Accession No
4481
Brief Description
Four sections of Atlantic telegraph cable in presentation box, 1865
Origin
England
Maker
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Co Ltd
Class
electrical; physics
Earliest Date
1865
Latest Date
1865
Inscription Date
1865
Material
wood; glass; metal; brass; resin
Dimensions
box 150 x 240 x 90mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred from the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, on 29 June 1994.
Inscription
‘ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE 1865
LENGTH 2,300 NAUTCAL MILES.
NO. 1, MAIN CABLE NO. 2. SHORE END.
Telegraphy construction & Maintenance Co. Limited.
CONTRACTORS’ (plaque inside box)
Description Notes
Wooden box with glazed lid; brass hinges and lock with key. Box lined with blue velvet, holding four pieces of telegraph cable. Two long sections and two short cross-sections, all bound with metal ends. Cable no 1 is coated with black resin. Cable no 2 is much thicker and is not coated.
condition good
References
Events
Description
These cable samples are from the 1865 attempt to lay a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, laid on the ocean floor from Isambard Kingdom Brunel's S.S. Great Eastern. The cable snapped mid-ocean. This followed a first attempt in 1858, which failed after a month of use. They have a distinctive smell from their waterproof coating, made from gutta-percha.
A third cable was successfully laid in 1866, shrinking the distance between America and Europe from weeks to seconds.
26/02/2025
Created by: Hannah Price on 26/02/2025
Description
These are sections from the first transatlantic telegraph cable, which ran between Ireland and North America.
FM:40409
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