CHAPTER II

THE FIRST SUBMARINE CABLE

I hear the story of the cable, see Marie Antoinette’s snuff-box, and hear about the ice-boats. I hunt for the aboiteau in Tryon, and Visit

Crapaud and Victoria. I see the cairn at Holland Cove and think of the Duke of Kent.

ATE in the year 1852, there was great excitement near the present town of Borden. From the cliff a long snake-like affair entered the water

and emerged some distance further on at Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick. This “snake” was the first submarine telegraph cable ever successfully laid in America. No longer were the neighbouring provinces to be an outside world. No longer would the Island be a spirit apart. For as long as people can talk to each other they are not really alone.

The cable was no sudden discovery. Much research had been done in England to make it possible. Tele- graphy worked well on land. But the difficulty lay in getting it across rivers. There was no insulating substance known at that time in which wires could be enclosed and buried in water. Finally, gutta percha was tried. Success! Then to America with the good news . . . But it was no easy matter to lay a cable, especially at the approach of winter.

The vessel containing the cable could not get within a mile of the shore. A call for help was sent out. With the assistance of four horses, four oxen, and a kedge anchor, the cable was soon made fast around a post. The suspense was awful. It was laid, of course, but would it work?

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