Skegness Magazine

The Mystery of Sea View Lane

Reflections upon the Midnight Airship’s Visit

Source: Skegness Herald March 1913

Picture right: The first ascent of a Zeppelin airship in 1900.

English people are always sceptical about anything strange or mysterious.
Therefore it is not surprising to find many Skegness people who have very grave doubts regarding the authenticity of the story of the visit of a mysterious airship to Skegness during the early morning of January 14th last.

Scoffers there always are at these times. For them i do not mind. It is the average seriously thinking man or woman I wish to approach in this article. Because there are, however great one’s doubt may be, some stubborn facts to be overcome before the whole story can honestly be declared fabrication.

It is unnecessary to recapitulate the circumstances which appeared in last week’s Herald. The whole question is – Did an airship really manoeuvre over the town at the dead of night on January 14th last, or not? If so where did it come from and where did it go? First and foremost – Was it hovering over Sea View Lane? Four people are supposed to have seen it. The coastguards and police did not see it. One coastguard was sat at the Marconi instrument at the time with the peculiarly fitting telephone arrangement over his head. This instrument is specially made to magnify and intensify sound, so that signals from other stations hundreds of miles away may be heard and duly recorded. But this operator did not hear anything unusual, such for example as the noise a powerful aeroplane engine would have made. Then the solitary policeman, who was in Lumley-square at that time, neither heard nor saw anything unusual. Granted it was a foggy night, it is quite possible a whole fleet of airships of the dirigible type might have passed over Sea View, and he not have heard them. But to revert to the Marconi operator again, who heard nothing unusual. It is a curious fact that people, who swear to having seen this mysterious craft in other parts of the country, distinctly state that they did not hear any noise as of machinery in motion. Therefore it is not illogical to suppose that this stranger was not an aeroplane of the ordinary type, but something designed for flying silently through the night.

Upon the question of veracity, a large number of reliable people have come forward and announced that they have no hesitation in affirming that the mysterious visitor was undoubtedly an airship. The chief constable of Glamorganshire is among the number, and it is interesting to note that he describes the aeroplane as leaving a trail of smoke behind it, Obviously this strongly supports the idea that the craft is of unusual design, for no ordinary aeroplane leaves a trail of smoke when flying, which can be seen by the naked eye. True the exhaust gasses from the engine can be observed when a machine starts off, but as soon as it is in the air, the atmosphere carries away the gases so quickly that even a powerful telescope would not enable an observer to discern them.

Take Mr Hyams statement for instance. What is the benefit of such a story to him personally. He is a lifelong abstainer, and therefore what he says he saw is of no disorder of a fevered imagination or of a troubled mind. Neither could the assertion that a number of fire balloons or kites were liberated for the purpose of a practical joke explain the sudden illumination of several lights, which were speedily extinguished.

Chief Coastguard Officer Hook was apparently so convinced of the genuineness of Mr Hyams’ story that he reported the circumstances to headquarters.

But above all this there is the fact that the Government deemed it expedient to pass a Bill through Parliament, with little or no discussion, giving army officers etc, power to fire upon strange air-craft if the latter failed to descend when signalled to. Obviously the Government had received information of a character which left no doubt that mysterious aeroplanes were actually flying about.

That Mr Hyams and his wife, and their two friends DID see this strange craft is of little doubt, and if fifty percent of the similar stories from other places are discredited, the fact still remains.

In considering a problem of this kind it must not be forgotten that there are hundreds of clever engineers working every day with the object of perfecting machinery that will render flying in the air as simple a matter as travelling in a motor car.
It is illogical to presume that some of these experiments have at last borne fruit, and that the evolution of aerial flight has advanced, unannounced and practically unseen, another stage?

Indication are not wanting that this is most probably the solution of the problem.

SEEN BY SKEGNESS PEOPLE

There is undoubted proof that two mysterious airships – believed to be German – are flying about Engalnd during the night time.
On Jan 16th last, the Skegness Herald published the following statement:-

Mysterious Aeroplane – A local resident reports that about 1am on Monday night (Jan 13th) he saw an aeroplane pass over Skegness, travelling inland. The unusual occurrence is stated to have been witnessed by two or three people. The coastguards and police report that the airship was not observed by them.
At the time the Skegness Herald made enquiries for many miles around Skegness, but failed to obtain corroborative evidence of the mysterious airship’s visit.

But now the airship or airships have been seen in various parts of the country as follows:
Oct 14 1912 over Skegness
Jan 4 1913 over Dover
Jan 6 Bristol Channel and Wells Point
Jan 13 over Skegness
Jan 15 over Yarmouth
Jan 17 Bristol Channel and Cardifrf
Jan 19 Hednesford
Jan 23 Yarmouth
Jan 25 Aberystwyth
Jan 25 Liverpool
Jan 27 Stratford, Manchester

Last Friday evening, Feb 21st one of the airships was seen after dark by:-
Mr C H March a Selby solicitor
Mr John Collingwood and a party of Selby business men at Church Fenton
Mr J Creasor, a Harrogate merchant at Biccall.
Mr Sanderson, at Selby Common.

At Nuneaton, Warwickshire, by a party of miners, going to work.

SKEGNESS EVIDENCE

Mr G E Hyams, of Roman Bank, Skegness, states that in company with his wife, he visited a friend’s house on the North Shore, Skegness, on January 12 last. They left the house about 1am. The night was dark and somewhat hazy. Following their usual custom Mr and Mrs Hyams looked for a light in Mr Marshall’s window, on Roman Bank, by which they had frequently guided themselves. “There’s the light” said Mrs Hyams, indicating what she thought was the one from Mr Marshall’s window. “That’s not it” replied Mr Hyams, “why look,it’s moving.” And this was correct. “It’s an airship,” they exclaimed involuntarily, and before they had time to say anything more the airship’s light was directly over Sea View lane. Then a number of lights suddenly blazed out and were just as quickly switched off again. But the airship and its solitary light, which Mr and Mrs Hyams had seen at first, still remained. Hastening back to their friends house, the latter came outside and four Skegness people apparently were the sole spectators of this mysterious affair. As the machine still kept circling overhead Mr Hyams rushed off to the Coastguard station a short distance away, and knocked-up Chief Coatguard Officer Hook. However, before the latter could get outside the airship and its single light had disappeared in the direction of Burgh and was no more seen.

Mr Hyams informed the Skegness Herald that neither he or his wife were able to distinguish the outline of the airship, but they gained some idea of its size by the number of small lights which suddenly flashed out and were as suddenly extinguished.

Mr Hyams is absolutely confident that it was an airship. he is a life-long abstainer, and his story so impressed Chief Coastguard Officer Hook, that the latter reported the matter to the Admiralty the following day.

The four Skegness witnesses of this unusual visitor did not hear any sound, and it is curious to note that other reliable witnesses in different parts of the country also make the same statement.

The chief constable of Glamorganshire, who saw one of the airships, says that it left a trail of smoke behind it.
It is clear now that the fears which caused the Government to rush through both Houses of Parliament a fortnight ago a Bill giving officers power to fire on any mysterious aircraft were absolutely justified.

The Bill was passed with little or no explanation by the Government, but it was surmised that naval and military authorities had received confidential reports which assured them that the airships of foreign Powers were making reconnaissances over the fortified positions on our east coast.