Heading out of Trinity Bay, about midway along the eastern shore one passes the small outports of Hearts Delight, Hearts Desire and Hearts Content. Each of these small towns is as charming as the other; but, one holds a place in messaging history.

As fellow Manchester Yacht Club member Philip Leahy reminded me when I wrote a previous post about Marconi’s first trans-Atlantic radio telegraph communication, there already was a way of communicating across the sea at the speed of light. Hearts Content holds this honor. After a few other failed attempts to lay a cable across the Atlantic seabed, in 1866 a cable from Valentia Island, Ireland was carefully laid across and brought into Hearts Content. The harbor was chosen in part for its closeness to Europe and, also, because of the deep water that was required by the cable laying ship.

Not just ay ship was equal to the task. In the end, there was really only one, Great Eastern, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. When she was launched in 1858, Great Eastern was the largest ship afloat in the world. She could be powered by sail, paddlewheels or a propellor. She was 692 feet long and had proved unsuccessful in the passenger and freight trade, partly because her size prohibited her from many ports. But, she was just what was needed to hold 2,700 miles of cable stored on mammoth reels in her hold. And, the depth of water in Hearts Content could accommodate her, as shown in the photo of her arrival in the harbor.

The first message sent across the cable was from Queen Victoria to President Andrew Jackson regarding the signing of a peace treaty between Austria and Prussia. Over the next fifty years a total of five upgraded cables were brought ashore, carrying an ever greater capacity for messages in Morse Code. The truly astonishing things is that The Hearts Content Cable Station remained in active use up until 1965 providing a crucial link across the Atlantic, first made possible by the Great Eastern’s feat of cable laying. The main room, in the photo above, shows the space as it was when it closed in 1965. It seems each little outport I visit has some remarkable tale to tell. And, each has a wonderful name!

I could not get a message out yesterday due to Internet issues; things are back up today.

Bill

Tazzarin's Whale & Iceberg logo design by Emily Dove