Derrigimlagh Bog - The Centre of Modern Technology in the World at the Turn of the Century.
Exploring Ireland
Today, when travelling south of Clifden, County Galway in Ireland look out for Derrigimlagh Bog where you will find a scattering of concrete blocks and a few lengths of rusty chains, not much to look at but these are the sparse remains of the world's first transatlantic radio station. It was constructed by the radio pioneer, Guglielmo Marconi - a huge complex to house capacitors, receivers and accomodation for 150 staff. The station opened in 1907 and operated for nine years forwarding messages across the Atlantic from London and Dublin. Guglielmo Marconi was the second son of Giuseppe Marconi, an Italian landowner and his Irish wife, Ann Jameson, granddaughter of the founder of the Jameson Whiskey Distillery. Derrigimlagh Bog also contains the spot where John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown landed after successfully completing the first non-stop flight across the Atlantic. They had taken off from St. John's in Newfoundland in a converted Vickers Vimy bomber biplane powered by twin Rolls Royce engines, completing the 1,900 mile (3,000km) journey in sixteen hours and twelve minutes. The flight had been treacherous, their transmitter froze not long after take-off and they had to fly for long periods at three hundred feet to prevent ice from forming. Several times, Brown had to clamber out onto the wings to chip ice away. The first thing they spotted on the Irish mainland were the aerials of Marconi's radio station, they came into land supposing the ground to be firm but nosedived spectacularly into the famous Derrigimlagh Bog.
Russell Shortt is a travel consultant with Exploring Ireland, the leading specialists in customised, private escorted tours, escorted coach tours and independent self drive tours of Ireland. Article source: http://www.exploringireland.net
Article submitted Monday, November 17, 2008 & read 100 times.
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