Pacific Cable and then later that for an All-British Atlantic Cable,
has been called upon itself to put into practice the latter, and now
appears as an exponent of " All Red " cables generally. The
department in question did much fine work during the war. At
the very outset on the eve of Aug. 4 1914, indeed its principal
telegraph ship, the " Monarch," set forth for the N., where many
emergency cables were forthwith laid. It was not long, however,
before she met her glorious end, and her "shattered bones" are
now lying on the bed of the English Channel the scene of most
of her work. She was one of the very first vessels to be especially
designed for cable-laying and repairing.
Another telegraph ship that met her end over the war was the " Dacia," owned by the Silvertown Company. This vessel had accomplished a great deal in her time, and during July 1915- Feb. 1916 she effected cable communications between Brest (France) and Casablanca (Morocco), by cutting in at suitable positions and picking up and relaying part of the Borkum-Tener- iffe cable belonging to Germany. Nearly 450 n.m. of cable were picked up and relaid on this occasion, part of it in a depth of 2,000 to 2,500 fathoms. She then proceeded to establish communica- tion between Casablanca (Morocco) and Dakar (W. Africa), by cutting in, picking up and relaying portions of the Teneriffe- Monrovia cable belonging to Germany. Eight hundred n.m. of deep-sea cable were on this occasion recovered and relaid in an average depth of over 2,000 fathoms. We have here a " record " in cable work. It was undertaken for the French Administration, and Casablanca had not up to that time been connected to Europe by submarine cable. The cable facilitated the sending of troops to France by Morocco and Senegal when greatly needed.
Messrs. Siemens Brothers' unique and highly efficient tele- graph ship " Faraday " originally designed by the late Sir William Siemens, F.R.S. also achieved much during the course of the war on behalf of the British Post Office, which had at one time in commission practically every telegraph ship available, including the largest (T. S. " Colonia ").
Even though observing constant vigilance, a telegraph ship, when effecting a repair, being deprived of manceuvring powers by attachment to the cable, is peculiarly vulnerable to anything like a torpedo attack. It is, therefore, something to be able to say that the Post Office kept Britain and the European conti- nent in continuous electrical communication. During the early part of the war telegraph ships went about their business alone and unattended, but with the development of intense submarine warfare naval escorts had to be provided by the Admiralty. Escorts are not, however, a safeguard against submerged mines, and so it was that the old " Monarch " met her fate, going down with her flag flying. On one occasion a telegraph ship on repair- ing work hove up a mine with the cable, but beyond damage to machinery and breakage of crockery, no harm was done.
Apart from the disposal of four of the world's telegraph fleet, 1 there were only two instances of Germany getting the best of things in the matter of cable communication. Within the first year of the war, a German man-of-war landed a party on the deserted beach of Fanning I., and this party succeeded in cutting the All-British Pacific cable there. The other case was that of the "Eastern" cable landed at Keeling-Cocos. Here again the attacking party from the " Emden " succeeded in cutting the cables, 2 but an alarm signal which had been got through led to the " Emden's " final doom. In this case great enterprise was shown by the " Eastern " Co.'s superintendent, and in neither instance was the interruption very serious or lengthy. Though there were only these two cases of enemy disturbance of the Allies' cables, many were rendered dumb from the wear and tear of four years, during which time it was impossible to effect re- pairs, for lack of suitable ships and the risk of exposing slow- moving vessels to enemy attack.
1 The total number of such vessels in 1921 was 49, of which some half dozen were owned by contractors for the original laying of ocean cables, the rest being smaller vessels, of the cable working companies, for subsequent repairing operations.
2 The officials in charge had, however, prepared a ruse by utilizing some spare cable as a dummy, and this dummy the Germans solemnly cut.
During the latter part of the war, the American submarine cables on the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean coasts were taken under control of the United States Government. Inter alia there was a feeling that considerable advantage would attach to the coordina- tion of all the telegraph systems throughout the country. Even- tually ( Nov. 2 1918 ) the U.S. Postmaster-General also assumed administrative control of all cable landing on U.S. territory, after the necessary negotiations with other countries concerned had been carried through. Control ended on May 2 1919.
Post-war Developments. War wastage, the banning of private codes, considerable general increase of traffic 3 (partly owing to ab- sence of mails) and voluminous Government messages, were all responsible for an appalling cable congestion during the war, the result being several days' sometimes even weeks' delay in the transit of messages on most of the more important trunk lines. Though, after the Armistice things became somewhat easier, with the withdrawal of the censorship and the renewal of private codes, the ultimate delivery of cablegrams was even in 1921 a very slow business. When the Marconi Trans-Atlantic wireless service was re-established some measure of relief was felt. Un- fortunately, however, it was only capable of dealing with a small proportion of the ordinary prevailing cable traffic. The hamper- ing of trade, during the war, by the prohibition of most private cable codes, was very considerable. To take an example, a cer- tain firm had been in the habit of sending every week some 40 cablegrams at an average of i each. The cost of the same mes- sages in plain English would have been some 320.
Most of the cables requiring repairs after the war had been attended to by 1921, but there was still considerable delay on cablegrams, even though the lines were being worked at their full capacity, day and night.
When it is remembered that in the year before the war (1913) 826,000 messages passed through the two Atlantic cables then connecting the United States with Germany/ it will be realized what it meant to American commerce alone to be deprived of these direct cable connexions. In 1921 it was planned to lay a new Atlantic cable between the two countries, and to extend the German cable that had been taken into Brest by the French, as a compromise, to central or northern Europe with a landing en route off Denmark.
Ever since all of what were formerly British Atlantic cables passed, in 1912, into the administrative hands of the Western Union Telegraph Co. of America, the British Government had been strongly urged as, indeed, for many years previously to establish a State Atlantic Cable as a connecting link with the All-British Pacific Cable. The war only served to accentuate this view. Whilst the capture and diversion of the German At- lantic Cable (taken into Penzance and Halifax) went some way to meet requirements, this line had not only been irregular in its performance but much congested with traffic, largely American. When therefore, in 1919, the Western Union Co. brought to an end their lease of the Direct United States Co.'s cable system between Ballinskelligs (Ireland), Halifax (Nova Sco- tia) and Halifax-Rye Beach (United States) on the ground of it being so constantly out of operation the British Government entered into negotiations, towards the end of 1920, for the pur- chase of the line at a cost of 570,000, or scarcely more than half the value of a new cable. When this is given effect the line together with the Imperial Pacific Line will form a complete and strictly "All Red" route between the Mother Country and Australia. Though the line (originally laid in 1874) is even of more ancient order than the ex-German cables, British Imperial needs will, to a great extent, be met. The shortcomings will be further met when a Canadian land line, connecting the All- British Atlantic and Pacific Cables, is provided.
The All-British Pacific Cable, first laid in 1902, has more than justified itself. During its first year scarcely more than 200,000
r In the case of the Eastern Co.'s system this was more than doubled by the war. Thus, the annual gross receipts of the company were about 2,000,000 more than previously, and much the same applies to others in the same group.
4 In actual fact these cables accounted for 32 % of the total traffic of the Commercial Cable Company.
