# Canonical recap data for Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Completed (1858)
# Source: https://recap.at/1858/transatlantic-telegraph-cable
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: transatlantic-telegraph-cable
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1858/transatlantic-telegraph-cable"
title: Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Completed
aliases:
- First transatlantic telegraph cable
- Great Eastern telegraph project
- 1858 Atlantic cable
- Cyrus Field's telegraph cable
subtitle: ""
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1858-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1858
decade: 1850
country:
name: United Kingdom
slug: united-kingdom
summaryShort: After years of failed attempts, the first successful transatlantic telegraph cable was completed in August 1858, allowing near-instantaneous communication between North America and Europe for the first time.
summaryLong: |-
  The dream of connecting continents by telegraph had consumed engineers and investors for over a decade before success arrived in 1858. Cyrus Field, an American businessman, led the effort to lay a submarine cable across the Atlantic Ocean—a technical challenge that seemed almost absurd at the time. The cable itself was only about as thick as a pencil, yet it had to survive the crushing pressure of the ocean floor while carrying electrical signals across 1,956 nautical miles of water.

  The first attempt in 1857 failed when the cable snapped mid-Atlantic, but Field and his team—working with British engineer Charles Bright and chief electrician Edward Whitehouse—regrouped and tried again. This time they used two ships, HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara, meeting in the middle of the ocean to splice the cable. On August 5, 1858, after weeks of careful laying, the cable reached both shores intact. Queen Victoria sent the first official transatlantic message to President James Buchanan that same day, taking roughly 16 hours to transmit due to signal degradation.

  The practical telegraph service lasted only about three weeks before the cable failed completely—likely due to Whitehouse's overly aggressive testing procedures that damaged the insulation. News of the failure was a public embarrassment, and for nearly a decade no permanent cable existed. But the breakthrough proved the concept sound. When a reliable cable was finally established in 1866, the transatlantic telegraph transformed international business, journalism, and diplomacy. Stock prices, shipping news, and diplomatic cables could cross the ocean in minutes instead of weeks.

  For contemporary observers, the cable represented something close to magic. The London Times called it the greatest achievement of the age. Mark Twain, ever the skeptic, noted that the cable worked just long enough to demonstrate it could work, then promptly broke. The 1858 cable was ultimately a technical failure and a commercial one, but it proved that the impossible was merely difficult—and that difference mattered more than most people realized.
lede: In August 1858, engineers successfully laid a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, creating an electrical connection between North America and Europe. Queen Victoria and President James Buchanan exchanged the first official messages across it, though the cable failed after just three weeks. The feat was technically fragile but symbolically enormous—it demonstrated that instantaneous transatlantic communication was possible, setting the stage for the reliable cables that would reshape global commerce and news.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Landing_of_the_Atlantic_Cable_of_1866%2C_Heart%27s_Content%2C_Newfoundland.jpg/1280px-Landing_of_the_Atlantic_Cable_of_1866%2C_Heart%27s_Content%2C_Newfoundland.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Transatlantic telegraph cable"
importance: 50
sourceConfidence: 50
keyFacts:
- label: Cable length
  value: 1,956 nautical miles (3,628 kilometers)
- label: Year completed
  value: "1858"
- label: Date signal achieved
  value: August 5, 1858
- label: Cable diameter
  value: Approximately 0.75 inches (19 millimeters)
- label: Ships used for laying
  value: HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara
- label: First official message transmission time
  value: Approximately 16 hours (Queen Victoria to President Buchanan)
- label: Functional lifespan
  value: Approximately 3 weeks
- label: Lead engineer
  value: Cyrus Field
- label: Previous failed attempt
  value: "1857"
timeline:
- date: 1854-01-01
  title: Cyrus Field proposes transatlantic cable
  description: American businessman Cyrus Field begins advocating for a submarine telegraph cable to connect North America and Europe, assembling investors and engineering support.
- date: 1857-08-01
  title: First cable attempt launched
  description: HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara begin laying the first transatlantic telegraph cable, departing from Ireland toward Newfoundland.
- date: 1857-08-11
  title: First cable snaps
  description: The cable breaks in mid-Atlantic after approximately 380 miles have been laid. The expedition returns, and Field begins planning for another attempt.
- date: 1858-07-17
  title: Second cable expedition departs
  description: HMS Agamemnon and USS Niagara again set out to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable, with improved designs and procedures.
- date: 1858-08-05
  title: Cable reaches both continents
  description: The cable successfully connects Valentia Island, Ireland to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. Queen Victoria sends the first official transatlantic message to President James Buchanan.
- date: 1858-08-16
  title: Cable signal degradation worsens
  description: Communication across the cable becomes increasingly difficult due to signal degradation and damage from high-voltage testing by chief electrician Edward Whitehouse.
- date: 1858-09-01
  title: Cable fails completely
  description: The transatlantic telegraph cable ceases functioning entirely after approximately three weeks of intermittent service. The failure is attributed to insulation damage from over-testing.
- date: 1866-07-27
  title: Permanent cable established
  description: A reliable transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully laid by the Great Eastern, establishing permanent and practical transatlantic telegraph service between North America and Europe.
sources: []
related: []
relationships:
- targetSlug: first-transatlantic-telegraph-cable
  type: replaced_by
  confidence: 92
  evidence: The 1858 cable operated for only three weeks before failing; the 1866 cable was a successful redesign using better insulation and thicker copper that finally provided reliable transatlantic telegraph service.
  source: ai
- targetSlug: alexander-graham-bell-telephone
  type: anticipated
  confidence: 78
  evidence: The telegraph cable proved electrical signals could cross the Atlantic reliably, establishing the technical and commercial foundation that made transatlantic telephone service (first achieved via radio in 1906) inevitable.
  source: ai
- targetSlug: first-transatlantic-broadcast
  type: evolved_into
  confidence: 75
  evidence: The telegraph cable demonstrated the commercial viability and technical feasibility of real-time transatlantic communication, paving the way for Marconi's 1906 transatlantic radio broadcast as a superior but conceptually similar infrastructure.
  source: ai
gallery: []
culturalContext:
topMusic:
- title: God Save the Queen
  artist: Traditional (British National Anthem)
  year: 1858
  note: Played at celebrations of the cable's completion in both London and New York as a symbol of shared imperial connection.
topFilms: []
topTVShows: []
zeitgeistNote: "The 1858 cable completion arrived during peak Victorian optimism about technological progress and British imperial reach. Newspapers across Europe and America celebrated it as proof of human mastery over nature and distance. The cable broke down repeatedly in its first years, but those failures only intensified public determination to fix what had been briefly glimpsed: a world where continents could converse. Charles Dickens and other literary figures seized on the cable as a metaphor for progress itself."
comparisonThenNow:
- metric: Transatlantic Message Transmission Speed
  thenValue: Approximately 8 words per minute (limited by cable capacity and operator skill)
  thenYear: 1858
  nowValue: 300+ megabits per second (fiber optic)
  nowYear: 2024
  note: The 1858 cable operated at roughly 1/5,000,000th the bandwidth of modern submarine fiber.
- metric: Cost of Transatlantic Communication (per word)
  thenValue: $1.00–$1.50 USD (approximately $35–$50 in 2024 dollars)
  thenYear: 1858
  nowValue: Effectively $0 (included in broadband subscription)
  nowYear: 2024
- metric: Number of Active Transatlantic Cable Routes
  thenValue: 1 functional cable (after multiple failures)
  thenYear: 1858
  nowValue: Over 20 major submarine cables
  nowYear: 2024
- metric: Time for News to Travel London to New York
  thenValue: 10–14 days by ship; instantaneous by cable (but limited by capacity)
  thenYear: 1858
  nowValue: Microseconds
  nowYear: 2024
impactStatement: The completion of the transatlantic telegraph cable in 1858 collapsed the communication gap between continents, shrinking the effective distance between London and New York from weeks to seconds. For the first time, news, markets, and diplomacy could move at the speed of electrical current across the ocean, fundamentally reshaping global commerce and geopolitics.
consequences:
- title: Reuters News Agency Expansion
  year: 1870
  description: Reuters shifted from carrier-pigeon-based news distribution to telegraph relay, becoming the first truly global news wire service and establishing the template for modern international journalism.
- title: Transatlantic Stock Market Synchronization
  year: 1880
  description: Price differentials between London and New York exchanges compressed dramatically as traders could now act on price signals in real time, creating the first integrated transatlantic financial market.
- title: Cable Diplomacy During Crises
  year: 1898
  description: The Spanish-American War saw direct real-time diplomatic communication between Washington and European capitals, allowing governments to coordinate responses and threats instantly rather than through weeks-delayed dispatches.
- title: Submarine Cable Monopoly Consolidation
  year: 1900
  description: British telegraph companies merged into large conglomerates after realizing the strategic and commercial value of controlling transatlantic cable routes, establishing patterns of infrastructure consolidation still visible today.
archiveSnapshots: []
categories:
- tech-launch
metaDescription: "1858: The first successful telegraph cable spanning the Atlantic Ocean connected Europe and North America. Communication that once took weeks now happened in minutes. History's first global network."
originSignals:
- "wikipedia:1858/transatlantic-telegraph-cable"
