Back Reflection Images courtesy of Atlantic-Cable.com
Was the Atlantic Cable a Humbug? We all love a good conspiracy theory don’t we? The magic bullet and the gunman on the grassy knoll; did NASA actually go to the moon; are there aliens at Area 51; these are just some that have captured the public’s imagination. They are by no means a modern phenomenon, the nineteenth century had its fair share and there was one concerning the first Atlantic Telegraph Cable.
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The first message sent over the Atlantic cable was transmitted on 14th August 1858; it was from the directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company and it read “Europe and America are united by telegraphic communication. Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill towards men.” On the 16th August, messages were transmitted between President James Buchanan (1791-1868) and Queen Victoria (1819-1901). Among the 400 messages that were transmitted, perhaps the most important was one from London to Halifax, Nova Scotia, instructing the 62nd Regiment that it need not repatriate as
by Stewart Ash
originally planned as the Indian Mutiny had been successfully put down. This saved the British Government some £50,000, a significant sum at that time. As is well known, transmission over the cable became increasing difficult and by 20th October 1958, it had failed completely. At the time, the failure of the Atlantic Cable was blamed on the chief engineer of the Atlantic Telegraph Company; Dr Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse (181690), because of his strategy of applying signals of increasing voltage to try and overcome the difficulties in transmission. Dr. Whitehouse, who was recruited to the position by Cyrus W Field (1819-92), was fired and later replaced by William Thomson (1824-1907). The first indication the public had that there were problems with the cable was an article in the London Times, on 7th September 1858. The failure of the Atlantic Telegraph and the loss of its investors’ money had coincided with the failure of the Red Sea & Telegraph to India Company. Many investors had lost money on both projects
and were disgruntled. There was a public outcry, and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic took up the story. Rumours began to circulate that the Atlantic Cable had been a hoax and a confidence trick perpetrated by the directors of the company. The conspiracy theorists were gathering. On 3rd February 1859, the Boston Courier published, under the headline “Was the Atlantic Cable a Humbug” a letter to its editor, dated 17th January 1859, from someone identified only as “Observer” of Boston. In the letter, Observer” sets out the financial incentives to officers of the company, in particular Dr Whitehouse, he then cites statements from Lieutenant Francis Higginson Royal Navy, who was in dispute with the Atlantic Telegraph Company, about the cable being broken and never repaired. He then quotes an opinion given to the directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company by Cromwell Fleetwood Varley (1828-83) concerning the location of the fault. From this he concludes that the cable had been laid