The results gleaned would be more trustworthy than those obtained from the look-out of a warship; and the field of vision would, also, be infinitely wider. What would be of great importance, of course, in connection with such aerial observations, would be for the pilot of the machine to report what he saw by means of wireless telegraphy. There is no reason why this should not be done. A well-organised service of naval aeroplanes, fitted with long-distance wireless, should, indeed, prove of vital importance. The point has been made, by critics of the aeroplane for naval use, that the high winds often encountered at sea would limit the uses of aircraft. But, in reply to that, experienced airmen point out that, although winds at sea are high, they are also steady—far steadier, in fact, than those which blow over the land, and are broken up into eddies by passing over uneven ground. A thirty-mile-an-hour wind, over the land, represents to-day quite as much as any airman would care to contend against, in the ordinary way; but it should be possible, with a high-speed monoplane of existing type, to carry out reconnoitring work, over the sea, in a wind blowing at the rate of forty miles an hour. The even force of the sea wind would make all the difference. It may be anticipated, also, that this wind-flying capacity of the aeroplane, for work at sea, will rise from, say, forty to fifty miles an hour, as the speed of machines is increased. There is, indeed, every chance that a naval aeroplane will be able to give a good account of itself—even under adverse weather conditions. II. Interesting tests—Machines for rising from water, and landing on a ship’s deck. In America a number of interesting tests have been made with aeroplanes for naval use. It was in this country that Mr Eugene Ely, a skilled airman—who has since, unfortunately, met with his death—first demonstrated the practicability of alighting upon, and rising from, the deck of a battleship. At the time the test was made, the American cruiser _Pennsylvania_ was lying about twelve miles off San Francisco. For the purpose of the experiment, a wooden platform was erected at the cruiser’s stern, upon which the airman expressed his intention of descending. Ely, flying a Curtiss biplane, left the shore in a slight mist, being guided as he approached his destination by the syren blasts of the _Pennsylvania_. When sighted by those on the cruiser, he was flying low, quite close to the surface of the water. The airman steered past the _Pennsylvania’s_ bow. Then he rose a little, and made a half-circle in the air. Smoothly approaching the vessel’s stern, he stopped his engine, and settled with absolute precision upon the platform. After a short rest, Ely added to the practical interest of his performance by rising from the cruiser’s deck, and flying back to his starting-point, a field on the outskirts of San Francisco.