remained the sailor who put his country first, and he never, dreamed of commercialising the fruits of his researches and inventive genius. After the war, Sir Henry Jackson was a familiar figure at St Paul’s Cathedral. where he attended regularly until failing health forced him into retirement into the country.