Telegraphy, Equipment Printing telegraph used to send the first submarine telegraph message, 1851 (Equipement telegraphique...

Telegraphy, Equipment Printing telegraph used to send the first submarine telegraph message, 1851 (Equipement telegraphique utilise pour transmettre le premier message sous marin en 1851). This printing telegraph was used to transmit the first submarine telegraph message. In 1845, the English chemist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) discovered gutta perchas properties as an electrical insulator. Jacob Brett and John Watkins Brett of Bristol immediately saw its potential for use in submarine telegraphy and in 1849 formed The English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company. On 28 August 1850, the company successfully laid an underwater cable from Dover to Cap Gris Nez, near Calais, in France. Although the cable was broken within days by chafing on the rocks, it proved that messages could be conveyed beneath the channel by means of electricity. ©SSPL/Science Museum