Marconi in East Kent

Following the successes at South Foreland, the French government allowed
Marconi to install transmission equipment at Wimereux on the coast of
Northern France, 7kms North of Boulogne, 30kms South of Calais, and on 27
March 1899 he transmitted the first international wireless message, ‘Greetings
from France to England,’ from Wimereux, to the South Foreland Lighthouse.
The first international cable, was laid across the English Channel in 1850 by the
English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company, its more reliable replacement
being laid in September 1851 from St. Margaret’s Bay, to Sangatte, France.
However, according to estimates at the time of Marconi’s experiments:
Every mile of deep-sea cable costs about £220; every mile for the land-ends
about £250. All that we save, also the great expense of keeping a cable
steamer constantly in commission making repairs and laying new lengths. All
we need is a couple of masts and a little wire. The wear and tear is practically
nothing. The cost of running, simply for home batteries and operators' keep."
Asked how fast they could transmit messages?" the reply was
About fifteen words a minute; but we shall do better than that no doubt with
experience. You have seen how clear our tape reads. Any one who knows the
Morse code will see that the letters are perfect."
The first RADIO DISTRESS SIGNAL was transmitted from the East Goodwin
Lightship 10 days prior to that International Milestone, on 17 March 1899,
when the merchant vessel Elbe ran aground on the Goodwin Sands.
This message was received by the radio operator on duty at the South
Foreland Lighthouse, who was able to summon the aid of the Ramsgate
lifeboat.
The Goodwin Sands again featured in another ‘first’ when on 30 April 1899, the
East Goodwin Sands Lightship sent a distress message on her own account after
she was rammed by the SS R. F. Matthews.
This was prior to the introduction of the ‘SOS’ signal and the recognized call
sign for ships in distress at the time was ‘CQD’.
The wireless operators working on ships mostly came from the ranks of railroad
and postal telegraphers. In England a general call on the landline wire was a
“CQ.” which preceded time signals and special notices. By using “CQ,” each