Abstract
In 1840,a telegraph line connected London to Dover and another connected Calais to Paris, yet there was no direct connection between the two citiesof London and Paris.This spurred several people to propose a submarine cable across the channel.
The electric telegraph was originally introduced in Britain by Sir Charles Wheatstone and Sir William Fothergill Cooke. In 1837,they gave its first public demonstration with a successful transmission along a telegraph running from Euston to Camden stations.Initially,thetelegraph had been limited to overland use because rubber broke down when submerged for a length of time. This problem was overcome when S W Silver & Co. made a machine capable of coveringand insulatingwire and submarine telegraphy became a reality.
Two brothers, Jacob and John Watkins Brett took over Cooke and Wheatstone's project. Jacob Brett was the younger, mechanically minded brother of John Watkins Brett.Following a conversation with Jacob, John began to consider whether, if telegraph cables couldbe laid, they could also be put under water, and if so, across the ocean floor.Jacob registered a company, the General Oceanic Telegraph Co. for a telegraph link between Europe and America, but the project failed to attract public support as it was considered too risky.The brothers then made an offer to the British government to link Dublin Castle with Downing Street, but this was also declined.
In 1847, Jacob patented an Electric Printing Telegraph which was demonstrated at Buckingham Palace on the command of Prince Albert.The application to the French government for a concession to lay a cable between Dover and Calais was granted.In 1850, Jacob assigned the concession for a submarine telegraph connecting England and France to James Wollaston, who raised the funds and contributed himself.
The Submarine Telegraph Company was established by John Brett and other investors. The company would acquire Jacob’s patent for the electric printing telegraph, but the success of their 1850 attempt was short lived. However, its one-day existence included a message to Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte who had shown much interest in the whole enterprise. A year later, Jacob proposed a route for an Atlantic Telegraph, and an improved cable by Thomas Crampton was laid by the Brett brother's Electric Telegraph Company. It opened to the public in November 1851, and in 1853, Jacob became an Associate of the Institute of Civil Engineers.
The telegraph cable that connected England with France was as much a physical feat of engineering as it was a symbolic connection of peace. Britain had been at war with France since the end of the 18th century, culminating in the battle against Napoleon at Waterloo only 36 years previously. The laying of the telegraph cable was an event unitingtwo historically warring nations by mutual cooperation and advances in communications technology.
