Alberta Online Encyclopedia
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Undersea Cable Page 1 | 2 Field and his backers were showered with praise, all the while hiding the fact that transmission had been problematic from the beginning. The world caught on, however, when the cable failed a mere month after it was laid. Accolades quickly turned into accusations of fraud and theft. Some blamed the procedures used to store the cable, stating that exposure to rain and hot sun caused the outer casing of the cable to deteriorate. Others cited errors in transmission procedures, stating that the excessive voltage used to boost the signals passing through the cable eventually caused the cable to burn out. Dr. Whitehouse—deserving or otherwise—took the flak for giving the order to boost the cable voltage. Transatlantic Telegraph Company, for the most part, ducked the criticism and let Whitehorse take the brunt of it. In 1864, under new leadership and with a new low-voltage design, another cable was built and strung out between India and Europe. Because this one had proved successful, Field was free again to raise funds for a transatlantic line. The British ship Great Eastern, a massive new steam vessel which alone could bear the entire weight of this cable, was hired to roll it across the ocean, from the cliffs of Foilhummerum Bay on the Island of Valentia at Ireland's west coast, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland, Canada. The cable took three months to load onto the giant ship. On 25 July 1865, The Great Eastern set off from Valentia Island, bearing west towards Canada. Only a few hours passed before the first problems with the new underwater telegraph line became manifest. A piece of wire had somehow punched a hole through the cable and its protective casing, forcing the ship to come about and retrieve the damaged portion for repairs. Four days later, the same problem was found, prompting rumours that the cable had been sabotaged, but this was never proved conclusively. The cable was once again repaired, and the great ship moved on. The Great Eastern had sailed free of its latest challenge, but had not escaped its troubles. Only two days journey from Heart's Content, the cable jumped free of its coil on board, and had to be recovered. While the crew tried to recover the cable, however, the cable snapped and sank to the bottom of the sea, coming to rest about 4 kilometres down. Attempts were made to recover the cable, but a storm at sea prevented any efforts from being successful. The place where the cable sank was marked with a buoy, and the Great Eastern sailed back to Ireland. It was in the August of 1866 when the Great Eastern returned to the place where the cable had sunk. Using a wire rope grappling mechanism, several attempts were made to lift the heavy telegraph cable off of the ocean floor. Each attempt ended with the wire rope snapping under the cable's weight. Finally, on 11 August 1866, the cable was successfully recovered. and the Great Eastern steamed onto Heart's Content, Newfoundland to complete the telegraph connection. The cable went on to pay for itself over and over again. London and Paris were linked together a short while later by the Anglo-French Telegraph Company. Because of the difficulties and expense of laying cable, and despite its limited success, undersea cable work did not move much beyond this stage until well into the telephone era. Copyright © 2004 Heritage Community Foundation and Telephone Historical Centre All Rights Reserved |
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