Royal Yacht Osborne

A two funnel steamer (exact details unknown). 

Radio station: At least 63 messages sent between Ladywood Cottage in the grounds of Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and the Royal Yacht 'Osborne' in the Solent between June and August 1898.

In 1898, while at a ball in Paris, The Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) fell, hurting his knee. He preferred to spend his convalescence on board the Royal Yacht 'Osborne' rather than at Osborne House where his mother Queen Victoria was staying.

The Queen, after hearing of Marconi's success at the Kingstown Regatta, invited him to set up a wireless link between the Royal Yacht and Osborne House.

The Queen, concerned about her son's health hoped to be in contact with the Prince while he attended the Cowes Regatta Week. Marconi successfully installed apparatus on the Royal Yacht and in Ladywood Cottage within the grounds of Osborne House, which delighted the Royal family so much that they continued to use wireless communication after the Cowes Regatta Week with various Royal Dukes and Cabinet Ministers joining in.

Before Marconi left the Royal Yacht, the Prince presented him with a souvenir of a scarf pin and wished him well. When commenting on the success of this experiment Marconi stated that he hoped that the men on lonely lightships and isolated lighthouses should be able 'also to send daily messages of a private character ... to render less painful their isolation'.

Location: Moored at Cowes, Isle of Wight (UK)

Link and source

Kommentare sind deaktiviert