Route Selection and Cable Laying for the Transatlantic Cable System

In t h e d a y s of C y r u s Field, Lord Kelvin a n d those other foresighted a n d courageous e n t r e p r e n e u r s of t h e early transoceanic s u b m a r i n e cable era, t h e risks involved in selecting a route a n d laying such a cable m u s t h a v e appeared formidable beyond description. And indeed they were, for not until the third a t t e m p t was a cable successfully laid. T o d a y t h e h a z a r d s m a y be somewhat more predictable, our knowledge of t h e ocean b o t t o m m o r e refined and our tools improved, b u t only to a degree. T h e task still remains extremely exacting in its d e m a n d s for sound engineering j u d g m e n t , careful preparation, high grade seamanship, a n d good luck -- weatherwise. F o r t h e basic m e t h o d s now in use are still r e m a r k a b l y like those employed on Great Eastern a n d other early cable ships a n d t h e meteorological, geographical and topographical problems have changed n o t at all. In t h e current t r a n s a t l a n t i c project -- t h e first transoceanic telephone cable system -- there are t w o s u b m a r i n e links. Between Clarenville in N e w f o u n d l a n d , and O b a n in Scotland there lie some 1,850 nautical miles§ of N o r t h Atlantic w a t e r , most of it deep a n d all of it subject to * American Telephone and Telegraph Company, f Brit ish Post Office. J Bell Telephone Laboratories. § A nautical mile, as used herein, is 6,087 feet, 15.3 per cent longer than a statute mile.