Photographs of
Commercial Cable Company
Telegraph Office

Cablegram   vs.   Telegram

A "cablegram" is the same as a "telegram" — both terms
refer to a written message sent by electric telegraph.

The term "cablegram" was used by companies such as the
Commercial Cable Company and the Direct United States
Cable Company, that had the word "cable" in their corporate
names.  They were telecommunications companies exactly
like other telecommunications companies of that time
with "telegraph" in their names, such as the Anglo-American
Telegraph Company and the Western Union Telegraph Company.

Commercial Cable and Direct United States Cable preferred
not to use the term "telegram" in their advertising, because
that tended to remind their potential customers that certain
other companies, such as Western Union Telegraph or
Anglo-American Telegraph, offered exactly the same service
(delivering a written message quickly by electric telegraph
to faraway places).

The word "cablegram" rarely (never) appeared in advertising by
any company with "telegraph" in its name.

The word "telegram" rarely (never) appeared in advertising by
any company with "cable" in its name.

From the customer's point of view, there was no difference
between a cablegram and a telegram.  Many people used the
terms interchangeably – a reasonable practice because in fact
they conveyed the same meaning.  For example, in movies
made in the 1930s we sometimes hear characters say
something like: "Send a cable immediately," or "I got a cable
this morning", using "cable" as a short form of "cablegram,"
meaning a telegram.  This was a generally-understood usage
of the time.

"Upon their arrival overseas (during World War Two), soldiers
were permitted to send cable messages back home to advise
of their safe arrival – the messages were censored to make
certain that no place name was revealed."
— The Advertiser, Kentville, Nova Scotia
24 September 2002

Here, "cable messages" simply means "telegrams".

"Her brother sent a cable."  This line of dialog was spoken by
Oscar Muldoon (Edmund O'Brien) in The Barefoot Contessa,
a 1954 movie written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz,
with stars Humphrey Bogart (as Harry Dawes), Ava Gardner
(as Maria Vargas), and Edmond O'Brien (as Oscar).

Here, "cable" means "telegram".

The online Free Dictionary defines "cablegram" (noun)
as "A telegram sent by submarine cable."
This definition is too restrictive.  In ordinary conversation,
people using "cablegram", to mean a written message
sent by electric telegraph, could not know what method of
transmission was used — the message could have been
sent across the ocean by submarine cable or by radio
(wireless telegraph), with neither the sender nor the
recipient knowing or caring which method was used.
To restrict the use of the term "cablegram" to "a telegram
sent by submarine cable" (thus excluding a wireless
message) is an impossible requirement.  There is also
the case where a "cablegram" (telegraph message)
might be sent to its destination without crossing water
(example: New York to San Francisco) — this dictionary
expects people to refrain from using this term in such a
situation, an expectation that ignores the practical
reality that most people, probably including the editors
of this dictionary, don't know that much detail about
the internal workings of telecommunications systems.

Another online dictionary, WordNet defines "cable" or
"cablegram" as "an overseas telegram (a telegram sent
abroad)".  In this definition, where does a telegram sent
from New York to Brazil fit?  Is this "overseas"?
"Overseas" or "abroad" are often used as a synonyms
for "foreign". From New York, Brazil is definitely foreign,
but is it "overseas" or "abroad"?  Is such a fine distinction
likely to be implemented in ordinary conversation?

Links to Relevant Websites
Commercial Cable Company

New owner for old telegraph station CBC News Feb 15 2006
A community group in Guysborough County is another step closer
to saving a century-old former communication centre from destruction.
The Commercial Cable building at Hazel Hill, outside Canso, was
built in 1888 as a relay station for telegraph messages between
Europe and North America...
The station was shut down after the last message was sent in 1962.
Since then, the brick building has become a leaking, crumbling hulk.
The Commercial Cable Building Rehabilitation Society set out to
preserve the building. The local group bought the structure
using $21,000 in government funding and took possession
of it on Tuesday (14 February 2006)...
    http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-cable-canso20060215.html

Group sends SOS for telegraph station CBC News Jun 21 2005
A heritage group fears an old communication centre near Canso
will have to be torn down if it isn't fixed soon.
The Commercial Cable Station in Hazel Hill was built in 1888.
In its day, it relayed telegraph messages between North America
and Europe... The plug was pulled on the station in 1962.
Since then, the structure has crumbled to the point where it's
in danger of collapsing.  Now a local heritage group, the
Commercial Cable Building Rehabilitation Society, is trying
to raise the money to save the building.  "Architecturally
it's significant. It's certainly the dominant building for this
whole eastern Guysborough County..."
    http://www.cbc.ca/ns/story/ns-canso-telegraph20050621.html

Commercial Cable Rehabilitation Society
incorporated 22 March 2005 in Nova Scotia
    http://www.ccrsociety.ca/

It's now or never for Commercial Cable building
Guysborough Journal, 9 June 2005
...The decaying brick building sits on a slope over-looking Hazel Hill
Lake on highway 16.  Formerly a brilliant shade of yellow, its paint has
weathered and disappeared over the years.  Pigeons have invaded
its eaves and bricks have crumbled away to dust.  A large building
with three to four levels, it would dangerous should it fall to the ground
on its own.  The interior of the building was gutted years ago...
It now lies vacant – a curious landmark to any visitor and a part of the
landscape familiar to local residents.  The brick structure that remains
today was built in 1888 to replace a wooden building built in 1886...
    http://www.guysboroughjournal.com/archives/06-2005/
          06-09-2005-cablebuilding.htm

Commercial Cable Rehabilitation Society meets with MLA, MP
Guysborough Journal, 18 August 2005
The Commercial Cable Rehabilitation Society met with MP Roger Cuzner
and MLA Ronnie Chisholm Sunday (14 August 2005) about the future of
the Canso Station.  The society has produced a short DVD presentation
for distribution on the history of the building and the plans for
rehabilitation and presented it to the government officials.
"It went well," says Stephen Townsend, president of the society.
"They got really excited when they saw it.  Mr. Cuzner was unaware of
the history and he was quite impressed with the scope of the project"...
    http://www.guysboroughjournal.com/archives/08-2005/
          08-18-2005-commercialcable.htm

Hazel Hill Staff, 1926
    http://www.cial.org.uk/white/hhstaff.htm

History of the Commercial Cable Company
    http://www.cial.org.uk/
Note: CIAL was the Commercial Cable Company's own telegraph code

The Commercial Cable Company, more about the founders
    http://www.cial.org.uk/cable12.htm

Commercial Cable Company
    http://www.atlantic-cable.com/CableCos/CCC/

Commercial Cable Company
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Cable_Company

History of the Commercial Cable Company
    http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625/telegraph02.html#commcabstart

James Gordon Bennett Jr.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Gordon_Bennett_Jr.

James Gordon Bennett Jr.
    http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-benjam.html

John William MacKay
    http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/M/MA/MACKAY_JOHN_WILLIAM.htm

The White Family Archive
George White, the last General Manager of Commercial Cable Company
in the UK, had his 100th birthday in November 2004.
    http://www.cial.org.uk/white/index.htm

Maps showing Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Routes
These are excellent maps but the online version does not work
in many browsers, such as Firefox, Safari and Opera.
They do work in IE5.  Netscape maybe.
    http://www.cial.org.uk/wsm/maps.htm

Pacific Postal Telegraph Cable Company
The history of the Pacific Postal Telegraph Cable Company is simple.
When Mr. John W. Mackay, the famous Bonanza millionaire,
and Mr. James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Herald, associated
themselves together for the purpose of building the "Commercial" cable
across the Atlantic, they readily recognized the fact that the
"Field" cable was operated in conjunction with the Western Union lines,
and that a rival cable must be fed by friendly inland lines...
— San Francisco News Letter and California Advertiser
19 February 1887
    http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist11/pacificpostal.html

Telegraph Technology

Telegraphy by Wikipedia
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telegraphy

Underwater Telegraph Cables photographs of actual cables
website by Tom Perera
    http://w1tp.com/mcable97.htm

1998 Diving Expedition to Recover Early Underwater Telegraph Cables
website by Tom Perera
    http://w1tp.com/mcable98.htm

Telegraphic Codes and Message Practice, 1870-1945
website by John McVey
    http://www.jmcvey.net/cable/ex/index.htm