Why Wire Cable Became so Successful

The particular 1830's discovered the development of a brand new natural substance where it turned out to be to be a perfect solution to helping to make wire cable waterproof ( blank ) "gutta percha," an all-natural polymer produced from the milky sap from the gutta percha tree, some sort of native belonging to the Pacific Rim nations.

Gutta percha solved the problem of moisture getting into the land-laid wire cables. Carl Seimens posted examples to his brother William and William advised the Prussian Telegraph Commission that investigation and tests should be run to evaluate its aspects and value. As a result, the first underground telegraph cable was laid between Berlin and Gross Beren in 1848.

In 1850 the Bretts - born brothers acquired a deal to place a directly across the English Channel. The cable which was weighted down using lead-weight, was dangled and dropped over the back of a tug boat starting at Dover and arriving on the French Coast hours later that day. A signal was sent immediately, and received, but the message was gibberish, due to what we now know as induction. Unable to remedy the situation, both sides left for the evening, only to find when they came back that next day that the line was dead. Apparently, a French fisherman brought the cable up in his nets, and thinking it valuable, cut it in half and hauled as much of it into his boat as he could.

A much more heavily constructed cable was laid the following year which was successful and was followed by:

> Dover to Ostend - 1853 (England to Europe).

> Orfordness to Scheveningen - 1853 (England to Europe).

> England to Ireland across the Irish Sea - 1853.

> Holyhead and Howth (England to Ireland) - 1854.

> Black Sea to the Crimea - "The Black Sea Cable" - three hundred nautical miles - providing quick communication between British forces in the Crimea and England.

Cables across the Atlantic -

Following the success of the submarine cables over these distances, the Americans became interested in the prospect of joining the Old and New Worlds by submarine wire cable. Capital was put up for this earnest and enterprising scheme and 2 Brit companies were given agreements to furnish 1250 nautical miles of wire cable. This took 6 months in the manufacturing process.

The campaign was abandoned however, once the cable became caught up in machinery and snapped as a result. It was recovered, and in 1858 work resumed, but this time, the two ships would approach each other from opposite sides of the Atlantic and meet in the middle. The worst Atlantic storm in many years almost sunk one of the ships, but the rendezvous was finally reached. However, the operation didn't so smoothly, and several attempts had to be made to splice broken cable. With the wire cable finally joined, the first signal was made on 6 August 1858.