Page:Jack Heaton, Wireless Operator (Collins, 1919).djvu/137

 which together were worth a quarter of a million dollars.

Bigger things were now in order and greater distances were to be spanned. Early in 1899 Marconi set up a station at Dover on the English coast and another at Wimereaux on the French coast. The distance between these stations was 30 miles but Marconi had no trouble in sending messages forth and back across the English Channel.

This astounding feat made the British Admiralty sit up and scan the horizon and seeing wireless writ large upon it, it had Marconi put his outfits on three cruisers that very year. During the naval man&oelig;uvers which soon took place wireless as a factor in fighting was given a thorough tryout with the result that the top-notch distance was reached when the flagship of the fleet signaled orders to one of the cruisers at a distance of 85 miles.

I remember distinctly how every one over here was talking about that wonderful wireless and the boy who invented it. Consequently when the ' announced that it had engaged Marconi to report the ', the one word