Messages under the sea-the development of submarine cable telegraphy

In 1843 a dried tree sap was discovered which proved an ideal electrical insulator underwater, unlike india rubber which deteriorates. The first field trial was in 1850 when the Brett brothers brought Wheatstones' Dover-Calais proposal to fruition. The author looks at the development of submarine cable telegraphy and in particular the Porthcurno Cable Station, Cornwall.<
>