Phantom airships attract relatively little attention in the press today. For the first time in more than a week there are no new sightings to report. Stale (and slightly garbled) news about the Grimsby box kite and the City of Leeds and Othello sightings appear in the Aberdeen Daily Journal and the Western Gazette, while the Manchester Courier once again republishes old content for the benefit of the tiny proportion of its readers who haven't yet read about Captain Lundie's encounter with a dark airship near Grimsby. At least a leading article in the Standard is original in its phrasing, if not in its content. It attacks what it calls 'The anti-defence crusade' of Radicals, for whom 'it really seems as if the mere mention of national defence in any form [is] a source of annoyance and irritation' (p. 8). One important 'Ministerial' newspaper 'talks about "the jingoes of the air" and sneers at the "new and attractive theme" which the aerial peril has provided for them (p. 8).

It has been the cue of these critics all through to maintain that the airship 'scare' was all nonsense, though the hasty publication of the Home Secretary's schedule is a significant testimony to its reality. How many foreign aircraft have passed over these islands during the past few months is doubtful; but that some have been taking a look round at our strategic bases is very well known to the Admiralty.

The Standard, of course, slips in another attack on the new aerial navigation regulations on the basis that there is currently no means of enforcing them. This is also the theme of a leading article, entitled 'The Flying Dutchmen', in the Irish Independent, which paraphrases (sympathetically, though stopping short of endorsement) the argument of 'a section of the English Press' that the regulations are 'absolutely useless if intended for the protection of Great Britain' (p. 4). Among its sources may be the Daily Express, for like that paper it misunderstands the regulations in thinking that they 'only become operative if the airship lands at any of the prohibited areas of British territory':

Thus, if the German airships are really spying out the land the regulations can have no effect unless in case of accident to one of their airships which would compel a landing.

Hence the demand of 'a million sterling for the immediate expansion of the British air fleet'.
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The Dundee Courier today has a long article providing more details of the airship seen by Captain Lundie and the crew the City of Leeds off Grimsby -- 'It was travelling at a fast rate, and somewhat resembled a shark in shape' (p. 5) -- and the Daily Express has an even longer, more reflective piece. Its 'Special Correspondent' makes the case that this is 'The most convincing proof so far of the truth hidden behind the clouds of rumours of the flights of unknown airships over the North Sea and the east coast' more persuasively than previous attempts, though still hardly conclusively (p. 5; above). Captain Boothby, the assistant marine superintendent at Grimsby who was the recipient of Lundie's original report, believes 'that the statement could certainly be confirmed beyond any doubt':

'That it was an airship -- a cigar-shaped dirigible of large size that Captain Lundie saw, I also am certain,' continued Captain Boothby. 'He had ample opportunity for seeing it, and his experience would prevent him mistaking anything else for an airship.

This 'experience' appears to be Lundie's (doubtless many) years at sea; there is no suggestion that he is in any way familiar with airships or aeroplanes. And while other members of the crew did see it -- among them Second Officer Williams and the ship's cook, who describes seeing 'a dark shape floating by high in the moonlight' -- it is Lundie's 'precise, carefully detailed, statement' alone that represents 'evidence that can hardly be doubted, and the importance of which, once it is admitted to be true, cannot be easily over-estimated':

It proves that under all the wild rumours of 'scareships,' of practical jokes with fire-balloons, and the tales of untrained or imaginative gazers by night who mistake fiery stars for dirigibles' 'flashing searchlights,' there is a solid foundation for the fears of an airship invasion, which all expert airmen agree will very soon be not only quite possible, but extremely probable.

The Express's correspondent spent the weekend touring 'the Yorkshire coast from Withernsea round the sweep of Bridlington Bay to breezy, hilly Scarborough' (all places where phantom airships have been seen), 'the stretch which may be one of the widest "open doors" of England when aerial progress makes Great Britain an island no longer'.

All round the coast and in the great ports of Hull and Grimsby, as well as in the scattered villages and fashionable seaside resorts I have heard stories of the airship, but behind the light jests and the half doubting guise in which the many wildly improbable stories were recounted, there was apparent a feeling that those mysterious airships might be in some cases a reality -- a reality to be dreaded and proved against at any cost. The fear that flies by night is over Yorkshire.

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It's a new week, and (mercifully) the volume of phantom airship stories has dropped sharply. But not to zero. Mr H. Wooliley of 10a Rose Lane, Mossley Hill, Liverpool, has written in to the Liverpool Echo to report that (p. 7)

Last night (Sunday) [2 March 1913] at 7.45, looking over Eastham way, a very strong light, which was certainly not a star, could be seen in the sky. I pointed it out to two or three friends, and we all came to the conclusion that it was the aircraft seen in different places lately. It was visible for fully five minutes, the light varying in size from time to time. We could not make out any shape, but it was going at a great pace, and we lost sight of it over New Brighton way.

The Dundee Courier is likewise able to report a local airship sighting (p. 5):

Two men who are in the Corporation employ, were standing talking in Bell Street about nine o'clock [on 2 March 1913], when their attention was attracted by a bright light in the western sky. They both observed it at practically the same time.

At first it appeared dimly, gradually increasing in strength until it flashed into great brilliance, resembling a powerful acetylene-lamp. The light gradually receded into the darkness, but it burst forth again in all its brightness a minute later. The second time it as quickly disappeared.

When 'Asked if they could see any form of an airship, the men replied that the light was too bright, and was straight in their eyes'.

'Do you think it was near to the city?'
'Oh no; it was a good distance off,' remarked one of the men, 'but the light was one of the most powerful that I have ever seen.'

But there is no interest in these mystery airships outside of their place of origin.
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The Observer has ignored the phantom airship scare almost completely, although it was in fact one of the first newspapers to report the Dover incident nearly two months ago (5 January 1913, p. 9). It has broken its silence today because, thanks to the mystery airships, the time seems right for an agitation for a rapid and large increase in expenditure on aerial armaments (p. 12; above):

The country has suddenly awakened to the fact that it is all behindhand in its preparations for war in the Third Element. It has been aroused by some highly imaginative people in Yorkshire (where they do not cultivate the imagination) and elsewhere, who declare that they have seen searchlights in the sky and heard the whirring of propellers overhead.

It's definitely not because it believes the airship witnesses are seeing what they think they see:

They are almost certainly wrong; very likely their legs have been pulled by astute advertisers on the look-out for orders.

But even so 'It does not matter':

Longer flights are undertaken, by both dirigible and aeroplane, than would be required to bring aircraft from the eastern short of the North Sea to the neighbourhood of Sheerness or Harwich. The hoaxer -- if there was one -- has done good service by awakening public interest in the matter.

So, it's what has lately become the standard conservative response, although it was outlined by C. G. Grey in the Daily Express back in January. The Observer's contribution here is to remind readers of its own proposal made 'over two months ago, and which is being warmly supported', namely 'that public opinion should be aroused to demand from the Government a vote of a million pounds this year for the Royal Flying Corps and Aircraft Factory', to be spent on:

(1) Buying or building air craft of the best existing patterns.
(2) Establishing properly equipped air stations round the coast and inland.
(3) Providing transport and repair trains.
(4) Training additional officers and men in the military duties of Navy and Army airmen.
(5) Experiment and research, mechanical and tactical.

The Navy League has informally decided to look into the question, and 'By lectures and by leaflets, and in every other way possible, the urgency of the matter will be kept before the eyes of the people'. Also, 'An aerial league has been at work for some years, and will no doubt redouble its efforts in view of the awakening of public interest'. No doubt.
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On the one hand, there are more mystery airships reports (many old but some new) in today's papers than ever before, mostly in the provincial press. On the other, some editors seem to have grown weary of the subject: for example, whereas both the Daily Express and the Standard have carried multiple articles on the subject all this week, today they don't mention it at all. Newspapers which do still discuss the scareships (and there are many) are more likely to have a sceptical tone: the Dundee Evening Telegraph records that 'With regard to the Hull vision, a correspondent who has been making investigations is unable to find one responsible observer who takes the airship view', and that 'Inquiries at Ipswich failed to reveal any confirmation of the airship theory' (p. 2). This may be an effect of the increasingly assertive scepticism of the Daily Mirror and others over the past few days, but it might also have something to do with the discovery of a wrecked fire balloon on the Yorkshire moors. As The Times reports (p. 5):

An under-gamekeeper, named Walter Moore, in the employment of Colonel Longdale [sic], of Houghton Hall, two miles south of Market Weighton and about 14 miles from Selby, found a fire balloon on Houghton Moor on Sunday morning. He paid his first visit to Market Weighton for several days on Tuesday, and had not heard of the rumours which associated the lights which had been seen in the district with foreign airships. He then stated that the balloon was the size of 36-galloon cask and just like those sent up at galas. The cover was marked in blue and yellow stripes, and the fuse when found did not appear to have been long extinguished. The balloon was half-deflated and was resting against a small hillock. He completed the process of deflation, and wrapped up the cover and took it home. It is thought that the light of this balloon may have been that seen on Friday evening.

The Manchester Guardian reports this discovery, and also prints a letter from E. G. Herbert of Manchester along the same lines:

I was passing along Moseley Road, Fallowfield, about three weeks ago at 6 30 p.m. when a lad excitedly called my attention to 'an airship.' There was a bright light in the sky about 20 degrees above the horizon and almost due south from where I was.

My first thought was: 'It cannot be an aeroplane because it moves too slowly; it cannot be an airship because there is no hull visible.' It certainly was not a planet. I doubt if it could have been mistaken for one even if it had been stationary, but the most noticeable thing about it was its steady movement to the right, exactly that of a drifting balloon. During the five minutes or so that I watched it its position changed from south to west-south-west, and it became perceptibly dimmer and more distant.

I concluded that the light was carried by a toy balloon which had probably been sent up by someone wishing to enjoy himself at the expense of the 'jumpiness' of his fellow citizens.

Grahame-White, 'the famous aviator', has also suggested that (as quoted by the Dublin Freeman's Journal, p.6, which is itself quoting the Evening Standard) that 'the reports of lights in the sky seen in different parts of the country might be due to the work of a practical joker sending up fire-balloons'.
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The Daily Mail carries a bare list of the last few days' phantom airship sightings with few details, some of which are discussed more fully elsewhere in today's (or yesterday's) papers, but some are not:

Avonmouth, Bristol, yesterday evening [26 February 1913].
Hull and Grimsby, Tuesday night [25 February 1913].
Dover, Tuesday, 9.20 p.m.
Castle Donnington [sic], Derbyshire, Tuesday, 9.50 p.m.
Leeds, Tuesday night.
Portishead, Somerset, Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Ipswich, Monday night [24 February 1913].
Portsmouth, Monday night.
Withernsea, Yorkshire, Monday, 9.30 p.m.
Corbridge-on-Tyne, Saturday, 9.30 p.m [22 February 1913].
Selby, Scarborough, and Bridlington, Friday night [21 February 1913].

On the previously-reported Hull sighting on Tuesday night, the Daily Mail says that the Admiralty has confirmed that 'None of the three airships possessed by our own military authorities was out that night, nor was the Willows airship belonging to the Navy'. (p. 5). According to the Standard (p. 9; above),

The airship whose lights were seen by crowds at Hull was first traced from the Humber by the crew of the steam trawler Bermuda, who watched its bright white light pass towards the town, descend and rise again, until it disappeared in the direction of Hull. The fisherman reported the occurrence immediately on entering port, and having been on the fishing ground for some time were unaware of similar mysterious airship visits in various parts of the country.

Also, further witnesses to the Gosport (or Portsmouth) airship have come forward, including

Constables Jenkins and Boyers, of the Hants Constabulary, who were on patrol duty. A sergeant of the Marines on duty at the barracks gate declares that he could make out dimly the body of a dirigible of considerable size. The object, whatever it was, came from a northerly direction, and finally disappeared towards the north-east.

The Western Times notes that in addition to the Ipswich airship being seen, 'the throb of its engines was heard [...] it was believed the airship was returning from the direction of Portsmouth to an unknown base' (p. 4).
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There's a slew of new phantom airship reports today. From Hornsea in the East Riding of Yorkshire (Daily Express, p. 1; above):

The coastguards at Hornsea first saw a bright light about eight o'clock [on 25 February 1913]. It appeared to be travelling in a westerly direction. They kept it under observation through their glasses, and have reported the occurrence to the Admiralty.

Mr. Jameson Falconer, one of the principal residents of Hornsea, also watched it through his glasses, and says he succeeded in making out the outlines of an airship, which was carrying two lights -- one white and the other red.

Another resident of Hornsea says that the craft came from the direction of the North Sea, and travelled westwards.

From nearby Hull shortly afterwards:

A little later the airship appeared over the city of Hull. Crowds of people assembled in the centre of the city and outside the Paragon Station, and watched with keenest interest the movements of the mysterious craft for upwards of an hour, when it disappeared in a westerly direction.

The airship's lights were easily distinguishable. At time they appeared to be quite bright, while occasionally a patch of red was visible. The ship altered her course frequently, while at times she appeared to remain stationary.

The lights were first visible coming from the eastwards about 8.30, and it was an hour later before they disappeared from view.

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