ABSTRACT
The success of the Channel cable led to a boom in submarine telegraphy-to the delight of the directors of the Gutta Percha Company. With a virtual monopoly on the supply of gutta-percha, they suddenly found they were sitting on a gold mine. The problem of laying a telegraph link across a stretch of water seemed to have been
cracked: It was simply a matter of making sure that the cable was properly insulated, strong enough not to break, and heavy enough to sink, and that messages weren’t sent too quickly along it. Before long Dover had been linked to Ostend, and after two failed attempts England was linked to Ireland in 1853. Further underwater links across the North Sea directly connected Britain with the coasts of Germany, Russia, and Holland. John Brett soon turned his attention to linking Europe with Africa and succeeded in connecting Corsica and Sardinia to Genoa on the European mainland in 1854. But the following year, he failed in his attempt to reach the North African coast, which involved laying a cable across the deepest and most mountainous part of the Mediterranean seabed. Brett lost a lot of money, and his failure proved that there were limits to submarine telegraphy after all. The prospect of linking Europe and North America seemed as far away as ever.
