The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1906-11-22
1CELAND'S ISOLATION ENDED.
Connected by Cable Now With the
Outside World.

The establishment OF IeleSrapnlC
communication with Iceland and Fa-
roe is now an accomplished fact, and
is an event of no little importance to
the commercial community not only
of Scandinavia, but also of Great Bri-
tain This country has long had in
innate relations with these remote
possessions of Denmark, relations
which are likely to increase as the
direct result of the electric link which
has now bound them to the rest OF
the civilized world. To realize how
far removed Farce and Iceland are
from the ordinary channels OF COM
munication it is only necessary to
mention that Farce lies in a north
westerly direction from the north OF
Shetland,.a distance of 215 miles,
while Iceland is further distant still
from Farce by $40 miles, the total
distance Of the latter from the ex-
treme north of Scotland being thus
more than $50 miles.
AS the ordinary means of commu-
nication is by steamer from Leith
and Copenhagen, the passage thither
is necessarily protracted one, and
many things may happen in either
place before letter can go through
the ordinary course Of transmission.
u certain circumstances reply from
Reykjavik, the capital Of Iceland,
would take about three months, prac-
tically the same as from the United
Kingdom to Australia. To such a re-
mote community, therefore, the tele-
graph must come as no ordinary boon
it is an event, indeed, in its history
of momeltous and far reaching con-
sequence. Denmark and Iceland have
put the scheme through. When the
new system Of wireless telegraphy
was so far perfected as to be success
fully worked at long distances it was
suggested that communication by
this means alone could be obtained
with Iceland and might be sufficient.
This, in fact, was actually accom-
plisned. On June 26, 1905, Iceland
was partially at least put into COM
munication with the outer world by
means of~the Marconi system Of wire
less telegraphy. The messages were
sent from one Of the Marconi stations
in the north of Scotland, but the ap-
paratus at Reykjavik was only able
to receive the messages, not to send
them.
The cable proceeds from the Shet-
land Islands to Thorshavn, the big
gest town in the Farce Islands, and
from there goes direct to. the east
coast of Iceland, from which an over
land line will be carried to ,Reykja-
vik, the capital Of Iceland, which liHe
will also touch several smaller Ice
landic towns. It was found that the
most suitable place to land the Shet-
land end of the cable was at Lerwick,
small bay on the west side of the
islands, near ScalloWay. The work OF
laying the cable from Shetland to
Farce was begun in July Of this year
by the telegraph steamer Cambrian.
At 4.30 O'Clock on the morning OF
Monday, July, 80, the final connec-
tiohs were made, and at 5.3S a. m.
Mr.. Stout, the postmaster of Lerwick.
'shook hands" with Thorshavn, and
the remote Farce Islands were
brought into telegraphic communica-
tion with the rest of the world. The
Cambrian thereafter proceeded to the
laying of the cable from Farce to Ice
land. This task was successfully
completed on Saturday, August 25.
when communication was established
between Seydisfjord and Shetland.
The construction Of the land wire
from seydisfjord to Reykjavik is be-
ing proceeded with. Seydisfjord is a
town with about 1000 inhabitants.
Reykjavik has a population OF about
1000. AS the distance between these
two towns Is about ESQ miles, and as
the roads are practically only bride
paths, the only means Of communica-
tion is by horse, the journey occupy
ing from two to three weeks. A tele-
graph line between the two towns
will therefore be of immense advan-
tage. Telephone lines will be used in
Iceland to connect the smaller towns
with the main telegraph line, and the
telephone will also by utilized in Fa-
roe for the same purpose. It Is ex-
pected that the land wire will be
completed by the end Of this month.
The cost of telegraphing to Farce
from this country is five and a half
pence a word and to Iceland eight
and a half pence word.
The director of the Meteorological
Office, London, has arranged with the
Danish Government for the trans
mission, from October /, of a daily
weather report from Iceland. which,
it is believed, will be of much use for
forecastingpurposes.-The Scotsman.