History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications
from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

1853 England - Belgium (Dover - Ostend) Cable
by Bill Glover

1853 ENGLAND - BELGIUM SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH CABLE

The Submarine Telegraph Company contracted R. S. Newall and Company to manufacture and lay a cable from St. Margaret’s Bay near Dover to Middlekerke, Belgium.

The core was manufactured by the Gutta Percha Company and consisted of six copper wires of No 16 BWG covered with two layers of gutta percha to No 2 BWG. The armouring was carried out at Newall’s factory in Sunderland. First they applied a wrapping of jute soaked in pitch, then the armouring, consisting of 12 No 2 BWG iron wires, was added.

Manufacturing the cable took 100 days, and the cost including laying was £33,000. Prior to loading, the cable was stored in Newall’s yard in a coil measuring 51 ft on the outside, 28 ft on the inside and 4 ft 8 in. high. Loading into the William Hutt, a vessel chartered by Newall’s for the expedition, began on 26 April and took 70 hours.

The company asked the Admiralty for assistance in buoying the course and they supplied Captain John Washington to oversee the work, with HMS Lizard (Commander Ricketts) and HMP Vivid (Captain Smithett) to carry out the laying of the buoys. William Hutt arrived at Dover, with the cable crew on Sunday 30 April and on the following day attempts were made to start buoying the route, but after two buoys had been launched 10 and 20 miles out from St. Margaret’s the attempt was abandoned because of bad weather.

Preparations were made to start laying on the Tuesday but the weather was still rough during the morning. By the evening the weather and the state of the sea had improved and the crews were called to get the ship ready to sail at first light. Once the sea mist had cleared on the Wednesday morning William Hutt, Lord Warden, a steam tug based at Dover, and HMS Lizard came within 500 yards of the shore off the South Foreland lighthouse, where William Hutt offloaded 200 yards of cable into a large boat which then made its way to shore.

Cable from the ship was payed out and this was supported by a small flotilla of fishing boats which took up position as the cable was paid out. The 200 yards of cable was laid up to a cave at the foot of the cliffs where Telegraph Engineer, Mr. J. W. Reid Jnr., connected it to the telegraph instruments already in the cave. An assistant was left to look after the instruments, which would be used to keep in touch with the William Hutt during the laying.

At 6.10 am William Hutt towed by Lord Warden commenced laying the main cable towards Belgium. Towing was necessary because the cable in William Hutt made it impossible to use the ships’ compass. Speed gradually increased until it reached 5 knots per hour. Within half an hour of starting out the squadron was enveloped in fog and those on board William Hutt couldn’t see the Lord Warden which was only a short distance in front. The expedition stopped laying and it wasn’t until around 8.00 pm when the tide changed and the fog disappeared that they were able to restart. While stationary the Belgian Mail Packet made contact and on reaching Belgium passed on messages to the authorities who immediately dispatched the Government steamer La Rubis to assist. At 1.00 am on the Thursday morning it was decided to anchor and wait for daylight before approaching Middlekerke.

Laying recommenced at first light and at 3.00 pm the flotilla was off the landing site. Rough weather once again intervened so the cable was buoyed and the squadron made for Ostend. The following morning the cable end was recovered and loaded into a boat which was towed ashore, where the cable was taken into the coastguards hut. The telegraph equipment there was connected and just before 1.00 pm on Friday 6 May 1853 direct communication with England was established.

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