Sea-Signalling.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXII, Issue 6793, 19 January 1897, Page 1

Sea-Signalling.

SOARING THE AMSTERDAMMERS. An Amsterdam correspondent write 3: It looks as if we dull Dutchmen were upon the point of giving to the world a priceless invention, the means by which ships at sea may be on speaking terms under all circumstances, or have the power to communicate with the shore. Some weeks since people living on the outskirts of the town, returning home in the dark hours of the evening, were scared by very peculiar unearthly sounds something akin to the deep, penetrating scream of a steamer's siren in the mist, although there was no water near to speak of, and consequently no possibility of a steamer. The riddle is now solved. It has been found possible to produce a constant, unvarying sound, which may—(l) Be heard at a distance of at least five miles against a stiff breeze. (2) Is of such a nature and quality that it is quite easy to determine to a nicety the direction from which it comes. 3. Is produced by an instrument which can be moved about without altering the sound—that is, in the same manner as an electric searchlight. 4. Last, not least, that parts of the instrument may be differently tuned, which makes it possible to give constant alternative signals which may be codified, so that a conversation may be kept up. It appears that the inventors some weeks since made trials in the dark and, of course, in lonely outlying places in the neighborhood, and so produced the ghostly noises aforesaid. Competent persons are of opinion that the thing really is a great sudcess. The Zealand Company has resolved to give the invention a fair trial,

and the world may soon hear more of it. It is quite clear that if the steamer which met the Drumtnond Castle had possessed such an instrument, and its signals could have been understood by the Drummond Castle's officers, the disaster might nob have occurred.