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Wireless Telegraphy 15 wireless. It was realised that this system of com- munication would prove of inestimable value in the warning of ships during foggy and thick weather. The Brethren of Trinity House, the Corporation responsible for the lighthouses and lightships dotted around the English coast, decided to fathom its possi- bilities in this direction. The Goodwin Sands are one of the most sinister spots among the waters washing our shores, and it was a point where wireless, as applied to the seas, might be subjected to its most exacting trials. The mast of the East Goodwins lightship was extended to a height sufficient to ensure continuous communication with the shore station set up on the South Foreland, twelve miles away. At the latter point the mast, 150 feet in height, was set up on the edge of the towering cliff. Wireless in connection with the sea was soon sub- jected to the test and triumphed. When a vessel was observed from the lightship to be in distress, warning was flashed to the South Foreland station. From this point it was merely a matter of telephoning to the adjacent lifeboat stations to secure the ready assist- ance which was so urgently needed. Time after time notification of a vessel, helpless and at the mercy of the waves, was sent through the air to shore, and succour extended before the coastguards had heard or seen the rockets which were being fired from the endangered craft. Moreover, the lifeboatmen were saved many an abortive journey. A ship drifting towards the sands would fire her rockets for help. Yet at the critical moment, possibly owing to advice extended from the lightship by means of the gun, she would escape the menace. But for the wireless