BACK REFLECTION
HISTORICAL CABLE LOCATING (PART 3) BY PHILIP PILGRIM
Figure 1: Cable Landings Found by Kyle Hollasch (1875) and Chris Janson (1879)
INTRODUCTION
This is the third and final article is a series that offers encouragement and guidance for you to spend time at a coastline and hunt down a submarine cable. In this issue, my good friends Chris Janson and Kyle Hollasch, provide accounts and background on cables they each found on the shores of New England.
SPOTTING THE FRENCH CABLE - CHRIS JANSON, NOKIA
On a cold winter morning, I was walking the beach in Eastham (Cape Cod), Massachusetts and noticed something sticking out of the dune,
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SUBMARINE TELECOMS MAGAZINE
Figure 2: Segment of 1891 cable at Eastham, Mass
protruding back into the sand towards the water’s edge. Taking a closer look, I thought it could be a water pipe uncovered by recent storms. But then it occurred to me that I was standing near the point where an old submarine
telegraph cable between France and the United States made landfall. This stretch of beach is constantly changing, with sand washing out sections of dunes as winter storms pound the fragile coastline. Lighthouses, buildings, parking lots, anything manmade have all fallen to the Atlantic’s battering. Yet this cable was prominently obvious, looking as though a construction crew recently left it. It looked old yet in remarkably good condition.
THE FRENCH CABLE
For sure, this was part of the French Cable. The French transatlantic telegraph cable was built in 1879,