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Chapter 5 Wiring the world (page 74)

tags
#memex2 #telegraph
Reference: @standageVictorianInternetRemarkable1998 source

Transatlantic Telegraph

Gisborne's attempt
  • to start with a link from New York to St. John's to prove the concept. It worked, but quickly stopped because of the harsh winter conditions.
Thomsons Attempt
  • Successfully linked Europe and India through the Persian Gulf. After Whitehouse's catastrophic failure led the public to firmly believe in the Atlantic Telegraph Company.
Holding it back
  • Skeptic of interference of nature, such as sharks and the tides.
  • Increased skepticism due to Gisborne's failed attempt.
  • The multiple failed attempts of laying the first cable.
  • Dr. Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse
    • Incompetent
    • Got nearly everything wrong.
  • The failed attempt by the British government that used the public's money hit hard on the reputation of this. (pg 84-86)
    • They but the blame on Whitehouse by pointing the finger at him for making the conducting core too small, and how the high-voltage destroyed the cable.
    • Trying to cover the failed attempt of the British government.
    • Whitehouse who became outraged from his firing, published a one-sided book that blamed everyone but him for the failure, how he was a man of science.
    • The efforts continued after they successfully said it was soleys Whitehouse's fault.
    • Basically, the British government played politics by putting the blame on Whitehouse (who they hired) so they could continue to experiment.
    • They could not admit to their own fauly of hiring Whitehouse when he really did not know anything.
  • Cost
  • The failure of the first cable (pg 84).
    • After all the hype of the first cable, it failed after only a month, was not even available to the public before it failed.
    • Skeptics believed it to be a hoax, that the message between Victoria and Buchanan was sent weeks in advance by mail.
  • Since the cables were such a huge success the demand across the network was very big and the instant delivery that brought the telegraph in the light could be its own demise (pg 93).
Accelerating it
  • Patriotism (pg 81-83)
    • The laying of the first cable brought mass celebration, this led to more enthusiasm and support from the public.
    • It was the thing, Tiffany's made jewlery out of the old cable, books were published it was the talking point.
    • Compared to the discovery of the New World by Columbus.
    • Even thought it would lead to world peace, at the time Europe was filled with wars between countries like France, Prussia and Austria-Hungarian Empire.
  • Whitehouse's retaliation (pg 86)
    • When Whitehouse published his book blaming everything but himself for the failure of the cable, it only added fuel to the fire of it being his fault.
    • Whitehouse saying he had a "better" version of Morse code that was clearly already abandoned by Chappe and Morse further plummeted his credibility.
    • With all this, the Atlantic Telegraph Company took none of the blame (even though they should have partly) allowing them to continue on without any repercussions of the failure in the eyes of the public.
  • Hype returned after the success of the Atlantic cable,
Social Necessities for adoption
Competencies on which it lies
  • The ability to construct a cable strong enough to survive in the harsh environment.
  • Using low currents instead of very high ones.
Consequences
  • Political
    • Lost trust in the British government for the failure of the cable.
  • Economical
    • Very expensive.
    • Supply and demand, since the demand to use it was so high to costed so much for a person to send a message over it.
Timeline of Cable Laying (successfully)
  • 1864 first cable linking Europe and India via the Persian Gulf (pg 87).
  • Friday July 13, the Great Eastern successfully linked Ireland and Newfoundland (pg 88).


Related Links:Morse Code Morse Code Britians Motivation for Telegraphy Emergence of the telegraph