Not to go too far back in years, and to relate a few facts within the lifetime of most of you present to-night, I may commence by saying that it was in 1909 that Admiral Lord Fisher instructed Admiral Bacon to proceed with the design and construction of a rigid airship, attention having been called to the success attending Count Zeppelin's efforts and to the fact that we could not realise the dangers to which we might be exposed until we possessed airships of our own.

Admiral Bacon got into touch with Messrs. Vickers' experts, and Naval Airship No. 1, nicknamed the “ Mayfly,” was built at Barrow. Messrs. Vickers deserve all credit for their pioneer work on airship design and construction in this country, and it was only very bad luck that prevented their building the bigger ships.