BACK REFLECTION
THE EXPLOSIVE BEGINNINGS OF SUBMARINE TELECOMS BY PHILIP PILGRIM
I
’ll begin by giving a so-called “shout-out” to our friends at Submarine Telecoms Forum and SubCom as some of the following early submarine cable communication events happened on their doorsteps. Hopefully, these obscure events will be brought back into the spotlight and given appropriate respect for their contribution to our industry. The 1850 English Channel Submarine Cable was not the first. Most laypeople, I included, consider the August 28th, 1850 cable across the English Channel to be the first submarine cable. It is captured in numerous paintings and drawings of the stout steam tug , Goliath, with a large spool of cable on board, happily chugging across the channel. It is also captured in folklore; the unarmoured cable (a single copper strand with a rubbery gutta percha exterior) was fictionally pulled up the next day by French fisherman who thought he discovered a marvelous new seaweed with gold interior. However, history shows that the first cables were developed much earlier for more destructive purposes.
THE EARLY 1800’S & THE SCIENCE OF ELECTRICITY
To add further colour to these early days, one should realize that the first submarine telegraph cables followed immediately on
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
1850 English Channel Cable Sample: Gutta Percha and Copper Conductor (Thanks to Bill Burns and Atlantic-Cable.com)
The Goliath Laying the 1850 English Channel Cable (Thanks to Bill Burns and Atlantic-Cable.com)
the heels of significant scientific milestones in electricity and electromagnetism. The scientists pioneering applications of electricity witnessed their telegraph peers exploit their discoveries,
