History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications How
submarine cables are made, CABLES ARE MADE, LAID, Although it is
more than sixty-four years since oceanic telegraph communication
was established, the first submarine telegraph line being laid
between Dover, England, and Calais, France, in 1850, and
although there are now (1914) upwards of 322,000 nautical miles
of submarine cables in operation throughout the entire world,
the great majority of the public seems to know very little about
the making, laying and operation of cables. The general belief
is that a submarine cable is very large in diameter and contains
numerous electrical conductors; some people even suppose that a
submarine cable is a sort of pneumatic tube through which the
original message is passed. Submarine telegraphy has often been
described in scientific books and publications, but the
technicality of such descriptions leaves nothing but a vague and
confusing comprehension to any but students of the science. The
purpose of this pape