Germany interested in magnetic stations as weapon against warships according to the Australian newspaper Southern Times dated Tuesday 22 June 1909

An item referred to the Telegraph in which her correspondent in Berlin a new German naval invention described. He mentioned a serious interest of the German naval authorities in a patent of the German naval engineer Hollman who claimed to be able to destroy any enemy fleet blockading or attacking German harbors. For this purpose were magnet stations erected along the coast and at the mouth of rivers where shallow and deep waters alternated. Each station was to be fitted out with the strongest electric magnets available. The magnets attracted the ironclads an other protecting warships deviating from their course and drawing them into shallow water where they grounded and became helpless and a target for the guns mounted on the forts.