|
Marconi was born in
Bologna, Italy on April 25th 1874 to an Italian father
and an Irish mother - his mother was Annie Jameson whose family owned the
Jameson Whiskey Distillery in County Wexford.
His work on Rathlin Island and in Ballycastle covered a relatively short
period from June 4th to September 2nd 1898, Marconi
himself visited for four days during that time. The experimental work was
carried out by his assistant George Kemp, who was in turn
assisted by Edward Glanville, also employed was a John Cecil from
Rathlin Island. They carried out experimental transmissions between
Kenmara House on the cliff above the harbour and the
east lighthouse on Rathlin Island via a 104 foot aerial at the ‘White
Lodge’ house situated where the new ferry terminal is - and in doing so created the historical
link between the town and the pioneering developments that were taking
place in ‘wireless telegraphy’.
Heinrich Hertz who died in 1894, had discovered that
electro-magnetic waves existed in the air and
that these could be detected over short distances, Sir William
Crookes also predicted that these same electro-magnetic waves could be
used for communication. Marconi had studied physics and took inspiration
from the work of Hertz, he carried out a series of practical
experiments in wireless telegraphy in Italy and although Sir Oliver Lodge
and Dr Alexander Muirhead claimed to have sent a ‘wireless’
signal between two Oxford buildings in 1894, it was Marconi who registered
the first patent of this technology. Sir Oliver Lodge had developed
a more efficient way of picking up these electo-magnetic signals than
Hertz in the ‘Branley coherer’ and Marconi developed this ability a
step further. In 1985, a Captain H. B. Jackson (Royal Navy)
had also succeeded in transmitting a ‘wireless’ signal the length of
ship which rang a bell, and later in 1886 from ship to ship within the
confines of an harbour, repeating what Marconi had already done in 1894 -
Jackson later met Marconi during experiments on Salisbury Plain. At the
time many scientist were working in the same field but it was Marconi who
had realized the potential of the discovery, which led him to
register Patent No. 12039, on June 2nd 1896
-‘ with specification for a ‘wireless’ system using Hertzian
waves’.
Some
of his landmarks achievements are as follows:
1894,
Italy
– first demonstrated the transmission of ‘wireless’ signals to sound
a bell across a room.
1895 – Italy - successfully demonstrated signal transmission and
reception over a 2km distance across fields.
1896,
England
-
came to London and registered his patent - demonstrated transmission and
reception on Salisbury plain using an aerial developed by the Russian
Prof. Alexander Popoff, Captain H. B. Jackson was present along with the
chief engineer of the General Post Office and also representatives of the
British Army.
1897,
England
– He achieved a range of 7km transmission and reception on Salisbury
Plain - achieved a new record distance of 14km when he send a message
across the Bristol Channel from Flat Holm, Weston-super-Mare to Lavernock
Point, Cardiff – set up an aerial in the grounds of the Royal Needles
Hotel, Alum Bay, Isle of Wight and communicated with two hired ferries and
later with another station set up in the Medeira House, Bournmouth –
Italy - communicated from La Spezia, Italy with the armoured cruiser
‘San Martino’ a distance of 11 miles -
England - with his cousin
Jameson Davis he first registered his
company as The Wireless Telegraph and Signal Company.
1898,
Ireland
- transmission and reception between Rathlin Island and Ballycastle under
commission by Lloyds of London – sent the world’s first
live ‘wireless’ report of a yacht race from a ship called ‘The
Flying Huntress’ to a shore station at Kingstown (Dublin). This brought
immense publicity and interest for Marconi work and its commercial and
military potential.
1899,
England -The Goodwin Lightship which had been installed with a transmitter
was rammed in heavy fog by the S.S. ‘R.F. Mathews’ , it was able to
send the first ‘live saving’ signal from sea, for the assistance of
two lifeboats.
1901 – Send a signal 198 miles between the Isle of Wight and Lizard
Point, Cornwall - defying
critics and the opinions of the scientific world he sent a signal
around the curvature of the earth, from Poldhu, Cornwall to Signal Hill,
St John’s, Newfoundland.
1918 – first signal from
England to Australia
. These are just
a few of the scores of events and achievements during
his lifetime - and we have not touched on the greatest aid that his
work created for shipping, namely the ability to sent 'wireless'
distress signals which led to the saving of hundreds of thousands of lives
at sea.
How or why
Marconi came to Ballycastle to undertake the trails for Lloyds is not
completely clear, it was certainly related to the fact that
‘wireless telegraphy’ promised to become the most important
development in tracking incoming and outgoing vessels. The possibility had
come of age when, with Marconi equipped stations all along the coast, all
vessels within twenty-five miles of shore could make their presence known
and send or receive communications. So apparent were the advantages
of such a system that Lloyds in May, 1898, entered into
negotiations for the setting up of Marconi instruments at various Lloyds
stations; and preliminary trial were commissioned between Rathlin Island
and Ballycastle. Another factor may have been the location, as all
transatlantic shipping coming and going from Liverpool passed between Torr
Head and the Mull of Kintyre and like Malin Head, Torr Head already had a
signaling station - both which relied on semaphore communication -
therefore Rathin to Ballycaste would have been the ideal location.
These early contracts from Lloyds along with others from the Royal Navy,
British Army and three shipping companies gave the new company its first
income and the foundations of what today is a multi national company.
There are however, some incorrect facts around the work that
took place in Ballycastle - firstly the cottage referred to as
‘Marconi’s Cottage’ situated on the shoreline, at the end of the
road before Fair Head, was not where the reception of transmissions
were received. As James O Kane, ex Town Clerk of Moyle District
Council pointed out in an article to the Irish News - the former Antrim
County Council, misled by local Post Office officials put a plaque
on the cottage, not only was it at the wrong location but the date on the
plaque of 1904 was also wrong. The other point is the fact that the
transmissions and receptions, were not as some accounts claim,
the first transmission or receptions over water or indeed the first
'wireless' transmissions in the world. They were a part of the development
of 'wireless telegraphy' which would revolutionized communications,
especially for mariners.
Marconi’s
assistant George Kemp arrived in Ballycastle on June 4th 1898
and was assisted by Edward Glanville, a young graduate of Trinity
College, Dublin. Kemp also employed a John Cecil of Rathlin Island
to assist in the work they would undertake and I am sure several
other local people helped in the task of erecting and securing the mast at
the east lighthouse and at Ballycastle - Kemp identified the east
lighthouse on Rathlin and the harbour area in Ballycastle to be the best
locations for the two signal stations. They set about erecting an eighty
foot aerial at the east light house on Rathlin, at first they could not
get any reception at the harbour in Ballycastle and after
researching other locations in Ballycastle they eventually increased the
mast size at ‘White Lodge’, near the coal yards (where the present
Ferry terminal car park is situated) to 104 feet. This seem to solve the
problem and on July 6th Kemp recorded the first
signals transmitted from Rathlin Island by Edward Glanville - they
continued with their experimental trails until George Kemp was instructed
to go to Kingston (now Dun Laoghaire), Dublin. Marconi had been
commissioned by the Dublin Daily Express to report the progress of the
Kingston Regatta (July 20–22nd July 1898). He did this from a
steam tug, sending 'wireless' messages back to the harbour where
they were subsequently telephoned to Dublin. Becoming what many believe
to be have been the first ‘live’ transmission of a sporting
event in the world, in the process he gained immense publicity for the
technology and his Company.
There seems to be some confusion as to some dates and
whether Edward Glanville
actually accompanied Kemp to Dublin or not. The Regatta was held on July
20-22nd 1898 which meant that Kemp and Granville would have
been away together. Yet accounts tell of the untimely death of
Edward Granville taking place on Sunday 21st July 1894 when he
tragically stumbled and fell down a cliff on Rathlin Island. Marconi
is recorded as having arrived in Ballycastle on August 29th and
spent four days here, during which time he visited and check the
equipment and transmissions on Rathlin Island, experienced the Lammas Fair
on the 31stAugust and left for London on the 2nd of
September.
Marconi went on to develop short wave radio, the basis for
most long distance communications before satellite. He was also awarded a
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1909 and on his death in 1937 was given a state
funeral in his hometown of Bologne.
|
|