Volume 18 , Issue 6

1899 Pigeons In War

It was in The Age, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, dated 16 December 1899, Saturday, page 4, that we found this news story entitled: "Pigeons In War."

Found on Newspapers.com

An official dispatch received by pigeon post at Durban, which was telegraphed to Sir Redvers Buller and re-telegraphed to the War Office, served to draw attention to the subject of pigeons as war messengers. It was only quite recently that our Government decided to establish a service of homing pigeons for the use of the army, and this effort to remedy a defect in our Intelligence department did not come a moment too soon. For years past Italy, Germany, Austria, France and Russia had recognized the utility of the pigeon as a messenger in time of war, and large sums of money were voted for the systematic training of the birds. In Germany, for instance, a sum amounting to about £2500-Pounds was annually set aside in the war budget for the training and support of war pigeons. Every fortress and camp on the frontier had its columbary supplied with trained birds, housed for emergencies. The pigeons belonging to the German war department numbered about 10,000, but i addition all trained birds in the country were numbered and registered, and could be claimed by the authorities in time of need. These pigeons may not be sold or taken out of the country without leave from the military authorities,and their registration was compulsory under severe penalties. The German military pigeon system was by far the most extensive and complete in Europe.

In 1891 it was estimated that there were 250,000 birds in France available for collecting intelligence, and the number had doubtless since since then considerably increased. The shooting of pigeons was prohibited, and a strict census was kept of the birds in the country. The principal training station in France was at Chalons, but there were depots in all the frontier towns and fortresses. The first Austrian military pigeon station was established in 1875; since then others had been erected.

The Government relied to a large extent on private societies and individuals for the supply of pigeons in time of emergency.

Arrangements were made whereby the authorities gave, free of cost, the wood required for the erection of pigeon lofts to such officers and government servants as will undertake to keep and train the bird with a view to their use as messengers in war. Russia was the first European country to adopt a military pigeon system, stations having been erected in 1871. At first the experiments did not lead to successful results, but later the whole system had been reorganized by officers in the corps of Engineers. It had an extensive military pigeon system, the establishment of the lofts dating from 1872, Spain and Portugal both possessed pigeon services for use in war. Pigeons liberated in Lisbon had arrived at Southampton and Paris with messages. In the former case the distance flown was 900 miles.

In our navy back then communication of intelligence by means of pigeons was then officially recognized as part of the great system of signaling. In 1896 the first naval loft was established by the Admiralty at Portsmouth, and then there were two more pigeon stations, one at Sheerness, and the other at Dartmouth. Experiments were made with a view to training the birds to keep up communication between ship and shore. There were over 1000 homing pigeons on the books of the Royal Navy, and the birds were under strict discipline. The pigeons used for military purposes throughout Europe were those known as "Homers" or "Homing Antwerps," and not the class usually known as "Carrier pigeons," The English Carrier was a purely fancy variety, quite useless as a messenger pigeon.
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