A Cable to Shrink the Earth

Abstract

This article discusses how the invention of the telegram revolutionized the communication process in the mid-19th century. On August 15, 1858, Queen Victoria sent a telegram to President Buchanan. It was a joint American and British effort, spearheaded from the American side by an indefatigable financier, Cyrus West Field, and on the British side by a telegraph company. The message of 98 words took sixteen and a half hours to transmit. The cable that carried Victoria’s message was laid in two sections beginning from a rendezvous point in mid-Atlantic. Two converted battleships spliced their cargoes and parted laying cable; the Agamemnon provided by the British government steered east to Ireland, and the American Niagara west to Newfoundland. Before this cable was laid, there was no direct communication between continents. No message could travel faster than the fastest steamships, which required at least 10 days to make the sea voyage between America and Europe. The submarine telegraph cable reduced communication time from days to hours.