Sub-sea Telegraph Cables at
Enderby Wharf with Richard
Buchanan
The talk is centred on the story of the getting the telegraph across the Atlantic.
Electrical telegraph began on land towards the end of 1830s. By 1857 a telegraph cable crossed the Atlantic – but soon failed. In 1866 a more reliable system was installed. The story is based at Greenwich, though the prime entrepreneur who made it happen was American.
The cable design had its engineering and manufacturing challenges, as did the laying of the cable. And the sending and receiving apparatus. Top scientists and engineers, on both sides of the Atlantic, were involved.
The big name at Greenwich, which may be unfamiliar, was John Pender. He merged existing businesses into TELCON to make the 1866 cable. After its success he went on to ensure that the world came to Greenwich for its cables – which encircled the globe in the next half century.
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