Sure Zeppeliln Ship Sailed Over England.

New York Times 100 years ago today, November 18, 1912:
British Believe Strange Craft Hovering Over Navy Port on Oct. 14 Was German.
ONLY AIR CRAFT THEN ALOFT
English Naval Men Suggest That Germans Altered Date of Voyage in Official Account to Mislead.
Special Cable to The New York Times.
    LONDON, Monday, Nov. 18.— The belief that the mysterious airship which appeared above Sheerness on the evening of October 14 was German has received strong support from a Hamburg dispatch, which stated that the "new Zeppelin naval airship, with Count Zeppelin and twenty-one men aboard, flying in a haze, passed with great speed over Borkum and Norderney on the North Sea on the afternoon of Oct. 14 at a height of 4,500 feet. Nothing precise is known about the route of the outward voyage. At 2 o'clock on the morning of Oct. 15 the vessel returned to Kiel, flew on to the Prussian island of Fehmarn, in the Baltic Sea, then turned south to go to Johannisthal, near Berlin."
    The German official account of this voyage states that it was made on the previous day, Oct. 13, and ended at Johannisthal on the afternoon of Oct. 14. The suggestion has been made in British naval circles at Portsmouth and Sheerness that the official date was changed and the actual time of the voyage officially put back twenty-four hours. It was definitely stated in the same quarter that no British airship or aeroplane was aloft at the time the engine was heard over Sheerness.
    Careful inquiries in France give the same result.
    No other country possesses any aerial vessel capable of the voyage. Supposing it was the Zeppelin which visited Sheerness, the chief stages of her flight, according to available evidence, would be, roughly, as follows: Friedrichshafen to Borkum, 437 miles; Borkum to Sheerness, 203 miles; Sheerness to Fehmarn, 456 miles; Fehmarn to Johannisthal, 162 miles; total, 1,348 miles.

Speed Over 43 Miles an Hour.
    Owing to the conflict of dates, it is not possible to give the time taken for the different stages; but it is officially admitted that the ship was in the air 31 hours, which would give an average speed of just over 43 miles an hour.
    A Berlin dispatch says "The new naval Zeppelin, known as the L1, is the only German airship which could possibly have been hovering over Sheerness on Oct. 13 and 14. She made her first long-distance flight in 31 hours from Friedrichshafen to Berlin about that time. Her detailed movements were never made public, as the cruise was the official trial trip for the Admiralty, and therefore secret."
    The information furnished to the press states that the trip began at Friedrichshafen at 8:30 A.M. on Oct. 13 and ended at Johannisthal at 3:30 P.M. on Oct. 14. The Admiralty wireless station at Norddeuch, on the German mainland south of Norderney, reported that the L1 sent in a wireless signal "from a great distance at about 7 o'clock on the evening of Oct, l3." The vessel's wireless range has a radius of between 300 and 400 miles.
    The version provided for the press added: "A fog prevailed throughout Oct 13 to such an extent that the exact determination of the airship's position was impossible. The fog having cleared during the late hours of the afternoon, the vessel found itself sailing north rapidly over Osnabrueck. At an altitude of only 200 feet, less than a mile away, the vessel left the mainland in the early hours of the evening between Borkum and Norderney, "and continued its trip across the North Sea."

Passed Over a Warship.
    The lights of Heligoland were said to have served as a guide. The crew easily distinguished the lights of a passing passenger ship, and discovered the lights of a warship. The mainland was said to have been reached again at about 2 A.M. on Oct 14 near Buesum, after Kiel had been passed. The Ll then crossed the Baltic so far that the coast lights of Denmark could be discerned, whereupon Count Zeppelin, who was at the helm, turned about.
    Throughout the early hours of the morning of Oct 14 the vessel is said to have battled against strong counter winds. Coming from the North, the Ll next sighted Lübeck at 9 o'clock, and headed for Berlin, which was crossed at 2:30 P.M. An hour later she was standing at the Johannisthal flying camp.