Cables, Ocean
The first permanent Atlantic cable was laid in July, 1866, from Valentia Bay,
Ireland, to
Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.
In September of the same year a cable lost by an unsuccessful attempt in 1865 was recovered, and its laying completed, thus making two lines between the two points named (see
Atlantic Telegraph). These lines constituted what was known as the
Anglo-American Cable, managed by a company of the same name.
In 1868 the French Atlantic Telegraph Company was formed, and the following year it laid a line from
Brest, France, to
Duxbury, Mass. The fourth Atlantic telegraph cable was laid from
Valentia,
Ireland, to Heart's Content,
Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, in the summer of 1873, and a few months later the
Brazilian telegraph cable was laid from
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to a bay on the coast of
Portugal.
In 1874 the Direct
United States Cable Company was formed and laid a line from Ballenskilligs Bay,
Ireland, to Rye, N. H., via
Nova Scotia.
The same year a sixth line across the
Atlantic was laid from
Ireland to
[
17]
Newfoundland.
Another French line was laid from
Brest to St. Pierre, an island in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, in 1880.
The companies owning all these lines having formed a combination and pooled their receipts, to keep up rates on the transmission of messages, a competing company was formed by
James Gordon Bennett and
John W. Mackay.
This laid in 1884-85 two lines from
Ireland to
Nova Scotia, having also a connecting line from
Ireland to
France.
In 1900 plans were perfected for a Pacific cable, to extend from
San Francisco to
Honolulu, thence to
Wake Island,
Guam Island, and
Manila, all
United States possessions.