4 ms·

The first transatlantic telegraph cable was a bold, beautiful failure (2019)

63 points by sparsesignal 4mo ago

slg 4mo ago
I highly recommend Jon Bois' Youtube docuseries[1] on this story that's basically a 4-hour PowerPoint presentation which frames this all through the metaphor of the 90s Tim Allen sitcom Home Improvement. That descriptor probably sounds insane to anyone not familiar with his work, but Bois is one of a kind with what he does and I thought this series was one of his best. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyBSrQodnI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyBSrQodnI
- rufo 4mo ago
  Seconded. I went in with only a vague awareness of what Bois' thing is and knowing it somehow involved Tims, Als, and oceanic telegraph cables. I was not disappointed.
jefflinwood 4mo ago
I just finished reading this book, which came out this year. Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age by James M. Tabor (Author) About this telegraph cable, and all of the different attempts to lay it on the sea floor. I also recommend The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (1998) if you want to learn more about telegraphs.
- tdeck 4mo ago
  It's very dense, but if you enjoy going down a rabbit hole about this stuff I recommend The Story of Telecommunications by George Oslin. It's the size of a history textbook.
walrus01 4mo ago
History of submarine telegraph: https://atlantic-cable.com/ https://atlantic-cable.com/
handle584 4mo ago
For more mathematics/physics behind it, Körner's classic Fourier Analysis [0] contains a few interesting chapters. [0]: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fourier-analysis/5FD8F0FD69DDB139019655D7F8440D2F https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fourier-analysis/5FD8F0...
elteto 4mo ago
I highly recommend reading A Thread Across the Ocean, a gripping tale of the development and laying of the first transatlantic cable. It’s quite a page turner.
gorfian_robot 4mo ago
recent 99pi episode: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/672-transatlantic-fiber-optic-expialidocious/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/672-transatlantic-fib...
c0_0p_ 4mo ago
There is a hard to find book called "Tent life in Siberia" by George Kennan, which is his account of a scouting trip of a bunch of Americans trying to build an overland telegraph route to Europe via Canada, Alaska then Russia, because it's proven too difficult to go under the Pacific. It's quite an entertaining read if you're into that kind of thing. It's not the most professional operation and after two years they get word that the Pacific undersea line has succeeded.
- MengerSponge 4mo ago
  It may be hard to find in print, but it's not hard to find! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12328 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12328
pcardoso 4mo ago
Arthur C. Clarke wrote a non-fiction book about this, I think it is called Voice Across the Sea. I read it many years ago and found it very good.
Rebelgecko 4mo ago
Mother Earth Mother Board
- MengerSponge 4mo ago
  https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ I'm very jealous of everyone who gets to read this for the first time this weekend.
userbinator 4mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable#Cable_is_damaged_and_Whitehouse_dismissed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable#... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable#Bandwidth_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable... Thomson (Kelvin) was right, and Whitehouse was wrong. It's seriously disappointing how the IEEE of all groups is now trying to spin this differently.
sparsesignal 4mo ago
Posted this because I saw a piece of the cable at the Science Museum in London years ago. It looks like it's still on display in the Information Age gallery: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co33448/sample-of-deep-sea-section-of-first-transatlantic-cable-1857-1858 https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co33448...
Animats 4mo ago
Once it was working, operation was like this: [1] The siphon recorder produced a squiggly line, which could be read as a code similar to Morse code. Not clicks, though. The cable had so much inductance that the data rate was very limited. [1] https://atlantic-cable.com/Article/1895HazelHill/index.htm https://atlantic-cable.com/Article/1895HazelHill/index.htm
thenthenthen 4mo ago
If you ever had a root canal treatment, you might have some of the same building materials in your mouth as the cable (Gutta Percha)!
toplinesoftsys 3mo ago
This is a very familiar pattern: brilliant visionary bring new technology too early and it fails. The next guy does not need to be such a prodigy - he just need to be right on time to succeed.

63 points by sparsesignal 4mo ago

slg 4mo ago

I highly recommend Jon Bois' Youtube docuseries[1] on this story that's basically a 4-hour PowerPoint presentation which frames this all through the metaphor of the 90s Tim Allen sitcom Home Improvement. That descriptor probably sounds insane to anyone not familiar with his work, but Bois is one of a kind with what he does and I thought this series was one of his best. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyBSrQodnI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmyBSrQodnI

rufo 4mo ago
Seconded. I went in with only a vague awareness of what Bois' thing is and knowing it somehow involved Tims, Als, and oceanic telegraph cables. I was not disappointed.

jefflinwood 4mo ago

I just finished reading this book, which came out this year. Lightning Beneath the Sea: The Race to Wire the World and the Dawn of the Information Age by James M. Tabor (Author) About this telegraph cable, and all of the different attempts to lay it on the sea floor. I also recommend The Victorian Internet by Tom Standage (1998) if you want to learn more about telegraphs.

tdeck 4mo ago
It's very dense, but if you enjoy going down a rabbit hole about this stuff I recommend The Story of Telecommunications by George Oslin. It's the size of a history textbook.

walrus01 4mo ago

History of submarine telegraph: https://atlantic-cable.com/ https://atlantic-cable.com/

handle584 4mo ago

For more mathematics/physics behind it, Körner's classic Fourier Analysis [0] contains a few interesting chapters. [0]: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fourier-analysis/5FD8F0FD69DDB139019655D7F8440D2F https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/fourier-analysis/5FD8F0...

elteto 4mo ago

I highly recommend reading A Thread Across the Ocean, a gripping tale of the development and laying of the first transatlantic cable. It’s quite a page turner.

gorfian_robot 4mo ago

recent 99pi episode: https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/672-transatlantic-fiber-optic-expialidocious/ https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/672-transatlantic-fib...

c0_0p_ 4mo ago

There is a hard to find book called "Tent life in Siberia" by George Kennan, which is his account of a scouting trip of a bunch of Americans trying to build an overland telegraph route to Europe via Canada, Alaska then Russia, because it's proven too difficult to go under the Pacific. It's quite an entertaining read if you're into that kind of thing. It's not the most professional operation and after two years they get word that the Pacific undersea line has succeeded.

MengerSponge 4mo ago
It may be hard to find in print, but it's not hard to find! https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12328 https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12328

pcardoso 4mo ago

Arthur C. Clarke wrote a non-fiction book about this, I think it is called Voice Across the Sea. I read it many years ago and found it very good.

Rebelgecko 4mo ago

Mother Earth Mother Board

MengerSponge 4mo ago
https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ https://www.wired.com/1996/12/ffglass/ I'm very jealous of everyone who gets to read this for the first time this weekend.

userbinator 4mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable#Cable_is_damaged_and_Whitehouse_dismissed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_telegraph_cable#... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable#Bandwidth_problems https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_communications_cable... Thomson (Kelvin) was right, and Whitehouse was wrong. It's seriously disappointing how the IEEE of all groups is now trying to spin this differently.

sparsesignal 4mo ago

Posted this because I saw a piece of the cable at the Science Museum in London years ago. It looks like it's still on display in the Information Age gallery: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co33448/sample-of-deep-sea-section-of-first-transatlantic-cable-1857-1858 https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co33448...

Animats 4mo ago

Once it was working, operation was like this: [1] The siphon recorder produced a squiggly line, which could be read as a code similar to Morse code. Not clicks, though. The cable had so much inductance that the data rate was very limited. [1] https://atlantic-cable.com/Article/1895HazelHill/index.htm https://atlantic-cable.com/Article/1895HazelHill/index.htm

thenthenthen 4mo ago

If you ever had a root canal treatment, you might have some of the same building materials in your mouth as the cable (Gutta Percha)!

toplinesoftsys 3mo ago

This is a very familiar pattern: brilliant visionary bring new technology too early and it fails. The next guy does not need to be such a prodigy - he just need to be right on time to succeed.