The History of Wire Cable - Part 2

The late 1830’s saw the introduction of a new natural material that proved to be an ideal solution to making wire cable waterproof - “gutta percha,“ a natural polymer made from the milky sap of the gutta percha tree, a native of the Pacific Rim countries.

Gutta percha solved the problem of moisture getting into the underground wire cables.  Samples were sent to Germany by Carl Siemens to his brother William, who suggested to the Prussian Telegraph Commission that experiments be conducted to assess its qualities. As a result, the first underground telegraph cable was laid between Berlin and Gross Beren in 1848.

In 1850 the Brett Brothers gained a contract to lay a cable across the English Channel and on 28 August the cable, weighed down with lead weights, was dropped over the back of a steam tug, starting from Dover and coming ashore on the French coast 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 the 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. Funds were raised for this ambitious scheme and two British companies were each contracted to supply 1250 nautical miles of wire cable which took six months to manufacture.

The 1857 expedition was abandoned when the cable became entangled in machinery and snapped. 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 rendevouz was finally reached. However, the operation didn’t go smoothly, and several attempts had to be made to splice broken cable. With the wire cable finally joined, the first signal was sent on 6 August 1858.

You probably don’t need to install a trans Atlantic wire cable however, whatever your cable laying needs are, Cable Laying Products (CLP) has the equipment to make the job easy.