“Unknown Aircraft Over Dover.”
According to the Dover correspondent to the London _Times_ (Jan. 6,
1913) something had been seen, over Dover, heading from the sea.
In the London _Standard_, Jan. 24, 1913, it is said that, upon the
morning of Jan. 4, an unknown airship had been seen, over Dover, and
that, about the same time, the lights of an airship had been seen over
the Bristol Channel. These places are several hundred miles apart.
London _Times_, Jan. 21—report by Capt. Lindsay, Chief Constable of
Glamorganshire: that, about five o’clock, in the afternoon of Jan. 17,
he saw an object in the sky of Cardiff, Wales. He says that he called
the attention of a bystander, who agreed with him that it was a large
object. “It was much larger than the Willows airship, and left in its
trail a dense smoke. It disappeared quickly.”
The next day, according to the _Times_, there were other reports: people
in Cardiff saw something that was lighted or that carried lights, moving
rapidly in the sky. In the _Times_, of the 28th, it is said that an
airship that carried a brilliant light had been seen in Liverpool. “It
is stated at the Liverpool Aviation School that none of the airmen had
been out on Saturday night.” Dispatches from town after town—a
travelling thing in the sky, carrying a light, and also a searchlight
that swept the ground. It is said that a vessel, of which the outlines
had been clearly seen, had appeared in the sky of Cardiff, Newport,
Neath, and other places in Wales. In the _Standard_, Jan. 31, is
published a list of cities where the object had been seen. Here a writer
tries to conclude that some foreign airship had made half a dozen visits
to England and Wales, or had come once, remaining three weeks; but he
gives up the attempt, thinking that nothing could have reached England
and have sailed away half a dozen times without being seen to cross the
coast; thinking that the idea of anything having made one journey, and
remaining three weeks in the air deserved no consideration.
If the unknown object did carry something like a searchlight, an idea of
its powers is given in an account in the Cardiff _Evening Express_, Jan.
25, 1913—“Last evening brilliant lights were seen, sweeping skyward, and
now, this evening, the lights grow bolder. Streets and houses in the
locality of Totterdown were suddenly illuminated by a brilliant,
piercing light, which, sweeping upward, gave many spectators a fine view
of the hills beyond.” In the _Express_, Feb. 6, is a report upon this
light like a searchlight, and the object that flashed it, by the police
of Dulais Valley. Also there is an account, by a police sergeant, of a
luminous thing that was for a while stationary in the sky, and then
moved away.
Still does the conventional explanation, or suggestion, survive. It is
said that members of the staff of the _Evening Express_ had gone to the
roof of the newspaper building, but had seen only the planet Venus,
which was brilliant at this time.
Then writes a correspondent, to the _Express_, that the object could not
have been Venus, because he had seen it travelling at a rate of 20 or 30
miles an hour, and had heard sounds from it. Someone else writes that
not possibly could the thing be Venus: he had seen it as “a bright red
light, going very fast.” Still someone else says that he had seen the
seeming vessel upon the 5th of February, and that it had suddenly
disappeared.
There is a hiatus. Between the 5th and the 21st of February, nothing
like an airship was seen in the sky of England and Wales. If we can find
that somewhere else something similar was seen in the sky, in this
period, one supposes that it was the same object, exploring or
manœuvring somewhere else. It seems however that there were several of
these objects, because of simultaneous observations at places far apart.
If we can find that, during the absence from England and Wales, similar
objects were seen somewhere else, a great deal of what we try to think
upon the subject will depend upon how far from Great Britain they were
seen. It seems incredible that the planet Venus should deceive thousands
of Britons, up to the 5th of February, and stop her deceptions abruptly
upon that date, and then abruptly resume deceptions upon the 21st, in
places at a distance apart. These circumstances oppose the idea of
collective hallucinations, by which some writers in the newspapers tried
to explain. If they were hallucinations, the hallucinations renewed
collectively, upon the 21st, in towns one hundred miles apart. One
extraordinary association is that all appearances, except the first,
were in the hours of visibility of Venus, then an “evening star.”
Upon the night of the 21st, a luminous object was reported from towns in
Yorkshire and from towns in Warwickshire, two regions about one hundred
miles apart; about 10 P. M. All former attempts to explain had been
abandoned, and the general supposition was that German airships were
manœuvring over England. But not a thing had been seen to cross the
coast of England, though guards were patrolling the coasts, especially
commissioned to watch for foreign airships. Sailors in the North Sea,
and people in Holland and Belgium had seen nothing that could be thought
a German airship sailing to or from England. A writer in _Flight_ takes
up as especially mysterious the appearance far inland, in Warwickshire.
Then came reports from Portsmouth, Ipswich, Hornsea, and Hull, but, one
notes, no more, at this time, from Wales. Also in Ipswich, which is more
than a hundred miles from the towns in Warwickshire, and more than a
hundred miles from the Yorkshire towns, a luminous object was seen upon
the night of the 21st. Ipswich _Evening Star_, Feb. 25—something that
carried a searchlight that had been seen upon the nights of the 21st and
24th, moving in various directions, and then “dashing off at lightning
speed”—that, at Hunstanton, had been seen three bright lights travelling
from the eastern sky, remaining in sight 30 minutes, stationary, or
hovering over the town, and then disappearing in the northwest.
Portsmouth _Evening News_, Feb. 25—that soon after 8 P. M., evening of
the 24th, had been seen a very bright light, appearing and disappearing,
remaining over Portsmouth about one hour, and then moving away.
Portsmouth and Ipswich are about 120 miles apart. In the London
newspapers, it is said that, upon the evening of the 25th, crowds stood
in the streets of Hull, watching something in the sky, “the lights of
which were easily distinguishable.” Hull is about 190 miles northeast of
Portsmouth. Hull _Daily Mail_, Feb. 26—that a crowd had watched a light
high in the air. It is said that the light had been stationary for
almost half an hour and had then shot away northward. In the _Times_,
Feb. 28, are published reports upon “the clear outlines of an airship,
which was carrying a dazzling searchlight,” from Portland, Burcleaves,
St. Alban’s Head, Papplewich, and the Orkneys. The last account, after a
long interval, that I know of, is another report from Capt. Lindsay:
that, about 9 o’clock, evening of April 8th, he and many other persons
had seen, over Cardiff, something that carried a brilliant light and
travelled at a rate of sixty or seventy miles an hour.
Upon April 24, 1913, the planet Venus was at inferior conjunction.
In the _Times_, Feb. 28, it is said that a fire-balloon had been found
in Yorkshire, and it is suggested that someone had been sending up
fire-balloons.
In the _Bull. Soc. Astro. de France_, 1913-178, it is said that the
people of England were as credulous as the people of Cherbourg, and had
permitted themselves to be deceived by the planet Venus.
If German airships were manœuvring over England, without being seen
either approaching or departing, appearing sometimes far inland in
England without being seen to cross the well-guarded coasts, it was
secret manœuvring, inasmuch as the accusation was denied in Germany
(_Times_, Feb. 26 and 27). It was then one of the most brilliantly
proclaimed of secrets, or it was concealment under one of the most
powerful searchlights ever seen. Possibly an airship from Germany could
appear over such a city as Hull, upon the east coast of England, without
being seen to arrive or to depart, but so far from Germany is
Portsmouth, for instance, that one does feel that something else will
have to be thought of. The appearances over Liverpool and over towns in
Wales might be attributed to German airships by someone who has not seen
a map since he left school. There were more observations upon sudden
appearances and disappearances than I have recorded: stationariness
often occurred.
The objects were absent from the sky of Great Britain, from Feb. 5 to
Feb. 21.
According to data published by Prof. Chant, in the _Journal of the Royal
Astronomical Society of Canada_, 7-148, the most extraordinary
procession in our records was seen, in the sky of Canada, upon the night
of Feb. 9, 1913. Either groups of meteors, in one straight line, passed
over the city of Toronto, or there was a procession of unknown objects,
carrying lights. According to Prof. Chant, the spectacle was seen from
the Saskatchewan to Bermuda, but if this long route was traversed, data
do not so indicate. The supposed route was diagonally across New York
State, from Buffalo, to a point near New York City, but from New York
State are recorded no observations other than might have been upon
ordinary meteors, this night. A succession of luminous objects passed
over Toronto, night of Feb. 9, 1913, occupying from three to five
minutes in passing, according to different estimates. If one will think
that they were meteors, at least one will have to think that no such
meteors had ever been seen before. In the _Journal_, 7-405, W. F.
Denning writes that, though he had been watching the heavens since the
year 1865, he had never seen anything like this. In most of the
observations, the procession is described as a whole—“like an express
train, lighted at night”—“the lights were at different points, one in
front, and a rear light, then a succession of lights in the tail.”
Almost all of the observations relate to the sky of Toronto and not far
from Toronto. It is questionable that the same spectacle was seen in
Bermuda, this night. The supposed long flight from the Saskatchewan to
Bermuda might indicate something of a meteoric nature, but the
meteor-explanation must take into consideration that these objects were
so close to this earth that sounds from them were heard, and that,
without succumbing to gravitation, they followed the curvature of this
earth at a relatively low velocity that can not compare with the
velocity of ordinary meteors.
If now be accepted that again, the next day, objects were seen in the
sky of Toronto, but objects unlighted, in the daytime—I suppose that to
some minds will come the thought that this is extraordinary, and that
almost immediately the whole subject will then be forgotten. Prof. Chant
says that, according to the Toronto _Daily Star_, unknown objects, but
dark objects this time, were seen at Toronto, in the afternoon of the
next day—“not seen clearly enough to determine their nature, but they
did not seem to be clouds or birds or smoke, and it was suggested that
they were airships cruising over the city.” Toronto _Daily Star_, Feb.
10—“They passed from west to east, in three groups, and then returned
west in more scattered formation, about seven or eight in all.”