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Before the first transatlantic cable was laid in 1858, communications between Europe and the Americas took place only by ship and averaged 10 days- but severe winter storms could delay ships for weeks. A transatlantic telegraph cable could reduce communication time considerably. After the major successes of the land telegraph lines on the continents, it became rapidly clear that laying a telegraph cable between the American continent and Europe would be an extremely lucrative business. But building it would require the production of a 2,000 mile long cable that would have to be laid by ship three miles beneath the Atlantic. Cyrus Field, an energetic young New Yorker wasn’t deterred, raising enough capital for the Atlantic Telegraph Co. to begin his quest. Five attempts to lay a cable were made over a nine-year period beginning in 1857. Finally, on July 27th 1866, the cable was pulled ashore by the British ship Great Eastern at a tiny fishing village in Newfoundland known by the charming name of Heart’s Content. The distance was 1,686 nautical miles, stretching from Valentia Island in western Ireland. Sent by Morse code, the first message on the 1858 cable took over 17 hours to transmit.[1]
Once the first cable was laid, many individuals and companies joined the stampede to further develop, manufacture and lay cable all over the world. Similar to the internet, computer and wireless revolution of the current day, the profitable business with the transatlantic link soon became a highly competitive market. Within 20 years, there were 107,000 miles of undersea cables linking all parts of the world.[2] From the 1850s until 1911, British submarine cable systems dominated the most important market, the North Atlantic Ocean. The British had both supply side and demand side advantages. In terms of supply, Britain had entrepreneurs willing to put forth enormous amounts of capital necessary to build, lay and maintain these cables. In terms of demand, Britain’s vast colonial empire led to business for the cable companies from news agencies, trading and shipping companies, and the British government. Many of Britain’s colonies had significant populations of European settlers, making news about them of interest to the general public in the home country.[3] The submarine cables were an economic boon to trading companies because owners of ships could communicate with captains when they reached their destination on the other side of the ocean and even give directions as to where to go next to pick up more cargo based on reported pricing and supply information. The British government had obvious uses for the cables in maintaining administrative communications with governors throughout its empire, as well as in engaging other nations diplomatically and communicating with its military units in wartime. By 1896, there were thirty cable laying ships in the world and twenty-four of them were owned by British companies.[4] In 1892, British companies owned and operated two-thirds of the world’s cables and by 1923, their share was still 43 percent.[5] During World War I, Britain’s telegraph communications were almost completely uninterrupted, while it was able to quickly cut Germany’s cables worldwide.[6]
The seven-strand conductor was initially the one most commonly used for submarine cables.[7] The core as supplied would then have to be insulated and armored to protect against abrasion from ship’s anchors, trawls and marine boring insects.[8]
Technology advances rapidly improved transmission speed and reliability. While the first message on the 1858 cable took over 17 hours to transmit the 1866 cable could transmit eight words a minute, 80 times faster than the 1858 cable.[9]
Okonite Company founded in 1878, specialized in the development and manufacture of cable. One of the original insulators of electrical wire and cable in the United States, its earliest customers included Samuel F.B. Morse for his telegraph network and Thomas A. Edison for the Pearl Street Generating Station, the nation’s first, built in New York City in 1882.[10] Based in New York, Okonite manufactured cable for many uses, including the Trans-Atlantic cable. John Dwyer Ashton joined the company in the 1890’s and became its treasurer before leaving the company shortly after 1920.
Today, Okonite is headquartered in Ramsey NJ, approximately 30 miles northwest of New York City.“It has undergone many changes of ownership, and along the way much of what we assume existed and had historical value has been lost to the Company. In 1976 the present management, which is an Employee Stock Ownership form of management, purchased the company out of a bankruptcy proceeding in Dallas. At the time, Okonite was owned by a company called Omega-Alpha, part of LTV (Ling-Temco-Vought) Corporation. In many respects, it was as if Okonite were starting out fresh.”[11]
It was not until the 1960’s that the first communication satellites offered a serious alternative to cable
[1] Wikipedia
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Ibid
[8] History-magazine.com
[9] Atlantic-cable.com
[10] Ibid
[11] Email from Frank Giuliano, General Counsel of Okonite Cable Company, to David Good, April, 2016.
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