Marconi Wireless Radio Station at Malin Head 1902
What’s in the picture?
The famous picture below has many things that are in it that can be very easy
missed so I have isolated and cut out the bits that I have found.
This image is reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland L_ROY_09715
This photo was taken in January 1902, probably by Robert French, chief
photographer of
William Lawrence photograph Studios of Dublin.
It’s interesting to note when we looked closely by zooming into the photograph
that it seemed to be a cloudy day but there is evidence that there is a shadow
caused by the sun on parts of the tower. The wall in front of the horse is
running East to West. As a guess with the angle of the shadow and the time of
the year (January) it would have been about 10 O Clock .This can be seen at the
top of the tower on the protruding water outlets.
The flags, everything looks brand spanking new, and some of the men on the roof
have tools as you will see in one of the photos below. The 8 sided (octagon)
building was situated behind the semaphore building and was believed to be in
the process of construction by the workmen and was out of shot in the above
photo.
The flags are not flying from the radio mast, but from a separate navy type
rigging the sort that you would find on a boat. This type of rigging can be
found a most of the navy buildings around the UK.
See if you can find the sections below on the main picture above.
On the roof of the semaphore building you can see 8 workmen who posed for the photograph.
Working from left to right
1.
Carpenter has a block plain in his right hand. Typical carpenter apron Pockets
in apron.
2.
Builder has a trowel in his left hand
3.
Workman has a large wrench in his hands
4.
Carpenter has a saw in his right hand. His left hand has some wood in it and
same type apron as the other carpenter.
5.
Got to be the man in charge as he has his hands in his pockets. Well dressed
with suit, shirt and tie
6.
Man in a what looks like a sailor uniform possible a semaphore operator.
7.
Man with a hat on and long boots. Possibility he was the horse and cart driver
8.
Navel man with telescope in his hands. Possible radio operator
Lloyds Semaphore Telescope and waiting navy sailor reader. I wonder did he have
to move from his normal spot to accommodate the new building or photograph that
was being taken. Normally the
reader would have been close to the semaphore tower as to signal passing ships
for messages and to the keeper on Inishtrahull
Sods of turf for the fires with a tarpaulin over it to keep it dry and a bucket
to carry a small amount of the turf is turned upside down to stop the rain
filling it.
Turf Barrow. A
barrow
load is anything from ten to twenty peats depending on the terrain and the
strength of the man pushing it. Apparently crude and artless, the
turf barrow
is well designed for its purpose. The wheel looks a little bent.
Washing on a make shift line that has been connected between the guy ropes that
are holding the semaphore tower up.
Horse and cart that was used to deliver from Malin Town a few miles down the
road. It is possible this is how the photographer got to Malin Head. The driver
is possibly on the roof with the other work men getting in on the photograph.
In front of the horse it looks like some kind of furniture that has been lifted
off the cart and left in the road
ready to be brought into one of the buildings or the carrying case for the
photographer’s camera equipment
Attached to the tower is a small shed and possible toilet behind the left door.
This is on the south side if the tower. We can see in the door on the right that
is open evidence of sacks that are full and have been stored here.
In the distance is an animal. Its difficult to say what it is. By its size it
could be a horse, cow or sheep
Evidence of a new window that has been recently been put in as the cement round
the window suggests this.
On the corner of the tower is the telephone bracket and insulator for the
telephone wire.
A telegraph line, operated by Lloyds, was connected by day to the nearest Post
Office at Ballygorman about three miles away.
Chimney pot on the tower with an anti-blow back pot on the top. This was need
here because of the strong winds
Below the animal on the hill is evidence of the road that leads to the tower and
masts
Lloyds Semaphore arms at the top of the signaling tower. There are 2 arms that
were used to make up the letters that were sent.
Bottom mast joint
Top Mast joint
The Telegraph Wireless Radio mast is round and in 3 sections . You can see in
the above pictures where the masts are joined together to give its full height
of 120 foot.
Insulators on some of the guy ropes on the mast. There is a possibility they are
part of another antenna
The triangle shape bottom section is an insulator possibly made of bamboo which
is used to support the main antenna at the top. The bottom section of the
triangle is 6 foot wide. There would have been 2 insulators within the triangle
top to insulate the antenna from the mast.
The
thin lines that you can see coming down from the top of the picture are from the
top of the mast to the insulated ends of the antenna that have been connected to
the ground this side of the horse. This is a strange way to do the antenna but
it is possible that the antenna was not finished before the photo was taken.
This type of antenna would have been in a vertical orientation when finished and
in operation. The left wire has 3 large rocks holding it in place again
indicating that it was a temporary fix for when the photograph was being taken
or while running tests.
The middle of the tower is a newly fitted window shown above (Old
Entrance Door) and has a bracket at the top middle of the window where the
antennas wire connects to. The antenna comes down from the mast into the room
where the Marconi Wireless Telegraphy set was located.
Researcher Peter Homer EI4JR © 2014