On 5 August 1858, the Atlantic Telegraph Company, led by Cyrus Field (1819-1892), successfully laid the first telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean. Their success was short-lived owing to Wildman Whitehouse’s desire to apply excessive voltage to the cable which led to its ultimate destruction. On August 16, 1858, the first official telegram was delivered being a congratulatory message from Queen Victoria to the President of the United States, James Buchanan.
The next attempt to secure a transatlantic cable was not until 1865, when the Gutta Percha Company and Glass, Elliot and Company were merged to become the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (Telcon). The NMM holds part of the company’s archive (TCM) and has interesting journal, diary, poems, hand- produced newspapers and telegrams for the SS Great Eastern, mostly as copies of the originals.
Extract from ‘The Great Eastern’s Entrance into Heart’s Content After letting go the End of the Atlantic Cable’ by George Colls Price [TCM/16/6]:
‘Success to the Great Eastern who did successfully lay
The telegraph that is working night and day
From her Gracious Majesty the Queen our message came
And President Johnson and Mr Suvard(?) the same
To Cyrus Field Esquire a vote of thanks and praise as loving hearts are able
For his skill and untiring zeal in laying the Atlantic cable.’
Setting off from the Nore on 24 June 1865, cable laying begins on 29 July. The project ends effectively after a series of rescue attempts to secure the cable, which snapped, becoming lost at a depth of 2000 fathoms on 31 July. In 1866 the cable was recovered under the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. On July 13, 1866 the Great Eastern started paying out cable and successfully completed her mission on 27 July with HMS Medway landing the shore end. The recovered cable was finally paid out and completed on 7 September 1866, resulting in two operational telegraph cable lines.
Extract from a poem by a signalman on board the SS Great Eastern [TCM/16/7(4)]:
‘Although small we care not at all
If our services prove true
We’ll sink all strife in this castle of life
While laying the cable through.’
The TCM collection contains a copy of the 27 July 1866 telegram which includes the Queen’s message, received on board the SS Great Eastern:
‘The Queen, Osborne, to the President of the United States, Washington. The Queen congratulates the President on the successful completion of an undertaking which she hopes may serve as an additional bond of union between the United States and England.’ [TCM/16/7(1)].
Mike (Manuscripts)
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