Trans-Atlantic Telegram

[My Good Babushka]

The first trans-Atlantic telegram took more than 17 hours to transmit in 1858. Service lasted for one month before the cables' insulation deteriorated. An excess voltage was applied in hopes of speeding the transmission which fried the compromised line. It would take eight years to restore.

[hunter]

1. Here is a wonderful treasure trove of transatlantic cable documentation:

http://atlantic-cable.com

James Clerk Maxwell, pretty much the founder of modern physics, wrote a song about the cable:

THE SONG OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
I.

2(u)
Mark how the telegraph motions to me,
2(u)
Signals are coming along,
With a wag, wag, wag;
The telegraph needle is vibrating free,
And every vibration is telling to me
How they drag, drag, drag,
The telegraph cable along,

II.

2(u)
No little signals are coming to me
2(u)
Something has surely gone wrong,
And it’s broke, broke, broke;
What is the cause of it does not transpire,
But something has broken the telegraph wire
With a stroke, stroke, stroke,
Or else they've been pulling too strong.

III.

2(u)
Fishes are whispering. What can it be,
2(u)
So many hundred miles long?
For it’s strange, strange, strange,
How they could spin out such durable stuff,
Lying all wiry, elastic, and tough,
Without change, change, change,
In the salt water so strong.

IV.

2(u)
There let us leave it for fishes to see;
2(u)
They'll see lots of cables ere long,
For we'll twine, twine, twine,
And spin a new cable, and try it again,
And settle our bargains of cotton and grain,
With a line, line, line,—
A line that will never go wrong.

http://atlantic-cable.com/Article/UnderTheSea/index.htm