The cable that came back

Atlantic telegraph

The Great Eastern’s 1865 cable attempt failed. How did the ship’s next voyage turn loss into connection?

Atlantic telegraph

A fault appeared with eleven miles of cable behind the ship. The crew hauled it back and cut out the faulty section, the book reports.

Atlantic telegraph

On 2 August, the cable broke. The book says friction against machinery had chafed and cut it; strain while fishing for it also broke grappling gear.

Atlantic telegraph

In 1866, the Great Eastern laid a new cable. On 27 July, Queen Victoria’s forty-word message to the U.S. president took 21 minutes to send, the book says.

Atlantic telegraph

Then the ship returned for the cable lost in 1865. On 2 September, it was hooked and raised from about two miles underwater; the book says it tested intact.

Atlantic telegraph

Within an hour, seventeen messages had passed through the recovered cable, the book reports. The lost line had become a working connection. 📡

The cable that came back

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