Inventions & Discoveries · Communication and computing
Transatlantic telegraph cable
The transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables laid across the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communication between Europe and the Americas. The Atlantic Telegraph Company, led by Cyrus West Field, laid the first from Valentia Island off Ireland to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and it carried its first messages on August 16, 1858, among them Queen Victoria's congratulations to President James Buchanan, but it failed after three weeks. Cables laid from the SS Great Eastern in 1865 and 1866 proved durable, and since 1866 the continents have been linked, so that a message could be answered on the same day rather than after weeks by ship.
On the inventions tree
- First known
- 1858
- Where
- Valentia Island, Ireland, to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland
- Credited to
- Cyrus West Field · Charles Tilston Bright · William Thomson · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland · United States
Built onElectrical telegraph1816
See also
Cite this entry
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Transatlantic telegraph cable. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/transatlantic-telegraph-cable
- MLA
- “Transatlantic telegraph cable.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/transatlantic-telegraph-cable. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Transatlantic telegraph cable.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/transatlantic-telegraph-cable.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Transatlantic telegraph cable’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/transatlantic-telegraph-cable (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻