BACK REFLECTION
THE FIRST CABLE SHIP IN NORTH AMERICA: THE ELLEN GISBORNE BY PHILIP PILGRIM
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he story of the Atlantic Cable has been told over and over throughout history in countless books, newspapers, articles, and memoirs. The projector, Cyrus Field, and his cable ship, the Great Eastern, are somewhat “household names”, and famously held in high esteem for their many successes. As with most stories, there are often hidden figures, hidden achievements, and hidden sacrifices that should be brought into the light. For example, few know that there were three significant early Atlantic Cables: 1) the short-lived 1858 cable, 2) the nearly-laid 1865 cable, and 3) the successful 1866 cable. However, the “first” 1858 cable was usurped by the 1866 cable. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has granted World Heritage recognition to the 1866 landing site in Heart’s Content, Newfoundland, Canada but not to the 1858 landing site just up the bay in Sunnyside. Careful wording is used to trick laypeople that the Heart’s Content site is the first cable. Fortunately, my good friends Roger Snook and Gerard Lynch, are preserving the archeological remains of the first cable station in North America, located in Sunnyside. Can you please treat this like a foot note or similar? I’ll cast a net to my friends at Google and Facebook that,
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
if you want to give back to this industry’s history, please contact any of us to discuss.So, you are wanting to read about a cable ship and this author has just digressed into casting stones at the UN, and begging for archeological funding? The point to be made is that, just as the first 1858 cable has been eclipsed through time, there are even earlier cables, cable ships, and their projectors who started the wheels in
1854-Dec 11 back to work after refit
motion. These are dearly overlooked in history and this article will hopefully correct this deficit. Let’s continue to ignore the article’s title and go back further in time to develop the story. On August 28th, 1850 the first submarine cable deployed by a ship was laid from Dover, England to Calais, France. The cable ship was the Goliath, and the projectors were brothers Jacob Brett and John Watkins
Brett of London, England. Oops, that was a false start, let’s go back even further to 1847 when a young English emigrant to Canada decided to take up the trendy new profession of telegraphy. This lad would be the great Frederick Newton Gisborne. Now let’s look again at that name: Gisborne is part of the first North American cable ship’s name. Newton is in fact a nod to the Newton, Sir Isaac, who Gisborne descended from on his mother’s side. Gisborne started his life-long telecommunication journey at age 23 with his brother Hartley. They studied in Montreal under the guidance of a pupil of Samuel Morse. Gisborne was immediately hired by the Montreal Telegraph Company who had built the line from Toronto to Montreal; and were continuing construction eastward. Gisborne led the endeavor to build the line from Montreal, to Quebec, then further to the province of New Brunswick however, his efforts to convince the Government of New Brunswick to extend the route through it were in vain. In 1848, they were more interested in connecting to the US rather than to Upper Canada. For completeness, Gisborne also visited Nova Scotia to likewise, try to convince the Govt. to connect to Quebec. They too were more interested in connecting to the United States. It was clear
