Transatlantic telegraph cable

Transatlantic telegraph cables are special undersea cables that run under the Atlantic Ocean. They were used for sending messages quickly using the telegraph.

The first cable was built by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, led by Cyrus West Field. Work started in 1854, and the cable was laid from Valentia Island in Ireland to Bay of Bulls and Trinity Bay in Newfoundland. The first message between two continents was sent on August 16, 1858. It was a congratulatory note from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to the President of the United States, James Buchanan. Unfortunately, problems with the cable made it stop working after only three weeks.

A second cable was tried in 1865 but broke halfway across the ocean. In 1866, a third cable was laid successfully. This new cable worked much better and stayed in use for a long time. It changed how people, businesses, and leaders communicated across the Atlantic Ocean. Instead of waiting weeks for ships, messages could be sent and answered on the same day. Later improvements allowed even more messages to be sent at once.

Early history

Main article: Submarine communications cable

In the 1840s and 1850s, many people talked about building a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. One of them was Samuel F. B. Morse, who believed it was possible. By 1850, a cable was already working between England and France. That same year, a leader of the Catholic Church in Newfoundland suggested a plan to connect places in Newfoundland by land and then use cables to reach Nova Scotia across the water.

Around that time, an engineer named Frederic Newton Gisborne in Nova Scotia also thought of a similar idea. In 1851, he got support from leaders in Newfoundland and started building a land line for the telegraph.

A plan takes shape

In 1854, businessman Cyrus West Field thought about extending a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. He talked to experts like Matthew Maury, who helped find a good path under the ocean called the Telegraph Plateau.

Field worked very hard on the project. He formed the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1856 and ordered lots of cable. Many smart people joined to help make the cable work.

First transatlantic cable

The first cable connecting two continents under the ocean was a big achievement. It used copper wires covered with special materials to protect them and could carry messages across the water.

The first try to lay the cable happened in 1857 but didn’t work. The cable broke several times, and there were storms that made things hard. After fixing some problems with how they laid the cable, they tried again in 1858. This time, they managed to connect Ireland and Newfoundland, making it possible to send messages between the two lands for the first time ever.

First contact

In August 1858, people began sending messages through the cable. The first message was read on August 12, and more followed until August 16, when an important message was sent from Britain to America. It said, "Europe and America are united by telegraph. Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, good will towards men."

Next came a special message from Queen Victoria to President James Buchanan. She hoped the cable would help bring the two nations closer together. President Buchanan replied, saying it was a wonderful achievement that would help people around the world.

Even though the messages were hard to send and took a long time, people were very excited. The next morning in New York City, there were celebrations with flags, church bells, and lights in the evening. Later, there was a parade and fireworks, which accidentally started a small fire. One of the people who helped make this happen was honored with a special title.

Failure of the first cable

The first transatlantic telegraph cable faced many problems. Two important people on the project, Thomson and Whitehouse, did not agree on many things. Whitehouse did not have training in physics and often disagreed with Thomson’s ideas. Thomson wanted to start laying the cable in the middle of the ocean, but Whitehouse wanted both ships to start from Ireland.

Thomson created a better way to receive signals called the mirror galvanometer. Whitehouse wanted to use a very strong electrical method, but Thomson’s way worked better. When the cable was finally laid, Whitehouse took over and tried his own method. This caused damage to the cable. The cable stopped working just a few weeks later. Whitehouse was dismissed for his role in the failure. Even though the cable did not work well, it managed to send some important messages before it stopped working completely.

Preparing a new attempt

After the first attempt failed, Cyrus West Field was determined to try again. However, many people had lost faith in the project, and Field struggled to get support. It wasn't until 1864 that he, with help from Thomas Brassey and John Pender, managed to gather enough money to continue.

A new company was formed to make and lay the cable, and they used lessons from earlier undersea cables in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to design an improved version. This new cable had a core of copper wires coated with special protective layers, then wrapped in hemp and strong steel wires, making it much heavier and more durable than the first one.

Great Eastern and the second cable

The new cable was laid by the ship SS Great Eastern, led by Sir James Anderson. The ship was prepared with special tanks to hold over 2,300 nautical miles of cable. On July 15, 1865, Great Eastern set off from the Nore toward Valentia Island. Sadly, the first try failed when the cable broke after more than 1,000 nautical miles.

Later, a new attempt began on July 13, 1866. Despite bad weather, Great Eastern reached Heart's Content, Newfoundland on July 27. Messages of joy were sent between leaders in England and the United States. The cable was landed at the Heart's Content Cable Station.

In August 1866, ships went back to sea to find the lost cable from 1865. After many tries and rough seas, the cable was finally found and fixed. It was connected to a new cable and laid to Newfoundland by September 7, giving two working telegraph lines.

Repairing the cable

When a cable broke, special steps were needed to fix it. First, the distance to the break was found by checking the cable's resistance. Then, a ship went to that spot, caught the cable with a special hook, and brought it on board to see if it could still work. Buoys were used to mark the good parts of the cable, and the two ends were carefully joined together.

Communication speeds

Messages were sent using a special code called Morse code. At first, sending a single letter could take two whole minutes! The very first message from Queen Victoria took 67 minutes to reach Newfoundland, and it took 16 hours to send the reply back.

Later, things got much better. By 1866, messages could travel 80 times faster, sending 8 words each minute. Even later, scientists learned how to make messages travel even quicker, reaching speeds of 120 words per minute by the 20th century. London became a major hub for sending messages all around the world from a special station near Land's End.

Later cables

More cables were added between Foilhommerum and Heart's Content in the years 1873, 1874, 1880, and 1894. By the end of the 1800s, cables owned by Britain, France, Germany, and America connected Europe and North America with many telegraph lines.

The first cables did not have devices called repeaters to make messages travel faster. Repeaters make signals stronger as they move along a line. The first cable with repeaters was TAT-1 in 1956. This cable was used for telephone calls and had a new way to power its repeaters.

Significance

A study from 2018 in the American Economic Review showed that the transatlantic telegraph cable helped increase trade between continents and lower prices. Experts believe that the cable made trade about 8 percent more efficient.