The airship
employed could be based in Newfoundland and the method of working
would be very similar to anti-submarine patrol. Fixes could be
obtained from D.F. stations and warnings issued by wireless
telegraphy. Ice is chiefly found within five hundred miles of
the coast of Newfoundland, so that this work would come within
the scope of the N.S. airship. The knowledge that reliable
information concerning the presence of ice will always be to hand
would prove of inestimable value to the captains of Atlantic
liners, and would also relieve the shipping companies and the
public of great anxiety.
There are possibly many other uses to which airships can be put
such as the policing of wide stretches of desert country as in
Arabia and the Soudan. The merits of all of these will doubtless
be considered in due course and there for the present we must
leave them.
Finally, a few words must be written regarding the means to be
adopted in introducing the airship into the realms of commerce.
As we said at the beginning of the chapter it is not likely that
the formation of a company to exploit airships only will at the
present moment appeal to business men. Airships are very costly
and are still in their infancy, which means that the premiums
demanded for their insurance must of necessity be enormous.
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