Spark-gap transmitter capacitance and couldn't store much charge, limiting their power output. Therefore these devices were not capable of long distance transmission; their reception range with the primitive receivers employed was typically limited to roughly 100 yards (100 meters). Italian radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi was one of the first people to believe that radio waves could be used for long distance communication, and singlehandedly developed the first practical radiotelegraphy transmitters and receivers, mainly by combining and tinkering with the inventions of others. Starting at age 21 on his family's estate in Italy, between 1894 and 1901 he conducted a long series of
Italian cruiser Carlo Alberto the fleet review at Spithead on 16 August. On the return voyage Marconi conducted more long-range experiments with his site in Poldhu, Cornwall. The King then loaned "Carlo Alberto" to Marconi in September for more testing. She then ferried Marconi across the Atlantic to Glace Bay, Nova Scotia for further experiments transmitting radio messages across the ocean. After 15 December, when Marconi successfully transmitted messages from Glace Bay to Poldhu, "Carlo Alberto" was sent to Venezuelan waters during the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–03, when an international force of British, German, and Italian warships blockaded Venezuela over the country's refusal to