A rather belated mystery airship report appears in today's Aberdeen Daily Journal (p. 4):

It was reported a few days ago that on the evening of the 9th April [1913] an airship, steering north-west, was seen from the island of Stronsay, Orkney. Doubt was felt at the time as to the reliability of the report, but information has since been received from other parts of Orkney of an airship having been seen about the same time and proceeding in the same direction.

It may be significant that the Orkneys are the location of Scapa Flow, an important naval base used for fleet exercises. An airship was seen from the neighbouring island of Sanday in late February.

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the scareship wave of January-April 1913. See here for an introduction to the series.

It's been a while, but after three previous visits the mystery airship has returned to Cardiff. From the Manchester Guardian (p. 9; above):

Our Cardiff correspondent sends a report that again last night [8 April 1913] an aircraft was seen at Cardiff, where one was reported to have been seen frequently at the beginning of the recent airship scare. The Chief Constable of Glamorganshire (Captain Lindsay), who previously issued a description of the circumstances under which he saw a supposed airship, and asked for reports from anyone who had made observations, is said to have seen the one last night, with the Deputy Chief Constable and others, from the county police station. It is stated that it travelled at a high speed, and passed over the western district of Cardiff. It was first sighted at 8 23 coming from the north, and was lost sight of at 8 25, going in a south-westerly direction towards Weston-super-Mare. It had a powerful searchlight beneath it, and its speed is estimated by the police as being from 60 to 70 miles an hour.

A few other newspapers carry a briefer account: the Aberdeen Daily Journal, the Irish Times, and the Manchester Courier. The latter's version is longest (p. 7):

Great excitement was caused at Cardiff last night by the passage over the city of an aircraft, whether dirigible or aeroplane could not be discerned. The vessel carried a brilliant light and disappeared over the Bristol Channel. Great crowds of people watched the vessel from the streets.

The Courier's headline claims that the Cardiff object was 'WATCHED BY THOUSANDS'. Only on one previous occasion, just over two months ago, has it been claimed that such a large number of people witnessed a phantom airship, and that too was in Cardiff and environs.

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the scareship wave of January-April 1913. See here for an introduction to the series.

Z4 had only a brief stay in Lunéville. It has already flown back to Metz, though not before being searched by the authorities for any evidence that the Zeppelin had been photographing French defences. They didn't find any, but did impose a £300 customs duty anyway (which will be refunded). Except in the frontier provinces, French opinion seems little disturbed by the uninvited visitor; the German press is less sanguine, being concerned by the possibility of Zeppelin's secrets being revealed. Indeed, there is a suggestion that Z4's commander should have destroyed the airship rather than allowing it to fall into the hands of the French.

There is some more discussion today of the Lunéville incident in relation to mystery airship sightings. The Irish Times says (p. 7)

It is considered certain that the Zeppelin which came down at Luneville [sic] yesterday, is the same one which was seen cruising over Vesoul, and flying low over the forts of Epinol [sic]. It is therefore estimated that the vessel must have flown over about 24 miles of French territory. French aeronautical experts have naturally taken advantage of this opportunity to find out as much as possible about the aerial visitor.

While a leading article in the Irish Independent notes that (p. 4)

All through the foreign airship scare in England no one succeeded in actually sighting the mysterious airship, though its lights were alleged to have been seen from time to time. The French have been more lucky, for they actually captured, though not through any merit of their own, the newest and biggest of the German Zeppelin dirigibles.

And the Dundee Courier asks 'WAS ZEPPELIN Z4 THE MYSTERY AIRSHIP SEEN OVER BRITAIN'? (p. 5; above):

It is interesting to note that the dirigible is that which has been suspected of visiting various points along the British coast.

After a brief summary of the Sheerness affair and the sensation it caused, the Courier discusses 'France "seeing things"' as well as Britain:

Since then there has been a remarkable succession of reports from various British coast centres, and though it is probable that most of these may have been due to an over-heated public imagination it has emerged in the telegrams regarding the Zeppelin's latest exploit that France has also been 'seeing things' in the way of nocturnal aerial visitors.

Unfortunately, no details are provided of these French scareships.

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the scareship wave of January-April 1913. See here for an introduction to the series.

The Dublin Sunday Independent has the following brief account of the phantom airship or aeroplane seen at Galway last week:

AIRSHIP OVER GALWAY

Several persons in Galway state that they saw an aeroplane over that city on Wednesday night [26 March 1913] at about 8.15. A man named M'Avoy, coachman to Mr. B. Parkes, said it was about 180 feet from the ground.

Unsurprisingly, this adds nothing to yesterday's much longer account in the Connacht Tribune — and the latter had Conroy for M'Avoy and B. Parks for B. Parkes, presumably the correct versions as Galway is in Connaught.

This post is part of an experiment in post-blogging the scareship wave of January-April 1913. See here for an introduction to the series.