It took three hours to fly twenty miles, from
Kneesworth to Cambridge, against a strong head wind, and at one o'clock
at night the mechanic informed Major Maitland, who commanded the
_Gamma_, that only one-quarter hour's supply of lubricating oil
remained. So the ship had to shut off her engines and float on the tide
of the air. By throwing out all her ballast she kept afloat till dawn,
and made a safe landing in the neighbourhood of Bristol. 'I don't think
I shall ever forget', says Captain Fitzmaurice, 'the feeling of perfect
peace and quiet one experiences when ballooning by night.' The same
feeling was experienced by Lunardi during his first ascent in a
balloon. The history of aeronautics, if it could be fully written, is in
the main a history of Peace in the air.

The two years before the war were years of progress. In 1912 M. Lucien
Rouzet invented a transmitting apparatus which, in proportion to its
power, was lighter in weight than anything that had previously been in
use; a number of these sets were purchased by the Naval and Military
Wings to be used in aircraft. During May 1913 successful wireless trials
were carried out by Lieutenant Fitzmaurice in a Short seaplane piloted
by Sub-Lieutenant J. T. Babington. During one of these a flight was made
along the coast from the Isle of Grain to the North Foreland, the
seaplane being in communication with the receiving stations at Grain and
Eastchurch and with ships at sea during the whole of its flight. Its
signals were read up to a distance of forty-five miles. During this
flight the seaplane signalled a wireless salute to the Royal Yacht,
which was taking the King and Queen to Flushing on a visit to Germany.
In the naval manoeuvres of the summer, Lieutenant Fitzmaurice and
Commander Samson were sent out to scout over the sea due east from
Yarmouth in the latest Short seaplane, No. 81. Her engine failed, and
she was compelled to come down on the sea, but the wireless messages
which she had sent to H.M.S. _Hermes_ served to locate her, and when the
_Hermes_ went to look for her she was found near the expected place on
board a German timber boat which had come to her assistance.

The airships _Delta_ and _Eta_ were both equipped with wireless for the
army manoeuvres of 1913, and were based on Dunchurch, near Rugby. In
all, _Delta_ sent sixty-six messages during her seven voyages, and on
the 24th of September carried out a successful night reconnaissance.
The _Eta_,