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Transatlantic Telegraph

New York, Newfoundland and London
Telegraph Company

Cabot Strait Telegraph Cable
1856

Part of the first transatlantic telecommunication service

Aspy Bay
Victoria County
Nova Scotia

Aspy Bay historic site at dawn
Photographed at 6:25am on 3 September 2003

A surviving length of undersea electric telegraph cable
on display at the Aspy Bay historic site
Photographed on 3 September 2003

Photographed on 3 September 2003

Photographed on 24 June 2003

Note: The plaque states that the cable "was taken up in 1872." I doubt this is true. The cable was taken out of service in 1872, but almost certainly it was just abandoned and left on the bottom of Cabot Strait. It would have been very expensive to pick up this long cable from the ocean depths, and whatever small value there might have been in the the salvaged copper would have offset only a small part of the removal cost. Because design and manufacturing techniques for undersea telegraph cables in the 1850s were primitive, these cables had only a short working life. These early cables deteriorated rapidly, and after ten to fifteen years on the ocean floor, the maintenance and repair costs increased and the cable reliability decreased to a point that often required the installation of a new cable. By 1872, the Cabot Strait cable laid in 1856 was sixteen years old, likely near the end of its useful working life (which quite possibly was the main reason for taking it out of service at that time) and it could not be relaid in another location. ICS (30 June 2003)

This sign marks the entrance.
Photographed on 24 June 2003

Cabot Strait telegraph cable historic site
Photographed on 24 June 2003

Sunrise at Aspy Bay
Photographed at 6:24am on 3 September 2003

Map showing the location of of the 1856 electric telegraph cable
across Cabot Strait, connecting Newfoundland with Cape Breton Island

The railways shown on the map, in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia,
did not exist in 1856.  They were built decades after the
Cabot Strait telegraph cable was put into operation.

...The history of the initial failures and final success in laying the Atlantic cable has been well told by Mr. Charles Bright (see The Story of the Atlantic Cable, London, 1903).  The first cable laid in 1857 broke on the 11th of August during laying.  The second attempt in 1858 was successful, but the cable completed on the 5th of August 1858 broke down on the 20th of October 1858, after 732 messages had passed through it.  The third cable laid in 1865 was lost on the 2nd of August 1865, but in 1866 a final success was attained and the 1865 cable also recovered and completed...
— Encyclopedia Britannica 1911, volume 9, page 187

After one abortive attempt in the summer of 1855, Cyrus Field's New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company succeeded in laying a submarine cable across the Cabot Strait in 1856. Also completed that year was the Company's trans-Newfoundland overland line. The entire operation, which established a telegraph link all the way between New York and St. John's, cost over a million dollars...
Excerpted and adapted from:
The Atlantic Cable, published by Minister, Department of Tourism, Culture and Recreation
Historic Resources Division, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/diglib/library/hearts-content/historic/provsite.html
IEEE (Eye-triple-E): the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.

The St. John's to Cape Ray overland telegraph line followed the south coast of Newfoundland, allowing supplies to be delivered by ship to construction sites. The construction of this telegraph line employed 600 men, and was completed in the fall of 1856.

The first message was sent on 1 October 1856 to Baddeck, Cape Breton from St. John's merchant J.S. Pitts. This message travelled along the overland telegraph line across Newfoundland from St. John's to Cape Ray, then across Cabot Strait through the underwater electric telegraph cable, then along the overland telegraph line across Cape Breton from Aspy Bay to Baddeck.
Excerpted and adapted from: History of Clarenville: Telegraph and Telephone Companies
http://www.k12.nf.ca/discovery/Commmunities/acdrom/clarenville/telegraph.html

One of the important challenges of the 1850s and 1860s was to get European news to New York as fast as possible. The New York newspapers were willing to pay enormous amounts of money for news from Europe if it could be delivered to them even a few hours ahead of the arrival of the mail steamship from England.

Frederick Gisborne saw the potential of St. John's as a transfer point for messages arriving by steamship from Europe to be telegraphed to the United States, but only (at least for the time being) in the sense that if a New York bound ship dropped off the news in Newfoundland, and it could then be telegraphed to New York, and the news would arrive at least 48 hours ahead of the ship. The newspapers would pay big money for that advantage.

So Gisborne moved to Newfoundland, and began to promote a connection by electric telegraph along the south coast of Newfoundland and across Cabot Strait to Cape Breton.

But St. John's was not a port of call for ships on their way to New York, and Gisbourne had a novel solution for that. The big steamships passed near Cape Race, and he proposed that they toss a barrel containing the messages over the side, where it would be recovered by a waiting small boat and rushed ashore to Trepassey, where the news would be forwarded by telegraph. Believe it or not, this system eventually became operational, and New York newspapers carried numerous items of European news with the byline "Via Cape Race".
Excerpted and adapted from: Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859)
by Ross Peters, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland
http://www.engr.mun.ca/~gpeters/5101brun.html

In 1859 (after the failure of the 1858 transatlantic telegraph cable) the Associated Press of New York stationed a boat at Cape Race to intercept transatlantic steamships on their way to Halifax and New York. News and messages from Europe, thrown overboard from the steamers in water-tight canisters, were picked up and telegraphed to North American newspapers from the telegraph office at Cape Race. This practice continued up to the completion of the first successful transatlantic cable in 1866 and was acknowledged in North American newspapers by the byline "Via Cape Race".
Excerpted and adapted from: History of Clarenville: Telegraph and Telephone Companies
http://www.k12.nf.ca/discovery/Commmunities/acdrom/clarenville/telegraph.html

The Cabot Strait Telegraph Cable Seven Years at the Heart of Transatlantic News 1859-1866 NEWS WESTBOUND (from Europe to North America)

The receipts from the Newfoundland telegraph lines throughout this period of hope deferred (1858-1866) were very small and very precarious. In 1859 a news boat was placed at Cape Race by the Associated Press to intercept ocean steamers; the first ship met was the S.S. Vigo, of the Inman Line. The public constantly saw the heading in English and American papers, "Via Cape Race," but few had any idea of those daring trips of bold John Murphy to catch the outward and homeward bound steamers; considering the imminent peril of landing and launching boats from such a wild spot, it is marvellous how much news was sent in this extraordinary way. Source: footnote 2, page 641 of "A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and Foreign Records" by Daniel Woodley Prowse, Q.C., Judge of the Central District Court of Newfoundland published 1895 "The Anglo-Saxon off Cape Race" Newspaper clipping, 1862 (believed to be from the New York Times) When the S.S. (Steam Ship) Anglo-Saxon departed Europe it had the latest European news on board. As the ship passed Cape Race without stopping or even slowing down, a package (barrel) was tossed overboard to be retrieved by the A.P. news boat. While the transatlantic steamship Anglo-Saxon continued westward at top speed, the news barrel was picked up at sea and brought ashore by the news boat at Cape Race and immediately telegraphed to the Associated Press in New York – over the one-wire electric telegraph line owned and operated by the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. This extraordinary effort got the latest European news to New York, and all North America, days ahead of the ship's arrival at its destination. The heading "Two Days Later From Europe" means this brief news item — brief because of the per word cost of telegrams from Newfoundland to New York — contained European news two days later (more up-to-date) than was previously available in North America. From 1859 to 1866, "Via Cape Race" in a newspaper headline was the equivalent of the "Breaking News" graphic we now see flashed on our television screens when important up-to-date news has arrived. Along the way, all of this news travelled through the Cabot Strait telegraph cable. Note: Part of this newspaper clip conveys the information that shipyards in England are building steamships and rams for the Confederacy.  This refers to efforts by the Confederate Navy, during the American Civil War, to obtain warships from builders in Great Britain. "...The Confederate agent Bulloch extended his ambitions when he contracted with Birkenhead shipbuilders, Laird and Sons, to construct two turreted ironclad rams.  Bulloch based the rams upon the ideas of Capt. Cowper Coles of the Royal Navy, an outspoken British ironclad designer.  They were impressive ships displacing 1,423 tons (light) and were 224 feet long.  Their iron hulls had ram bows supporting two turrets carrying 220-pounder Armstrong guns; lighter guns were mounted on raised forecastles and quarterdecks.  Bark sailing rigs gave them range; powerful twin-screw engines combined with ram bows gave them ability to fight the most imposing Union ships... Bulloch was disappointed by the loss of the Laird rams..." Source: The Diplomats Who Sank a Fleet: The Confederacy's Undelivered European Fleet and the Union Consular Service, by Kevin J. Foster http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/fall_2001_confederate_fleet_1.html This news item travelled through the Cabot Strait telegraph cable on its way to the United States.

See: TransAtlantic Telegraph Companies   http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625/telegraph02.html (On April 27, 1863, about 240 people died when the S.S. Anglo-Saxon ran aground on the Avalon Peninsula near Cape Race.)

...Cape Race is also the terminal point eastward of that remarkable system of telegraph lines which extends throughout the whole of the United States and the British possessions [in North America].  The Americans delight in the telegraph, and use it continually for every sort of purpose, and in a way and extent that Europeans have no notion of.  From this lonely rock, standing out in the Atlantic amid fogs and storms, European news is flashed to the most distant parts of America.  From Boston to New Orleans the newspapers have it, print it, and the intelligence is old when the ship arrives at New York, three or four days after passing Cape Race...
From "Cape Race, Newfoundland" in
The Illustrated London News London, England, 24 August 1861
http://cti.library.emory.edu/iln/browse.php?id=iln39.1104.060

The first Transatlantic cable (1858) did not survive much beyond the exchange of greetings between Queen Victoria and the President of the United States.  These messages were not as peremptory as is sometimes said.  The Queen sent one of 99 words.  It took 16½ hours to transmit it.  No wonder that early telegraphic technologists were already very interested in compression; many codes were invented to achieve it.

The rapid failure of the first Atlantic cable was a commercial disaster and the improvement of its technology a demanding imperative.  It suffered from electrical breakdown.  Lord Kelvin made a rapid diagnosis and recommendation for the second attempt, which included using lower voltages than proposed, thicker insulation, and more sensitive detection.  For this he developed an especially-sensitive mirror galvanometer.

The compelling force of Kelvin's personality overcame the opposition of the ignorant and the amateurs, and a new system based on his ideas worked wonderfully well in 1866.  It made the amazing sum of one thousand pounds on its first day of operation.  So he became rich and famous...

— Denis Weaire, Physics Department, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Cecil Powell Memorial Lecture
European Physical Society General Meeting, Budapest, 2002
http://www.europhysicsnews.com/full/17/article4/article4.html
Europhysics News (2002) Vol. 33 No. 5

The last telegraph cable was laid into Newfoundland in 1953.  The Heart's Content office (then of Western Union) finally closed in 1965.  Telephone cable traffic more and more replaced telegraph through the 1960s and 1970s, and that too is now gone.  By the late 1990s the only underwater communications cables to operate to Newfoundland were two large fibre optic connections across the Cabot Strait.
Excerpted and adapted from: The Electric Age
by Ross Peters, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland
http://www.engr.mun.ca/~gpeters/eplec1c.html

Modern History
of the
Atlantic Telegraph Cable

Cabot Strait Telegraph Cable Relics
For Sale — January 2007

For Sale, January 2007: Atlantic Cable Relics
Note: The seller billed this as a "Piece of the First Transatlantic
Telegraph Cable", but my interpretation is different.  My view is
that the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable is the 1858 cable
laid on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean between Ireland and
Newfoundland.  These relics are pieces of the 1856 Cabot Strait
cable, not the 1858 cable between Newfoundland and Ireland.
They can accurately be described as an essential part of the
First Transatlantic Telegraph service, but not as part
of the First Transatlantic Telegraph Cable
ICS: 18 January 2007

Bidding History, January 2007: Atlantic Cable Relics
This bidding history shows a last-minute flurry of competitive bids,
a scenario often seen in eBay bidding for items that attract the
interest of several buyers.  In this case, the auction was
scheduled to close precisely at 12:12:12 PST on 4 January 2007.
This closing time is known to all, and is automatically enforced
by the eBay software, that refuses all bids that arrive after the
closing time.  In this case, the auction was open for seven days,
but the final ten bids all arrived during the last 17 minutes.
The final three bids arrived in the last 16 seconds (it appears
that the winning bidder had entered an automatic bid).
ICS: 22 January 2007

  Hits per calendar month
       2007 Mar   352
       2007 Feb   378
       2007 Jan   257

       2006 Dec   113
       2006 Nov   143
       2006 Oct    -
       2006 Sep    -
       2006 Aug    -
       2006 Jul    -
       2006 Jun    -
       2006 May    -
       2006 Apr    -
       2006 Mar    -
       2006 Feb   417
       2006 Jan   356
"-" means data are not available

       2005 Dec   247
       2005 Nov   355
       2005 Oct   395
       2005 Sep   469
       2005 Aug   212
       2005 Jul   159
       2005 Jun   168
       2005 May   204
       2005 Apr   327
       2005 Mar   267
       2005 Feb   377
       2005 Jan   321

       2004 Dec   266
       2004 Nov   355
       2004 Oct   352
       2004 Sep   374
       2004 Aug   162
       2004 Jul   263
       2004 Jun   221
       2004 May   233
       2004 Apr   278
       2004 Mar   292
       2004 Feb   288
       2004 Jan   265

       2003 Dec   156
       2003 Nov   275
       2003 Oct   296
       2003 Sep   207
       2003 Aug    50
       2003 Jul    15
       2003 Jun     5
       2003 May     0

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