BACK REFLECTION
HISTORICAL CABLE LOCATING (PART 2) BY PHILIP PILGRIM
Figure 1: Low Tide Cable, Sneakers, Boss
INTRODUCTION
This is the second in a series of three articles addressing the up-andcoming field of Telecom Archeology. In this issue we will provide a guide on how you can find Victorian era submarine cables near you. (Near being relative to perhaps the odometer reading of a 2-year-old car for some landlocked folks). You must wonder if these cables still exist to be found? It is quite clear that the earliest submarine cables were built to last. The 1874 Direct Cable connecting the USA to the UK via Nova Scotia had been in service well into the 1950’s; albeit a few patch-
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
es and re-routes were made during its approximately 75 years of service! This durability was built into even the earliest cables from 1851 onward and for most of them, they still lay on the ocean floor and in trenches from the
shore to the cable station. Years of tidal currents, wave activity, and drifting sand often exposes the cables at the beaches. Storms, and in colder areas, ice barges piling on the shore, will expose the cables and even move them. These natural forces, and those unnatural forces, from fishing and marine activities, can cut out sections of the cable and even separate the soft rubber-like insulating core from the exterior’s armoured wires. Hopefully, this convinces you that there is cable to be found; but before we get into how to find cables, it is best practice to address safety first. I must beg that you Figure 2: Museum Cable with Shell learn from what I say, not
