Cross Atlantic Communication Day

Gisborne was defeated by the harsh terrain and inadequate cable technology and, mostly, sheer lack of funds to lay the first transatlantic cable. But his brave attempt inspired a wealthy New York merchant named Cyrus Field to try his hand. But in 1866, the Old and New Worlds were united by the successful laying of a cable across the Atlantic. John Steele Gordon's book chronicles this extraordinary achievement -- the brainchild of American businessman Cyrus Field and one of the greatest engineering feats of the nineteenth century. The cable manager often became a key member of society for the further flung outposts of imperial society. In Australia, Alice Springs actually came to life as the central station for the overland 2000 mile Telegraph line stretching from Adelaide to the North.

The first transatlantic fiber optic cable, TAT-8 , was installed in 1988. The exchange rate between the United States dollar and British pound is still colloquially known as "cable" by financial marketeers on account of the fact the rate of exchange was one of the early uses of the transatlantic cable. The weight of the new cable was 35.75 long hundredweight (4000 lb) per nautical mile (980 kg/km), or nearly twice the weight of the old. Transatlantic cables of the nineteenth century consisted of an outer layer of iron and later steel wire, wrapping India rubber, wrapping gutta-percha, which surrounded a multi-stranded copper wire at the core. The portions closest to each shore landing had additional protective armor wires.