Sketches in History | Connecting Continents
Hello, and welcome back to Sketches in History! I'm Lottie Archer, your guide. Every week, we sit in my grandfather's study and open my magical notebook to a sketch from history, letting it pull us into the past to experience a moment first-hand. Last time, we witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall, a powerful symbol of unity as a divided city came together. Today, we're journeying to another transformative moment, but as like last time, let's begin in my grandfather's study.
Today, the afternoon sunlight is streaming through the tall windows, illuminating dust motes dancing in the air. The light is reflecting off all the artifacts, glass cases, and even some books that are bound in gold binding. Grandfather's study always has a magical feeling, as if the room itself exists slightly outside our normal world. I love discovering the treasures he collected throughout his extraordinary life.
Today, I think I'll look at that antique chest of drawers I haven't explored before. It's made of dark mahogany with brass handles shaped like lions' heads.
Inside, there are all sorts of fascinating objects! Old keys, fountain pens, foreign coins, and, what's this? A small cloth pouch.
Inside the pouch is... a pocket watch! It's beautifully crafted of brass and silver, with an intricate engraving on the back that reads "Atlantic Telegraph Cable, 1858." When I open it, instead of clock faces, there's what looks like a tiny piece of copper wire embedded in resin. How curious! I have a feeling that the notebook is going to teach us more about this.
But first, our word of the day: connection.
Connection means joining things together so they can work as one. When you connect a plug to an outlet, electricity flows. When you connect with a friend, ideas and feelings flow. People require connection. We make connections in so many ways, sometimes when we don’t even realize it’s happening. The connections that we make help shape us, and by extension, help shape our society as a whole. Today, we're witnessing one of history's most important connections—the first communications cable connecting Europe and North America, allowing messages to travel across the Atlantic Ocean in minutes instead of weeks.
Let's open the notebook and see what it shows us about this. I'll place the pocket watch on the desk and open today's page.
Amazing! The sketch shows an enormous ship with tall masts and smokestacks, with men working on deck feeding what looks like a massive cable over the side into the ocean. There's a date at the bottom: August 16, 1858. The image is beginning to move, I can see waves rocking the ship and men scurrying across the deck. You know what that means!
Are you ready? Close your eyes, hold on tight, and let's go!
We made it! We're standing on the deck of an enormous ship, pitching and rolling on the open ocean. The air smells of salt, coal smoke, and tar. Sailors rush about, managing sails and tending to a massive spool of what looks like thick cable at the center of the deck. Based on the pocket watch in Grandfather's drawer and what I can see, we must be aboard the HMS Agamemnon, one of the ships laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable in August 1858.
Let's move closer to see what's happening!
This is extraordinary! For centuries, the only way to send messages across the Atlantic was by ship, which took at least 10 days in each direction. But these bold inventors and engineers are laying a copper cable along the ocean floor that will carry electrical signals, telegraph messages, between Europe and America almost instantly.
Look at that man with the beard and top hat, that's Cyrus Field, the American businessman who organized this massive project. And over there, directing the cable machinery, is Professor William Thomson, later known as Lord Kelvin, who designed much of the electrical equipment. These men have already tried and failed twice to lay this cable, it's snapped mid-ocean both times, but they've persevered.
The cable they're feeding into the ocean is actually quite complex. At its core are seven copper wires twisted together to carry electrical signals. Those are wrapped in three layers of a natural type of latex for insulation. Then come layers of tarred hemp and finally 18 strands of iron wire for protection. The whole cable is about as thick as a garden hose but weighs over a ton per mile!
Look! They're sending a test signal through the cable right now. The telegraph operator is tapping out a message in Morse code on that device, it's traveling all the way across the Atlantic to Newfoundland in Canada, and they're receiving a reply!
This is such an important moment. Once completed, this cable will allow news, information, and personal messages to cross the ocean in minutes instead of weeks. It will connect continents like never before. Queen Victoria will soon send the first official message to President James Buchanan. The world is shrinking before our eyes.
But unfortunately, not for long. There's something bittersweet about this particular moment. The first transatlantic cable will work for only about three weeks before failing. The operators will apply too much voltage and damage the insulation. But failure is a part of innovation and change. Things don’t always work out the way we want them too, and as a result, we have to decide between quitting or taking a step back, thinking about how to improve what we’re doing, and trying again. History does not remember those who quit. It remembers those who tried again. Every inventor has gone through a process like that, and for these men, the mere fact that it worked at all proved the concept enough that by 1866, a permanent cable will be successfully laid.
That tiny piece of copper wire in Grandfather's pocket watch is likely a souvenir from this very cable, a small piece of the first physical connection between continents.
Let's head back to the study before we get drenched by those approaching storm clouds.
We're back in the study, still feeling the gentle sway of the ship! Let's see what the notebook says about today's adventure.
We just witnessed the laying of the first transatlantic telegraph cable in August 1858. After multiple failed attempts, Cyrus Field and a team of engineers successfully created the first communications link between Europe and North America. Though this first cable lasted only a few weeks, it demonstrated that instantaneous communication across oceans was possible, forever changing how the world shared information.
The transatlantic cable was a technological marvel of its age, comparable to landing on the Moon or creating the internet in later eras. It dramatically reduced communication time between continents from weeks to minutes, transforming business, diplomacy, news reporting, and personal connections across vast distances.
Remember our word of the day? That's right, connection. The transatlantic cable created a physical connection between continents, but more importantly, it connected people, ideas, and cultures. That small piece of copper wire in Grandfather's pocket watch isn't just a souvenir; it's a fragment of the first global communications network, the beginning of our connected world.
What an incredible moment! We saw how human ingenuity and perseverance could overcome even the vast Atlantic Ocean. Thanks for joining me in Sketches in History. Don't forget to subscribe to the 15-Minute History Podcast so you'll never miss an adventure. If you have a historical moment you'd like to visit, send your ideas to 15minutehistory@gmail.com.
Until next time, keep wondering, keep imagining, and remember—the past is just a page away.
Discussion Questions
1. How do you think people felt when they could suddenly communicate across the ocean in minutes instead of weeks?
2. How is the transatlantic telegraph cable similar to modern technologies like the internet?
3. Why do you think people kept trying to lay the cable even after failing multiple times?
4. What other inventions throughout history have connected people in new ways?
Landing of the Transatlantic telegraph cable of 1866 at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland, by Robert Charles Dudley, 1866