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Subject: Dead Media Working Note 04.5
Dead medium: the pigeon post; the balloon post
From: mjr_AT_switchblade.v-one.com (Marcus J Ranum)
Source: Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition
"The use of homing pigeons to carry messages is as
old as Solomon, and the ancient Greeks, to whom the art of
training birds came probably from the Persians, conveyed
the names of Olympic victors to their various cities by
this means. Before the electric telegraph this method of
communication had a considerable vogue amongst
stockbrokers and financiers.
"The Dutch government established a civil and
military pigeon system in Java and Sumatra early in the
19th century, the birds being obtained from Bagdad.
"Details of the emplyment of pigeons in the siege
of Paris in 1870-71 will be found in the article Post and
Postal Service: France. This led to a revival in the
training of pigeons for military purposes. Numerous
private societies were established for keeping pigeons of
this class in all important European countries; and, in
time, various governments established systems of
communication for military purposes by pigeon post.
"When the possibility of using the birds between
military fortresses had been thoroughly tested attention
was turned to their use for naval purposes, to send
messages between coast stations and ships at sea. They are
also found of great use by news agencies and private
individuals. Governments have in several countries
established lofts of their own. Laws have been passed
making the destruction of such pigeons a serious offence;
premiums to stimulate efficiency have been offered to
private societies, and rewards given for destruction
of birds of prey.
"Pigeons have been used by newspapers to
report yacht races, and some yachts have actually been
fitted with lofts. It has also been found of great
importance to establish registration of all birds. (((mjr:
bird escrow? Clipper birds?)))
"In order to hinder the efficiency of the systems
of foreign countries, difficulties have been placed in the
way of the importation of birds for training, and in a few
cases falcons have been specially trained to interrupt the
service in war-time, the Germans having set the example by
deploying hawks against the Paris pigeons in 1870-71.
"No satisfactory method of protecting the weaker
birds seems to have been evolved, though the Chinese
formerly provided their birds with whistles and bells to
scare away birds of prey.
"In view of the development of wireless telegraphy,
the modern tendency is to consider fortress warfare as the
only sphere in which pigeons can be expected to render
really valuable services. Consequently, the British
Admiralty has discontinued its pigeon service, which had
attained a high standard of efficiency, and other powers
will no doubt follow the example. Nevertheless, large
numbers of the birds are, and will presumably continue to
be, kept at the great inland fortresses of France,
Germany, and Russia.
(((POST AND POSTAL SERVICE: FRANCE)))
"The ingenuity of the French postal authorities
was severely tried by the exigencies of the German War of
1870-1. The first contrivance was to organize a pigeon
service carrying microscopic despatches prepared by the
aid of photographic appliances. The number of postal
pigeons employed was 363 if which number 57 returned with
despatches.
"During the height of the siege the English postal
authorities received letters for transmission by pigeon
post into Paris by way of Tours subject to the regulation
that no information concerning the war was given, that the
number of words did not exceed twenty, that the letters
were delivered open, at 5d a word, with a registration fee
of 6d prepaid as postage. At this rate the postage of the
200 letters on each folio was L40, that on the eighteen
pellicles of sixteen folios each, carried by one pigeon,
L11,520. Each despatch was repeated until its arrival had
been acknowledged by balloon post; consequently many were
sent off twenty and sometimes more than thirty times.
"The second step was to establish a regular system
of postal balloons, fifty one being employed for letter
service and six for telegraphic service. To M. Durnouf
belongs much of the honour of making the balloon service
successful. On the basis of experiments carried out by him
a decree of the 26th of September 1870 regulated the new
postal system. Out of sixty-four several ascents, each
costing on the average L200, fifty-seven achieved their
purpose, notwithstanding the building by Krupp of twenty
guns, supplied with telescopic apparatus, for the
destruction of the postal balloons. Only five were
captured, and two others lost at sea.
"The aggregate weight of the letters and newspapers
thus aerially mailed by the French post office amounted to
about eight tons and a half, including upwards of
3,000,000 letters; and besides the aeronauts, ninety-five
passengers were conveyed.
"The heroism displayed by the French balloon postmen
was equalled by that of many of the ordinary letter
carriers in the conveyance of letters through the
catacombs and quarries of Paris and its suburbs, and,
under various disguises, often through the midst of the
Prussian army. Several lost their lives in the discharge
of their duty, in some cases saving their dispatches by
the sacrifice."
Dead Media | 0.01-02.0 | 02.1-04.0 | 04.1-06.0 | 06.1-08.0 | 08.1-10.0 | 10.1-12.0 |