Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1921-03-15

once idea tight compartments-and
which now know the gossip of each
others market places, forums and bou-
DORIS as soon as they are known at
demonstrated in earnest only three
quarters of a century ago after Samuel
+. 5. Morse proved with the telegraph
that distances over land were slight
barriers to exchanging signals. 1t Is
perhaps little known that Morse also
was one of the first to experiment with
under water signaling. After success
fully sending messages through a wire
laid under part Of New York harbor
from Castle Garden (now the New
York City Aquarium) to Governors
Island, he gave it as his opinion that
signaling over properly built cable
between Europe and America should
be possible.
"T'he first efforts to realize Morse's
prediction, in the late forties were fail-
ures. Because neither cable making
nor cable-laying had been mastered,
the cable broke again and again, and
| the broken end was finally abandoned
in mid Atlantic. The first commercial
ly successful submarine cable was laid
as the result of the much less ambiti-
Gus desire to connect England and
France, This cable about 25 miles
/ long, was laid under the Straights OF
Dover in 1851. Then came other short
cables: Italy to Corsica and Sardinia,
| Sardinia to Africa, Scotland to Ireland,
and length in the Black Sea.
In 1857 Europe and America were
! first connected by cables and messages
were exchanged for. several months.
But the insulation of the cable was
! destroyed by currents of too great
strength and the two continents were
again without electric communication
4 q
| connect Europe with India through the
IRed Sea was the next ambitious cable
project but it, too, was a failure. The
| first successful long cable, chiefly use
| full for commercial purposes. was laid,
fttingly enough, in the waters OF the
Mediterranean where commercial ma
tions first sprang up. 1t extended
from Malta to Alexandra and was
opened in 1861.
Europe remained without cable
news from the United States during the
4 civil War, but in 1855 the Atlantic was
finally electrically bridge, and the con-
nection between the Old and the New
i Worlds has since been continuous. In
1859 a cable was laid from France tC
the United States. Other cables were
laid from the British Isles, and later
direct connection was established be-
tween Garmany and America. BY the
beginning of the World War thirteen
trans Atlantic cables were in opera
ton between Europe and the OnlteS
States.
once the north Atlantic was bount
by the great metal strands, these far
} reaching tontacles of mans intelligence
. began to stretch out under the wateri
of all the earth's oceans. The British
Isles were tied to the Continent b!
numerous cables reaching to France
, Belgium, and Holland. The Scandln
| avian countries were connected VIII
each other and Germany, Portugal lat
cable to Brazil, and after this pionee
others followed at various points acros
l the south Atlantic. A line through tn
r MEDITERRANEAN and the Red connecte'
: England with India, Australia, the Eas
! Indies and China. Another double
e Africa and reached the same objec
tives.
FINALLY in 1902 the greatest of cable
LAYING projects were undertaken-th
| crossing of the Pacific. The first Paci
fc line was laid by a British compan
from Vancouver, British Columbia, |
;, Australia, a distance of 1900 miles.
: THE Pacific with its vast distance
:. illustrates admirably the cable create
: need for the ownership of small island
n for which, during the latter part {
- the last century, there was mucn com
petition, little understood by man
Ilayment. Signals traverse under waite
cables weakly at best. and there al
definite limits to the distance ov'
e which messages can be transmitte
a Island relay !. stations, therefore, bt
6 come vital necessities. Because Grei
e Britain owns no islands in the NORTH
. eastern Pacific and 1t was not desire
II to relay on the alien territory
Re Hawaii, the first Paciflc cable has u
e longest non-relayed section In u