The First Transatlantic Cable

U.S. Landmark Books #88

by Adele Gutman Nathan

“Maybe it is a crazy idea!” The year was 1854 and the speaker was an engineer named Frederick N. Gisborne. He was telling Cyrus W. Field how he had almost given up the fight to carry out his idea of running a cable under the Gulf of St. Lawrence to connect Nova Scotia with Newfoundland. Mr. Field didn’t think the idea was crazy at all. He went even further. He began to dream of a transatlantic cable. But could it be done? Could anybody even make a waterproof cable line two thousand miles long? How could it be laid on the ocean floor, if the ocean had a floor? And could the “lightning” travel for such a distance—between two continents? It would be the greatest gamble ever attempted. In The First Transatlantic Cable, Adelc Gutman Nathan tells the fascinating story of how some of the most brilliant scientists, businessmen, statesmen, inventors and soldiers of fortune joined with Mr. Field in playing for the great stakes and making the dream come true. Personalities like Samuel F.B. Morse, the genius of the telegraph, Matthew Fontaine Maury, the “Father of Oceanography,” and Isambard Kingdom Brunei, the Little Giant of engineering, come to life in these pages. Here is the adventure story of one of the most thrilling chapters in history.

Genres: History

190 pages, Paperback

First published May 12, 1963

Reviews

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s the story of the laying of the cable in 1850s and 60s told for a child or teenager , told as a story.

It truly is an amazing story - 2000 miles of cable laid under the Atlantic in mid Victorian times. And the first cable once laid after years of planning , managed to transmit a single set of messages from queen to president and vice versa , before failing for no apparent reason.

It was a further 10 years before the cable was successfully laid

Worth a read as it’s short and easy and the subject matter is quite abstruse but rather fascinating . Who could imagine that our ocean floor is carpeted now with hundreds of communication cables some of which have been lying there since 1865 !

[Carol Bakker · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I visited France last fall, I made several calls to my family using WhatsApp. Each call was a marvel: clear, no awkward delay, no hearing my voice seconds later. During every call we exclaimed how miraculous it was that we could be 5,000 miles apart and talk (for free!) to one another!

This Landmark book tells the story of the beginning of instant communication — the first transatlantic telegraph cable. The cable would need to be waterproof, insulated, flexible, and durable.

There were so many expensive failures and temporary triumphs that went dead. After each mishap someone had to raise more money for materials and make another plan. And more cable littered the bottom of the Atlantic. After ten years, the project was successfully completed. Not long afterwards, telephone cables were laid. And now we have communication via satellite.

The author did a great job of condensing the story into a manageable narrative. I highly doubt that this would enthrall any child born after 2000.

New word/concept: gutta-percha, which Wikipedia tells me is "rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, and thermoplastic, most commonly sourced from Palaquium gutta; it is a polymer of isoprene which forms a rubber-like elastomer."

[Caleb Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a remarkable story about uniting the continents. What surprised me was how many times they failed before they finally managed to span the connection, and how soon after more cable could be stretched.