2-913-667 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Laying down the Mediterranean Electric Telegraph Cable at Spezia, 1854. Cable-laying between Italy and Corsica. 'The Mediterranean Electric Telegraph, of which the first submarine portion has thus happily been laid down, was originated by Mr. [John Watkins] Brett in the beginning of 1853, for the purpose of joining Africa with Europe, with the intention of pushing eastward thence, either by land, or via Malta, so as to unite ultimately with the telegraphic system now being established in our Indian possessions....The great work was consummated by a gun being fired on board the Persian by an electric spark passing twice to Santa Croce and back, through the whole length of the cable on board and in the water - that is to say, along 440 miles of wire, awakening the echoes of the Corsican hills with the tidings of their now being joined to the mainland...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.