SECRET SIGNALS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21640, 4 November 1933, Page 3 (Supplement)

SECRET SIGNALS

SUGGESTED EXPLANATION SMUGGLERS OF SILK Smuggling of silk goods, owing to .the increased duties on such articles, is being mooted in Hull as a possible explanation of the mystery signals sent from trawlers, believed to be foreign, to the shore and reported by the Bull lightship off Spurn Head at the mouth of the Humbcr. The signals, apparently flashed from a hand lamp, were in an unknown code. The matter was reported to the authorities, and although secrecy was being maintained in official quarters it has been disclosed that the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries takes a serious view of the incident. It was stated that coastguards on the Holderness coast and the Customs waterguard have received special secret instructions and that extra arrangements are expected to be made shortly for the patrolling of the lonely stretch of river and coastline round Spurn Head. The official who passed on the report from the master of the lightship to Whitehall, Mr. Alfred W. Franklin, of the Humbcr Conservancy Board, said that there could be no doubt that the flashes seen really 'were signals. " If it had been a case of a twinkling lamp," ho said, " the lightship's master would have known, as he is an experienced signaller. It is a serious offence for anyone on board a ship to send out messages in any code that has not been internationally accepted." The signals were seen on a still, dark night which would have been favourable to smugglers. If one talks to the crews of trawlers they will reply that if smuggled goods were once landed on the Yorkshire coast the way would be open for a quick dash to some inland city or populous area, where discovery would be difficult. It was even openly suggested that silk goods are not unknown in large quantities in some coast villages. Apart from smuggling it is thought that the unknown signallers might have a much more sinister motive. At the village of Kilnsea, close to Spurn Head, there is a battery of heavy artillery, while a little further north, near Catfoss, is stationed a bombing squadron of the Royal Air Force, and people in the coast villages are alert to the possibility of spies being among them in view of the increased military and aerial activity taking place in this part of the country this year.