Post-blogging the 1913 scareships

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Western Gazette, 7 February 1913, 2

The provincial press is still catching up with the South Wales mystery airships today. In fact, most of it still catching with from the sightings from the weekend -- the Exeter Western Times (p. 6) and Lichfield Mercury (p. 2) have versions of the article published in the Standard on Monday about the airship seen the Vaff Valley on Saturday night, and the Cambridge Independent Press (p. 5) has a truncated account. The Yeovil Western Gazette (p. 2, above) and the Manchester Courier supplement (p. 8) report on the airship seen from Newport and elsewhere on Wednesday night. None provide any additional information beyond that previously published. The Western Times and the Lichfield Mercury air the theory that the airship originated from the wilds of Dartmoor Irish Independent; similarly, the regular London correspondent of the Irish Times says (p. 6), apropos of nothing, that

The mystery regarding the airship so frequently seen over Wales is still unexplained, but it is supposed that experiments are being made with airships from a quiet place on Dartmoor.

The Dundee Evening Telegraph has another idea (p. 5):

Just now Venus appears as the evening star, and, remarked an official of the Royal Astronomical Society it is more likely than not that the bright light of the planet has deceived several people, though, of course, an experienced eye would not now be led astray.

'Venus at present becomes visible about sunset, and remains visible for some hours afterwards,' added the official, 'providing, of course, that there is a clear sky. It would appear to be practically stationary, and, no doubt, people not very well versed in the movements of the planet might think it had some connection with an airship, especially now that many vague rumours are afloat.'

The Western Gazette (p 2.) reprints the Daily Mail similar (though not at all detailed) suggestion of yesterday, so it seems that this explanation is gaining ground.
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Manchester Guardian, 6 February 1913, 9

Today is another big day for phantom airships in terms of press coverage. They are mentioned in at least four big London dailies as well as two major and three minor provincial dailies. The reason is yet another airship report from South Wales, where it was seen by many people last people. How many? Well, 'thousands', according to the Daily Express (p. 5) and the Standard (p. 8); 'large numbers', according the Daily Mail (p. 3); 'Many', according to the Manchester Guardian; and 'Numerous', according to The Times (p. 12), the Edinburgh Scotsman, the Dundee Courier (okay -- 'numerous'; p. 4), and the Manchester Courier (p. 7). Whatever the precise figure, it would appear to be a dramatic increase over the numbers of witnesses previously involved. But that then makes the failure of any of the newspaper reports to name a witness or provide a detailed account all the more frustrating.
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Manchester Guardian, 4 February 1913, 5

The Manchester Guardian has a summary (p. 5, above) of the weekend's airship sightings in South Wales (which is also published in the Derby Daily Telegraph, p. 3). The Guardian repeats the suggestion, made in the Standard and the Globe yesterday, that 'the craft belongs to someone in Devonshire or Somersetshire, and that experimental flights are being made' (p. 5). The admittedly brief notice of where the airships were seen is somewhat at variance with previous reports, however: it says it was seen at Cardiff, when it was seen several miles to the north, and that it was seen at Neath, when people there told to look out for an airship failed to actually see one.

The Guardian's mention of Mumbles is also new, but it would seem to be explained by the report in The Times that the 'constable at Aberavon' who 'observed, at 7.30pm on Sunday night [2 February 1913], an airship going over Swansea Bay and the Mumbles' (p. 6) -- so it's not a new report. However, it also says that 'Several other people declare they observed the outline of an airship carrying a light', presumably at Aberavon. This is confirmed by the Daily Express's report that an airship 'was seen at Port Talbot, near Swansea, about 6.30 p.m. on Sunday by a policeman and several other people' (p. 1). Aberavon is actually the old part of Port Talbot, which is about four miles from Neath, so that may account for the Guardian's confusion. The discrepancies in the time given for the sighting, an hour apart, may be explained by the fact that Constable Church watched the airship for an hour, according to yesterday's Globe.

The Express suggests that the Aberavon airship is 'presumably the same one' seen the following night [2 February 1913] at Greenmeadow (here Tongwynlais)

by two menservants of Colonel Henry Lewis. They watched it for four or five minutes, and noticed a red light at the rear.

(The Times also mentions this sighting, but without providing any new details.) If so, this airship 'could not have reached reached Croydon by 8.45 p.m.' to account for the other airship seen on Sunday. But the Express has evidence of another airship out that night, because the witness wrote in directly to inform it:

Mr. R. Lawrance [sic] Thornton, of High Cross, Framfield, Uckfield, writes to the 'Express' that he saw an airship pass over his house -- which is about eight miles north-east of Lewes -- about 9.25 p.m. on Sunday [2 February 1913].

Which 'is no doubt the airship which [...] was seen over Croydon at 8.45 p.m.'

The Globe reports (p. 3) on more mystery aircraft seen overseas, on the frontier between Austria-Hungary and Russia:

According to the journal 'Slovo Palski' a Russian aeroplane, equipped with a searchlight, was seen manœuvring over Lemberg on Saturday evening [1 February 1913]. At Tarnopol (Galicia) likewise an aeroplane, making signals, was sighted over the town

The Daily Mail carries the same article (p. 5), identifying the source as Reuter. The 'searchlight'/'signals' sound similar to the British phantom airships, though such heavy and bulky equipment would be much harder to take aloft in an aeroplane than an airship.

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Daily Express, 3 February 1913, 7

No less than three new phantom airship reports in today's papers: two from South Wales, which is fast becoming scareship central, and one from Croydon in the south-east of England.

To take the last airship first, as the Daily Express says, 'This is the first time that it has been reported so near London' (p. 7, above). Even so, the Express did well to get an interview with one of the witnesses, given that it happened only last night:

'An airship passed over here at a quarter to nine [on 2 February 1913],' said Mr. Trubshawe, of Fairfield-road, East Croydon, to an 'Express' representative last night. 'It came from the south-east, and moved overhead, disappearing rapidly to the north-west.

'I could not make out the exact shape of the envelope, but it must have been an airship of great size. Rays of light issued from it to the right and left, and also downward. There was quite a considerable volume of light altogether.'

'Others' also saw the airship, which was said to be 'moving with the wind'. The Liverpool Echo relays the Express's article (p. 5), while the Globe just notes that 'a number of people' at Croydon saw an airship last night (p. 12).
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'The Passing Show', a regular political commentary in the Dublin Sunday Independent, today takes note of the airship mystery (p. 6). It begins in a somewhat lighthearted fashion:

The 'phantom airship' scare is again occupying the attention of the British public, and, as usual, giving the anti-German section of the said B.P. food for grave misgiving.

This is followed by a very brief résumé of the major sightings of the past four weeks: Dover, Cardiff, Liverpool, Aberystwyth and Manchester. Nothing new here except in the last case: the Manchester airship is said to have 'been seen by reliable witnesses' and those witnesses are said to number 'Many'. Which may not be very much but the previous reports were not very forthcoming on the subject of who did the reporting. No conclusion is offered, but there is a noticeable tilt in one direction:

This is serious enough; but far worse is the fact that the officers of the Aero Club state that the vessel cannot possibly be of British origin. There is no English airship which could cover the distance in the time suggested by its appearances, whereas, as is well known, the German Zeppelins are quite capable of doing so, or of crossing from Germany and returning without landing.

It's interesting that the Sunday Independent doesn't see fit to mention, or else doesn't know of, the airship seen at Newport, Co. Mayo, three weeks ago, which might suggest that it's not just the British public which is prone to seeing German airships. On the other hand, that incident is the only one from Ireland to have been reported so far.

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Flight mentions the mystery airships in its editorial comment today, though only briefly and somewhat disparagingly. By the same token, it is quite happy to make use of them. The actual topic, inspired by the Daily Telegraph, is 'Our aerial fleet' (p. 107). It begins by claiming that in 'the matter of our aerial defences we have at all times endeavoured to steer clear of alarmist tendencies', and to assume that the government was following 'a considered policy of awaiting developments until such time as it was wise to make a great forward move' rather than accusing it of 'improper procrastination'.

But there comes a time when it is necessary to talk plainly and to say the things that come uppermost in the mind after a close and careful study of the relative strength of our own and other nations' air fleets. That time has come now. We have waited to see the awakening, and we have seen nothing but a continued policy of discouraging apathy, which has left this country hopelessly behind its rivals, without an air fleet worthy of the name, and almost entirely at the mercy of the first aerial power which cares to launch its air squadrons on a mission of destruction across the North Sea.

Britain's policy amounts to little more than watching and waiting:

We play about with small dirigibles which are but of minor count for the purposes of serious war, while Germany rapidly and certainly builds huge craft, capable of taking the North Sea in their stride and which, if report is to be trusted, have already paid us visits by night. Not that we are inclined to take these reports too seriously, but the fact remains that even if German aircraft have not visited these shores it is beyond all question that there is nothing in the wide world, least of all British aircraft, to prevent them so doing whenever those directing them are inclined.

Nor should France's 'enormously strong air fleet', soon to number 'not less than five hundred aeroplanes in effective service, to say nothing of a respectable number of large dirigibles', be neglected:

True, France at the moment is our very good friend and ally, but political friendships are notoriously unstable, and even so, when did Great Britain have to depend upon her friends to supply her own obvious deficiencies?

It is rumoured that the forthcoming Army Estimates will include a provision for £1 million for aviation, but what if the rumours are wrong?

Is there any hope that the Parliamentary 'Supers' who draw their £400 per annum for walking through the lobbies obedient to the crack of the Party whip will rise up in their places and insist that the safety of the country shall take precedence of schemes of so-called social reform, which no one wants and which are frankly designed to catch the votes of the unthinking populace? We fear not.

The only bright lights are 'Mr. Joynson-Hicks, an indefatigable champion in the cause of aviation and an Aerial Defence group in the House, which has done excellent work in calling attention to the parlous state of our air service' (pp. 107-8). But they are isolated and have little influence. Therefore 'It is with something more than pleasure that we note that the Daily Telegraph has taken up this most vital question' (p. 108). Flight fully concurs, and has previously argued, that as a consequence of 'the policy of inaction',

the British aviation industry is dying. Abroad, one improvement follows another with disconcerting rapidity owing in every case to the researches and experiments of private firms. But it cannot be hoped that with our factories idle, with our expert designers and craftsmen dismissed and forced into other careers to make their livelihood, we can ever keep pace with, much less outstrip, foreign activity and improvement.

By the time Britain reaches the same conclusion as every other country, i.e. that it is necessary to equip the 'army with war machines of a number of different types, even at great cost [...] the aviation industry will have ceased to exist'. If nothing is done.

We repeat we are not alarmists, but we cannot view the position without [sic] anything but the gravest misgiving for the future. The political outlook is darker than it has been for many years, and we have it on record that in the opinion of one of our most distinguished soldiers that it is impossible to make successful war without having command of the air. And if war should come suddenly, we most certainly shall not have command of the air -- but the lamp-posts of Whitehall may have unfamiliar ornaments. And well might it be under the circumstances.

Looks like there's a scare coming.

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Daily Express, 31 January 1913, 5

The Daily Express and the Standard both carry articles today trying to make sense of the phantom airship sightings, each framed very differently. The article in the Express begins by asking (p. 5; above):

Is a German airship making flights by night over England? That is a question which is being asked by many people in view of the repeated reports of a mysterious night aircraft from various parts of the country.

And it closes by noting:

The Hansa can travel at the rate of fifty miles an hour, and has a range of 1,000 miles. It is about 500 miles in a straight line from Friedrichshafen, on Lake Constance, where the Zeppelins are kept as a rule, but there are airship garages further north in Germany, and the German coast is less than 500 miles from Manchester.

By contrast, the Standard opens with a less leading question (p. 7):

What is the mysterious air craft that has been seen half a dozen times at as many different points, hovering by night over English towns, during the past three weeks? Whence does it come, and where does it hide itself during the day?

It also is rather dismissive of the idea that the airships are German:

The somewhat alarming theory that it is a foreign airship is generally discounted. For a craft of this description to have made a voyage lasting three weeks without landing and being observed is held to be a sheer impossibility, while it is considered almost equally impossible that half a dozen separate visits, including all the places at which the the mysterious vessel has been reported, should have been made from abroad.

Another difference is that in the Standard's article, those who have 'generally discounted' the foreign airship theory are certain 'military and naval authorities', whereas the Express seems to be talking more about public opinion. Nevertheless, the Standard does admit that the mystery is 'greatly exercising the minds' of those authorities, and that 'In official and aeronautical quarters nothing is known -- or at all events nothing is admitted -- of the identity of the elusive airship'. It does offer an alternative to the German theory:

The suggestion is made that it belongs to an unknown inventor who has secretly built a new type of craft and is adopting this unusual method of stimulating interest in his invention as a preliminary to offering it to the War Office. Another theory is that it is not one airship, but two or more, which would account for its being seen at places as far apart as Liverpool and Aberystwyth within the same hour on Saturday evening last. As the crow flies it is some eighty miles between these two places, and it is in the highest degree improbable that an airship is in existence in this country capable of travelling this distance in an hour.

The suggestion that the airship is the invention of a local inventor was made (implicitly, at least) last week by the Manchester Guardian, but has not attracted much support until now.
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Daily Express, 30 January 1913, 1

A new mystery airship report today, from a new part of the country -- 'the coast of Mid Wales' (Daily Express, p. 1; above):

An 'Express' correspondent at Aberystwyth states that it was seen by country people approaching the village of Chancery, a few miles south of Aberystwyth, at 8.25 on Saturday night [25 January 1913].

The movements of the airship were witnessed by a number of the villagers. At first it was headed for Cardigan Bay, but its searchlights, which swept the hills, evidently revealed the nearness of the sea, for it turned south and left in the direction of Carmarthenshire.

The Times carries the same report -- well, barring the reference to the Express (p. 12). The Express, however, also reveals its exasperation at the difficulty in reconciling the increasingly widespread phantom airship sightings to date (p. 1):

This is at least the fifth time this month that the mystery airship has been seen flying by night, yet no one has seen it rise or descend, and no one knows whence it comes or whither it goes:

On Tuesday the 'Express' reported that five persons declared they had seen it going over Liverpool 'between seven and half-past eight' on Saturday night last [25 January 1913]. Yet at 8.25 it was seen near Aberystwyth!

Exclamation mark! The Express doesn't try to explain how the airship could be seen at two places at the same time, but logically the choices boil down to: (1) there are two airships, or maybe more; (2) there is one airship, or maybe none. It summarises the previous sightings:

Dover, Jaunary [sic] 4.
Yarmouth, January 15.
Bristol Channel and Cardiff, January 18 [should be January 17].
Yarmouth, January 23.

And points out that like the airship or airships recently seen at Liverpool and near Aberystwyth, the ones reported at Dover and at Cardiff 'carried a light or lights'.
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Standard, 28 January 1913, 9

A somewhat atypical phantom airship report appears in today's newspapers. It's from the suburbs of one of the great cities, Liverpool. With a population of around three quarters of a million, Liverpool is more than three times the size of the biggest city to have previously reported a mystery aircraft, Cardiff. According to the Standard, (p. 9; above):

Several people report having seen a mysterious aircraft over the north of Liverpool on Saturday evening [25 January 1913] between seven and half-past eight o'clock. They say it was travelling at about 25 miles an hour, and that it carried a very brilliant light. Two members of the Liverpool Aviation School were out on Saturday afternoon, but did not leave the neighbourhood of the shore at Waterloo, and were not in the air at the time stated.

The Times has an equally brief account (p. 13), but it does provide some additional details: the report was made by 'A resident in the Clubmoor district', and 'There were five persons in the house at the time and they watched it for some time'. The Manchester Guardian says much the same (p. 6). Frustratingly, the local Liverpool Echo appears to carry no news article about the Clubmoor aircraft today, even though it does mention it in the leading article (p. 4):

If rumour speaks true, England has already once, if not twice, been invaded by mysterious ships of the air that pass in the night.

Mention is made of a mysterious aircraft which passed over this district after dark on Saturday evening last.

The leading article itself is entitled 'Air power and sea power', and criticises the government for lagging in its efforts to build a British air fleet. It suggests that an airship scare might be just the thing: 'The scaremongers who have so often aired their fears and grievances in regard to the Navy might be pardoned a little activity directed into another and more needful channel'. Why more needful?

Germany has been left an easy first in possession of the huge dirigible airship, a craft which can cover vast distances in a short space of time, carrying sufficient implements of destruction to work considerable havoc on any particular point attacked. Naval and military experts have all these facts before them, and they can calculate how much of the threatened danger is real and how much only fancied. The public at home are none the less left with an uncomfortable feeling on every fresh announcement of a new move by some foreign Power for the strengthening of its aerial squadrons.

And, of course, 'The British fleet of dirigibles has practically no existence', the Admiralty preferring to rely on 'the hydroplane, whose range of operations is necessarily limited and which has but a small carrying capacity'. What is lacking 'to better secure our air power' is not 'volunteers of nerve and ability' but 'the necessary mechanical equipment'.
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Daily Express, 27 January 1913

The Daily Express reports (p. 7, above) on another mystery airship at Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast -- this time it was seen rather than heard:

Samuel Harris, who is employed at the corporation pumping station at the north end of town, states that a few minutes before midnight on Thursday [23 January 1913] he saw a long airship, with a cradle attached, travelling at a considerable height.

He states that it passed over his house and proceeded in a south-easterly direction over the sea. He estimates that it was travelling at between forty and fifty miles an hour, and is perfectly convinced that it was an airship.

Harris called his daughter out to see it, and she 'caught a glimpse of it as it was passing out of sight'.

The Express also notes that 'There are some incredulous people' (where? in Yarmouth?) 'who are loth to believe the stories of mysterious night airships'. Their explanation:

the noise which has been taken for that of the motor has really been caused by flocks of wild geese passing over Yarmouth.

Well, then.