Work Through Time: Cape Breton Stories of Land & Sea

Frederick Newton Gisborne, a young Englishman and descendant of Sir Isaac Newton, first conceived of the idea of a cable. He had immigrated to Canada, studied Morse code and settled in Halifax where he worked for the Nova Scotia Government.

Initially he sought to hire fast packets to St. John’s Newfoundland, use a land line across the island to Port aux Basques or Cape Ray and carrier pigeons between there and Cape Breton. However by 1845, John Brett had successfully laid a cable across the English Channel, connecting the British Isles with the continent. Gisborne went to England, brought back some cable and succeeded in linking P.E.I. with New Brunswick.

Unfortunately, he did not have the income to see the project through on Cape Breton. Earlier in New York, however, he had met Cyrus Field, a wealthy retired merchant who appeared to be interested in the undertaking.

They formed a small but powerful company: The New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, which on September 5, 1855 purchased a lot of land from Alexander MacDonald in Aspy Bay. On it they erected a building and the infrastructure required for the western end of the cable. In all, five countries were involved: England, Canada, Ireland, Newfoundland and the United States.

The Sarah L. Bryant brought the eighty-five miles of cable needed from England to Newfoundland. The American side-wheeler James Adgar was detailed to help lay the cable. Cyrus Field thought it would be good policy and publicity if socially and financially prominent New Yorkers were present on the James Adgar to witness the laying of the cable so the affair took place with a party air.

Rough weather almost prevented the Newfoundland end of the cable from being put ashore at Port aux Basques. The cable was coiled on rafts manned by Newfoundland fishermen. Waves upset the rafts, throwing everything into the water. The fishermen’s dogs, seeing their masters in distress, swam out and instinctively helped bring the cables ashore. The project was doomed to failure, for that year between Port aux Basques and Cape North a gale forced the layers to cut the cable before someone drowned.

However, the next year, 1856, another attempt – this time successful – was made. The cable came ashore at Aspy Bay, in Cabot’s Landing. It was laid to a small hut where landlines then carried it over the mountain to Ingonish and onto the mainland.

The first official message was sent from the company Directors in England to the Company Directors in America on August 16, 1856. On the same day Queen Victoria wired a message, part of which is, “an additional link between the two nations whose friendship is founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem", to which American President Buchanan replied on August 17th, "Europe and America are united by telegraph; Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace, good will toward man.” This was the sole cable link between the Old and New Worlds from 1856-1867. In later years, a cable between Placentia Bay and North Sydney was laid and the cable at Aspy Bay became a spare. It was used as such until 1872, when all transmissions through it ceased.

This account of the early laying of transatlantic cable has been provided courtesy of the North Highlands Community Museum & Archives.

© 2009 North Highlands Community Museum & Archives