Cable Laying Foilhummerum Bay, near Valentia, Ireland, 1866

Cable Laying Foilhummerum Bay, near Valentia, Ireland, 1866. Lithograph after Robert Dudley from 'The Atlantic Telegraph', a book by W H Russell with 26 illustrations by Dudley, published in 1866. It was from this coastal site that the first attempts to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable were made, first with the 'Agamemnon' in 1858 and later with Brunel's 'Great Eastern' in 1865 and 1866. Cables were laid from Valentia to Trinity Bay in Newfoundland. This shows the landing of the shore end of the cable from the ïGreat EasternÍ on 22 July 1866. The ïGreat EasternÍ then sailed across the Atlantic, paying out the cable as she went, successfully establishing the first permanent transatlantic telegraph link. This reduced communication times from the length of a sea voyage to a few seconds. ©SSPL/Science Museum