FEATURE
Fig 1: Transatlantic telegraph cable arrives at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland, July 27, 1866. Engraving by unknown artist.
SUBMARINE NETWORKS: AN EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE, PART 2 BY DEREK CASSIDY
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oding across the telegraph networks, even though in its infancy was also seeing a change. In Hamburg, 1848, Friedrich Clemens Gerke studied Morse Code and manipulating it he had made it easier to understand. His innovation or interpretation of the original Morse code was called the Hamburg Telegraph. In 1851 at an International Telegraph Conference the Gerke version of the Morse code was adopted internationally, while the US and Canada still used the American Morse Code version (Samuel Morse version). However, in 1865 the International Telegraph Union, which was established in Paris that year, adopted a new version of Morse code that was a
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
variant of Gerke’s original version. This new ITU code is the Morse code heard and transmitted today, however the American Morse Code is still used by some licenced training schools in America. From 1851 to 1865 the second variant of Morse Code or Hamburg Code was widely used across Europe and the Far East and in 1865 it changed again to become the final version that would be used. However, this version was not used on the 1866 cable as the original Morse code was still the official code used in the Americas. Even though the Hamburg code and the new ITU-T Code (introduced in 1865) was the officially used versions, many operators used the