BACK REFLECTION
HISTORICAL CABLE LOCATING (PART 1) BY PHILIP PILGRIM
Let’s find cables! Who can argue about a refreshing day at the beach? This issue’s Back Reflections kicks off the cable hunting series. It is based upon the report from an interesting chap on leave in 1943. He shows that with a little bit of historical background, it is fairly easy to find the old cables and cable stations. The upcoming articles will also focus on finding old cables. It is not that difficult. In fact, two of my friends each found cables from the 1800’s on beaches near their homes. We will go over these finds in detail in a future article so please stand-by. Until then, here is a teaser:
FINDING THE 1858 ATLANTIC CABLE LANDING STATION (IN 1943)
It seems that others have been searching for, and finding, old telecommunication installations for decades. The following scanned pages are from the notebooks of Dr. Cluny Macpherson. (thanks to the Digital Archives of Memorial University of Newfoundland). In 1943, Dr. Macpherson, a Newfoundlander from St. John’s decided to travel to the site of the first Atlantic Cable landing station in Bay Bulls Arm, Newfoundland. He lived in the relative vicinity but journeyed by boat up Trinity Bay to the remote site. In researching this article, Dr. Macpherson turned out to be a very important person. In addition to practising medicine,
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
Cable on left was found by Chris Janson (Nokia), Cable on right was found by Kyle Hollasch (Cignal Ai)
he was the inventor of the modern-day gas mask. He had firsthand experience of the horrible chemical warfare having fought in WWI. He also served in WWII. Back to the 1858 Atlantic Cable Station in Bay Bulls Arm, Newfoundland. (Thanks to Bill Burns and Atlantic-Cable.
Dr. Cluny Macpherson, Phy
sician & Inventor (1879-1966)
com for the images). By December 1858, the cable station had expanded to two connected buildings, one for the backhaul and one for the submarine cable. In the summer of 1858, it was just one building. The site plan shows the “SLTE” and “Submarine Equipment Room”.
