anion; on the
20th of December they sailed from Rotterdam for Harwich.

The seaplane patrols had not sufficient range to get into touch with the
enemy off his own coasts, as the flying boat patrols almost always did
in the later years of the war. Nevertheless, the first six months of
coastguard work were of high value. They knit the service together, and
produced a large body of skilled and practised pilots who prepared
themselves or instructed others for later achievement.

An additional station for seaplane and aeroplane work was established at
Scapa Flow to carry out patrols over the fleet. The patrols commenced on
the 24th of August 1914 and continued daily in all weathers until the
21st of November, when the machines and hangars were completely wrecked
in a gale. On the 27th of August 'Seaplanes Nos. 97 and 156 led the
Battle Fleet to sea'. These were both Henri Farman seaplanes. There were
also two Short seaplanes and a Sopwith Bat boat. A few more were added
in the course of the following weeks, and so zealous and efficient were
the mechanics that, with all the wear and tear of the daily patrol, not
more than two machines at the most were ever out of action at one time
during the first six weeks. Further bases were established during the
autumn of 1914 at Newcastle-on-Tyne and Dover, but the lack of
serviceable machines curtailed the activities of these stations.

The real dramatic centre of England's effort in the air was to be found,
during these months, not at the coastal stations, but in the training
schools and workshops. The progress there made, at first invisible, was
so rapid that Captain Sueter was able to say in July 1915 that every
machine possessed by the Royal Naval Air Service at the outbreak of the
war 'is now regarded as fit only for a museum'.

The problem of providing seaplanes with a floating base so that they
might operate with the fleet at sea became urgent at once. On the 11th
of August the Admiralty, realizing the great utility of aerial scouting
with the fleet, took over three cross-Channel steamers from the
South-Eastern and Chatham Railway Company--the _Empress_, the
_Engadine_, and the _Riviera_. The _Empress_ was fitted out to carry
machines and stores for the Naval Air Service. The _Engadine_ and the
_Riviera_ were structurally altered at Chatham Dockyard, so that they
might serve as seaplane-carriers. Later on, in October 1914, the
_Empress_ was also converted into a seaplane-carr