Article November 15, 1900 Issue

Cable's Golden Jubilee

FIFTY years ago, August 28, the first submarine cable that the world had ever seen was laid between Dover and Cape Grisner, and the first message to be sent under the sea was despatched from the white cliffs of England to the promontory on the French coast. Such a commonplace of every-day life has the submarine telegraph become that few of us realize that fifty years ago its possibility was rejected by all except a few enthusiastic men of science, who, fortunately, lived to see their dreams realized. Mr. John Watkins Brett, in a lecture delivered before the Royal Institution on Friday evening, March 20, 1857, gave an account of the part. he had taken in the promotion of submarine telegraphs, and narrated the history of the enterprise. Mr. J. W. Brett's first idea of submarine telegraphs arose out of a conversation with his brother, Mr. Jacob Brett . early in 1845, when discussing the system of electric telegraphy which, as all the world knows, was first put into practical operation in England on the Great Western Railway, from Paddington to West Drayton, in 1838—9.

The question arose: "If possible underground, why not under water?" and "If under water, why not along the bed of the ocean?" The possibility of a submarine telegraph then seized upon Mr. J. W. Brett's mind with a positive conviction, and he states that he was ignorant until many years later that a line across the English Channel had actually been previously projected by Professor Wheatstone. In the month of June, 1845, the brothers Brett entered in their joint names at the government registration office a project for uniting America with Europe by the very route since adopted, and in July of the same year, submitted to the government a proposition for uniting the colonies with Great Britain, offering, as a first experiment, to place Dublin Castle in instantaneous communication with Downing Street, provided one hundred thousand dollars was advanced by the state towards the expense. As the state did not see its way to advance the sum, Mr.Brett turned his attention to the Continent, and in 1847 he succeeded in obtaining permission from Louis Philippe to unite England with France by a submarine line, but failed to obtain the support of the public, who considered the project too hazardous. When Louis Napoleon became head of the French nation, he looked favorably on the undertaking, and eventually the sum of ten thousand dollars was raised for the first experiment, which took place on the 28th of August, 1850. About twenty-seven miles of copper wire enclosed in gutta percha were conveyed on board the Goliath, steam tug, and wound round a large iron cylinder or drum, to facilitate the paying it out.

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