Submarine Telegraph Company
The Submarine Telegraph Company was a British firm that laid and ran cables under the sea to connect Britain with continental Europe.
The story begins with the Brett brothers, Jacob and John Watkins, who helped form the English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company to lay the first telegraph cable across the English Channel. In 1850 they laid an unarmoured cable insulated with gutta-percha. That cable failed after being damaged by a French fishing boat or by rocks along the coast. Gutta-percha was a new, sea‑water–resistant insulator made from natural rubber.
To try again, the Bretts reformed as the Submarine Telegraph Company and laid a new cable in 1851. This second cable had four conductors and was armoured with iron wires. Telegraphs between Britain and France began to work in October 1851, making it the first successful undersea cable linking two countries.
The company continued to lay and operate more cables between England and the Continent, and these assets were eventually nationalised in 1890. Through a series of mergers, the business became part of Cable & Wireless.
The Times marked the 50th anniversary of the first cable in 1900, and Cable & Wireless and the Science Museum noted a 100th anniversary in 1950.
Background and early efforts
In 1847 the Bretts obtained a concession from the French government to lay a Channel cable, but nothing came of it. In 1849 Charles Vincent Walker of the South Eastern Railway demonstrated a gutta-percha insulated cable that could carry messages from a ship to London. This proof of principle helped show gutta-percha could work for underwater cables.
The first Channel attempt in 1850 used unarmoured, gutta-percha insulated cable to cross the gateway of water. It was very light and needed weights to sink. But the cable suffered from serious technical flaws: the insulation often had air pockets, the conductors could stand too close to the surface, and the joints were unreliable. Messages tended to degrade or be misread, and the line soon failed.
Renovating the project, the company rebuilt with a stronger, four-conductor cable and iron armour. The new manufacturing and laying process faced delays and disputes, notably a patent clash over wire rope with a firm called Newall. The finished cable was about 25 nautical miles long, much longer and heavier than previous cables, and its laying required careful moving and splicing at sea.
The Channel link re-opened on October 15, 1851, after a useable joint was finally completed between South Foreland and Dover. A temporary connection from Sangatte to Calais was used until a permanent armoured section could be laid. The line opened to the public on November 19, 1851, with a ceremonial exchange of cannon fire between Dover and Calais.
This cable was the first working undersea telegraph link between two countries. Although early submarine cables faced many technical problems—uneven insulation, inconsistent conductor sizes, and difficult joints—the work proved the concept and laid the groundwork for many more cables in the years to come.
In 1863 the gutta-percha company merged with Glass, Eliot & Company to form the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, and by 1890 the Submarine Telegraph Company’s assets were taken over by the General Post Office.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 19:49 (CET).