BACK REFLECTION
THE MEN WHO FIRST WIRED THE WORLD BY STEWART ASH AND BILL BURNS
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his Issue of SubTel Forum is dedicated to ‘Global Outlook’ and there can be nothing more global in outlook than the Internet. In today’s world we have almost instant access to a wealth of information through our laptops, mobile phones, personal computers and tablets. Yet, apart from the readers of SubTel Forum, very few people know why, or even care how this is possible. As with all utilities, they just expect it to be there, and complain when it isn’t! If you ask them how this access is achieved the majority will say, “It’s all done through satellites isn’t it?” As we know, nothing could be further from the truth. Access to the World Wide Web is, in fact, only possible thanks to a vast global network of fibre optic cables that carry terabits/petabits of data under the oceans. These cables are the arteries of the Internet, enabling e-commerce and shaping social media. Loss of internet access can quite literally bring the economies of some countries to a complete standstill. Therefore, submarine cables are arguably the most important technology in modern society. This unheralded industry did not spring up overnight; it took more than one hundred and sixty-seven years of development to bring us to the telecommunications environment that we enjoy today. In the Victorian era, pioneering businessmen, engineers, scientists and sea captains came forward and laid down the foundations of an industry that has provided the
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world with high-quality, reliable telecommunications ever since. Although it is generally accepted that our industry began with the laying of the first cable across the English Channel, by the steam tug Goliath on 28 August 1850, this cable was not fit for purpose and was probably only laid to ensure that the Brett brothers, John Watkins (1805-63) and Jacob (1809-97), could retain their monopoly landing licence that they had negotiated with the French Government. It is perhaps more accurate to say that the industry began the following year, when Glass,
The 1851 Cable in the Factory
Elliot & Co made the last 5nm of the first successful cable, which was laid between Dover and Calais. This short length of cable was made at its Morden Wharf factory on the Greenwich Peninsula.
THE 1851 CABLE IN THE FACTORY
The cable provided a reliable service between London and Paris, and for the first time the prices on the London Stock Exchange could be seen on the Paris Bourse the same day. This changed the way international business was conducted and similar