The Telegraph System.

Jersey, being only a relatively small outpost of the British Empire, was fortunate in having one of the earliest submarine telegraph systems. Indeed the installation of the first UK-Channel Islands link was made concurrently with the first attempted (but abortive) trans-Atlantic cable in 1858. The technological advance was remarkable. It had not been long since the first electric telegraph had been demonstrated by Wheatstone in 1937. The first commercial telegraph was installed from Paddington to West Drayton in 1839. This used a system of 6 wires and demonstrated the feasibility

The Wheatstone Cook Needle Telegraph used on the Great Western Railway Paddington to Slough Line

of telegraphy. But it was Samuel Morse who revolutionised communications with the invention of Morse Code patented in 1838. The first commercial link using the Morse code opened from Baltimore to Washington in 1844. After this telegraphs blossomed everywhere. Most of the first telegraph circuits were constructed across land using poles and open wires, however the first successful submarine cable was laid in 1851 from Dover to Calais for Thomas Crampton and his Submarine Telegraph Company.

By 1858 there were telegraph lines everywhere, including several submarine systems, an expansion greatly promoted by the railway companies who used telegraphy extensively themselves and also provided the routes down which telegraph systems could be erected. It was under these circumstances that the desire for a telegraph connection to the UK grew. Jersey businessmen, ever keen to make use of every advantage, were greatly enthusiastic about the possibility of almost instantaneous connection with the London stock exchange.

The Channel Islands Telegraph Company

The first signs of a proposed link surfaced at the beginning of 1858. Local businessmen agreed that there would be considerable commercial advantages from having a telegraph at their disposal as had already been demonstrated in the United Kingdom. A report in the British Press and Jersey Times for 12 February said: " ..a submarine electric telegraph cable seems to be a serious proposition." and a meeting was held, reported the paper on the 16th, to propose the formation of a company to undertake the provision of a cable. In order to establish a telegraph company it would be necessary to have the expertise and to establish links with an existing carrier. For these reasons the local parties turned to the Electric and International Telegraph Company which had been formed in 1854 as a result of the amalgamation of the Electric Telegraph Company, established in 1845 and the International Telegraph Company formed in 1853 to promote cables to Holland. The Electric had a virtual monopoly on telegraph lines between major towns and cities, holding most of the railway company wayleaves.

Negotiations opened and a representation was made to Parliament to obtain landing rights. On 9 April the local Chamber of Commerce reported that Her Majesty's Government were prepared to contribute toward the maintenance of such a cable provided that it served all of the Channel Islands.

The idea of a telegraph link with the UK certainly fired the imagination of the editor of the British Press and Jersey Times as he reported on the 20th that if such a cable was in place news held over from Portugal would certainly have been published much earlier! By 14 May the news had reached London as the Daily News reported the proposed cable from Portland to Alderney could certainly be extended to Guernsey, Jersey and even Cherbourg which lay only a matter of 8 miles off Alderney.

By 31 May the Articles of the proposed Channel Islands Electric Telegraph Company had been drawn up at a meeting held in the British Hotel, Broad Street, Jersey. Those present included:

Mr Robert Grimstone International Telegraph Co. (Chairman)

Mr Gamble International Telegraph Co.

Mr C W Robins International Telegraph Co.

Mr E M Gordon R S Newall and Co.

Mr William Penninger Solicitor

Mr Bennett Company Accountant

Mr Le Breton Secretary Channel Islands Telegraph Co.

Jurat David De Quetteville Channel Islands Telegraph Co.(Deputy Chairman)

Philip Gossett Channel Islands Telegraph Co.

F Carrel Channel Islands Telegraph Co.

R S Newall[1] were, at that time, virtually the only manufacturer of submarine cables. Newall's core business was the manufacture of rope. They had become cable makers by virtue of holding certain patents on the enclosure of soft cores with iron wire. They had issued an injunction in 1851 against Wilkins and Wetherly who had infringed their patents during the manufacture of the first Dover Calais cable for the Submarine Telegraph Company. The outcome of this legal battle resulted in Newall's completing the cable and thus moving into the world of cable making. The company was, however, never altogether happy with this diversion and eventually abandoned cable making in 1870. R S Newall's representative at the meeting suggested that a return of around 6% per annum could be realised from such a venture. The formation of the company was therefore agreed. A vote approved a yearly retainer of £100.00 for the Company Accountant and the Company Secretary together with a grant of £50.00 each to employ a clerk.

The estimated capital required for the project was £25,000.00, a tidy sum for those days, and estimated charges were 3/- for a telegram to Weymouth and 5/- for a telegram forwarded to London. These prices were well out of the reach of the working man at that time. As a result of this meeting a flotation was made and £30,000 of working capital was raised from a number of shareholders including several local businessmen. The Channel Islands Telegraph Company was effectively a subsidiary of the Electric and International Telegraph Company which already owned and operated several other submarine cables to Holland and Ireland. (In 1855 the Electric Telegraph Company and the International Telegraph Company had merged to form the Electric and International Telegraph Company). The company was incorporated in London under the recently introduced Limited Liability Act and its registered office was at the International Telegraph Company building in Great Bell Alley, Morgate, London. The Company Chairman was Robert Grimstone, who was also the Chairman of the Electric and International Telegraph Company.

On 15 June the British Press reported somewhat optimistically:

"Two of the directors of the Channel Islands Electric Telegraph Company returned to Jersey on Thursday last, after having terminated with the Government the arrangements for the completion of the submarine line, which it is said, will be in operation by the ensuing month - we hear the 15th."

The company did, however, manage to get a grant from HM Government towards the installation and continuing maintenance of the cable. This grant was rated at 6% per annum of the capital cost of the cable and would be paid so long as the cable carried telegraph traffic.

At the end of June the cable manufacturer and contractor, W T Henley, arrived in Guernsey ready to prepare the trenches for the land part of the cable and he was expected in Jersey soon after. On 6 July the London Shipping Gazette reported: "Originally intended to go from Weymouth via Alderney to Jersey then Guernsey, the cable will now go Alderney-Guernsey-Jersey, landing at Lancress bay Alderney and St Martins Point Jersey. Expected charge 5/- per telegram." The editor of the British Press, who reproduced this article, commented that: 'the correspondent is rather wild with insular geography.'!

The final sea route taken was from the Island of Portland across the portion of sea known as The Shambles and onward to Alderney. From Alderney it was taken to Fermaine Bay in Guernsey and then from St Martins Point to Greve au Lençon (Plémont Bay). The cable was laid by the cable ship Elba which was owned and operated by the cable manufacturer R S Newall and Company[2].

On 27 July the iron tubes which would cover the cable in its passage through the town streets, 'for greater security from accident', arrived in Jersey. On 3 August the Elba arrived from Birkenhead to lay the cable, which was "covered in Gutta Percha and rolled off a large drum into the sea and onto the shore". Gutta Percha is a natural substance obtained chiefly from the latex of the Malaysian Sapotaceae genus of rubber trees. It is harder than normal rubber and much less flexible. It is, however, waterproof, highly resistive to electric currents and very hard wearing and was used extensively as an insulating material in the early days of electrical equipment and continued to be used for submarine cable well into the present century..

The cable was manufactured in Gateshead[3] by Messrs R S Newall and Co. who had been involved in the first abortive trans-Atlantic cable earlier that year. The cable used for the deep sea part was constructed of a No. 1 Gauge copper conductor covered in gutta percha then served in tarred yarn. This part of the cable would have been supplied by the Gutta Percha Company to Newall's as they were the only company at that time with the expertise to produce good quality insulated wire. The outer part of the was then lapped by 10 No 6 Gauge iron wires resulting in a cable that weighed 2½ Tons per mile. The shore ends of the cable, which are subject to more wear and tear because of the tidal flows and wave motion, were lapped with 10 No 2 Gauge iron wires which resulted in a thicker cable weighing 6 Tons per mile. It is likely that the cable used in the Channel Islands link was that left over from the Red Sea cable which had been laid earlier that summer. The terms of the agreement with the British Government allowed R S Newall to retain the unused cable, a contractual clause which may have contributed to the failure of the Red Sea cable inasmuch as the cable was laid too tightly thus contributing to it’s early demise.

The land part of the cable was constructed in a similar manner except that the armouring iron wires were not necessary and the cable was left finished in at the tarred yarn stage. The gangers installed the cable in a 20" deep trench, in busy town areas in a cast iron tube and in rural areas into a prepared creosoted wooden trough laid in the bottom. (Fig 2) The wooden troughing was made of two hollowed out square sections of timber treated with creosote. The upper and lower sections were identical and when laid on top of each other formed a circular duct for the cable and then secured by nails or straps. It was not intended to permit cable being drawn through but rather as a form of protection from earth movements caused by passing traffic and to protect the cable from being damaged during digging. This method of cable laying had been developed by William Henley[4] and Charles Bright[5] during the laying of the underground sections of the English and Irish Telegraph Company line from Liverpool to Manchester in 1852 and subsequently on the Manchester to London section where, despite it's high initial cost, had proved to be extremely reliable in service. The route taken from the telegraph office was from St Helier via Half Way House, Mllbrook, St Lawrence valley, (now called St Peter's valley) and past St Ouens manor to Greve au Lechçon or Sand Eel bay (now commonly called Plémont Bay). William Henley himself supervised the installation using a workforce of some 70 men. During construction it was also reported one day that "some mischievous or malicious person had cut the cable near Salérie, Guernsey but that this would in no way impede the rapid progress", indeed by August 10th the cable was safely in place on both islands and on 17 August it was terminated in the town office at a building on the corner of Church Street and Library Place. The Guernsey office was sited at the Guard House, South Pier.

The cable installation was a turn-key contract supervised by the manufacturers Messrs Newall and Co. After testing it was handed over to the Channel Islands Telegraph Company ready for service. The cable was accepted on behalf of the company by Mr James Graves, who had been appointed the Chief Electrician to the Channel Islands Telegraph company and was stationed at the Jersey office. The manufacturers only offered a 30 day warranty on the cable.

On 24 August the British Press reported: "An Electric Ball - mounted at Fort Regent- will be dropped to signify noon synchronised by Electric Telegraph, as is the custom in all other important ports in England, regulated to Greenwich." It is not known if this actually came into effect.

The Jersey Times reporter was privileged to see on 27 August the newly installed Electric Telegraph equipment, manufactured by Siemens and Halske of Berlin. The equipment was of the Relief Recorder design which had been proven in service for some time. It was driven by a system of weights and escapements similar to that used in Grandfather clocks and reproduced the incoming Morse code in relief onto paper tape so that it could easily be interpreted. At this stage of development of the telegraph, there was no automatic working and all messages had to be sent by hand. The incoming messages could be read later from the tape, but when forwarding messages, as in the case of a telegram from Jersey to London via Weymouth, the intermediate operator had to re transmit the incoming message, inevitably there was some delay. Each 'dash' was ideally three times the length of a 'dot' and the time between 'dots' and 'dashes' should be equal to the length of a dot. The space between letters was equal to a 'dash' and the space between words equal to seven 'dots'. A skilled operator could reach speeds of up to 70 words per minute for short periods, although 30 to 40 words on average was considered very good. It was a happy, if accidental discovery, that operators could interpret the incoming messages by ear, distinguishing the 'dots' from the 'dashes', and experienced operators could even determine who was sending the code! Consequently, equipment was designed to give a good audio signal as well as recording the message on tape. This speeded up the forwarding of messages.

On 1 September the States debated a motion proposing a celebration to commemorate the opening of the town Telegraph Office. All schools were to be given a public holiday on the day of the official opening and orders for the decoration of public places was given.

CITC cable route

The office was officially opened on 7 September and a long parade was held which wound from the Royal Square through Mourier Lane (now the upper part of Halkett Place), Queen Street, Hilary Street, Beresford Street, Halkett Place, King Street, Charring Cross and Broad Street eventually ending up outside the telegraph office in Library Place . The route was decorated with bunting and such was the public excitement "multitudes of holiday proportions" had started gathering in King Street as early as 7 o'clock. A double archway decorated with evergreens had been erected in Charring Cross, the signal mast at Fort Regent had been decorated with flags of all nations and the ships in the harbour were all bedecked. At 9 o’clock a salute was fired and the crowds were thronging through the streets. A special Morning Service was held in the Town Church at 10.30, with the Lieutenant Govenor in attendance. The lesson, read by the Dean, was taken from the Second book of Exodus Chapter 12 Verse 26: "What mean ye by this service?" followed by a sermon extolling the greatness of this achievement. At 12:30 the band of the Royal Artillery played in the Square. At 2 o'clock all the dignitaries gathered ready for the parade. The procession set off headed by the band of the Royal Artillery followed by the assembled Civic leaders and a huge crowd. On reaching the telegraph office the Bailiff, the Crown Officers, the Constable of St Helier and the Directors of the Channel Islands Telegraph Company entered the office and handed the clerk a telegram for Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Three minutes later the Weymouth office confirmed onward transmission to London. The inaugural telegram was as follows:

To the Honourable S H Walpole, Her Majesty's Principle Secretary of State for the Home Department.

The Directors of the Channel-Islands' Telegraph Company, on behalf of the people of the Islands, Solicit that you may be pleased to lay before Her Most Gracious Majesty, this the first message conveyed by their telegraph.

Though the establishment of this rapid means of communication with the Mother Country is an event of minor importance to the Empire at large, it is one of heartfelt satisfaction to Her Majesty's Loyal and Devoted Subjects here as tending to draw still closer the bonds which for nearly one thousand years have linked these Islands to the Crown of England and more firmly to secure that connection, the foundation of their liberties and their prosperity, and which, like their forefathers, they would deem no sacrifice too great to preserve.

Jersey September 7th.

The reply from the Queen was received early on the following morning and read:

Sept 8th 1858

Earl of Derby to the Directors of the Channel-Islands Telegraph Company, Jersey.

Holyrood Palace, Tuesday night, 7th September, 1858.

The Queen has received with the highest satisfaction, the announcement of the successful completion of a Telegraphic Communication with the Channel-Islands, and while Her Majesty congratulates the Channel-Islands Telegraph Company upon their success she rejoices in the more rapid means of communication and the closer connexion thus happily established with a portion of her dominions hitherto locally separated, but always united to her Crown by a spirit of unswerving loyalty unsurpassed in any part of them, and of which the Message just transmitted on behalf of the people of the Islands contains a very gratifying expression.

Although the line was complete the workmen did not finish for some time as it was reported in the paper on the 14th that painting and papering etc. was still being done in the Guernsey office although a fair amount of messages were being sent.

A form of the type likely to have been used in the Channel Island offices. Copyright 2004 Bill Glover (atlantic-cable.com website), used by permission)

Such was the public interest in the new telegraph that a lecture was arranged at the Queens Meeting Rooms, Belmont Road. The lecturer a Mr Martin was a representative of the company, who explained the technical details of the system and noted that ‘upward of 2 millions of miles of telegraph cables are laid in the UK alone.'

From the outset the new cable was beset with problems. From opening on the 7 September the first fault resulting in a breakdown of communication occurred on the 26 January 1859. The fault was diagnosed as being in the Jersey shore end of the cable and the local representative, James Graves, reported that serious chaffing of the cable had resulted in the breakdown. A new shore end was laid and the cable was fixed to rocks and passed through iron tubes at the worst points to protect it further. Service was restored on 22 February.

The cable again failed on the 22 April. This time the fault was diagnosed as being in the Portland to Alderney section off Portland. The Electric and International Telegraph Company chief engineer William Preece was despatched to oversee repairs. He had some difficulty in locating a suitable repair ship but eventually secured the grappling and jointing equipment and set about repairs on board the South-Western Company steamer the Prince. The year 1859 proved to be one prone to very stormy weather and repairs were often held up for several days. The fault was eventually found 4 miles south of Church Hope, Portland and the cable returned to service on the 15 May.

On the 20 May a contract for the supply of telegraphic news was announced between the Channel Islands Telegraph Company and the British Press. This resulted in a special section in the paper being devoted to the latest telegraphic intelligence.

On 7 June a lightning storm resulted in another break, this time the fault was found to be in the receiving equipment at the St Helier office, a coil having burnt out.

At the first half yearly meeting held in June the books showed that out of the original capital of £30,000 raised through the share issue some £25,495-14-6 had so far been spent on the initial installation and repairs. Despite the troubles so far experienced on the Company's cable the directors felt confident enough to give a 5/6d dividend to shareholders, this representing a return of 9%. However, a vote was also passed to request further funds for repairs from the British Government.

On 20 September the cable again failed and the fault was found to be 3 miles off the Jersey shore end. A steam tug, the True Briton under Captain Head, was chartered and a new section of cable was spliced in. This fault was due to two kinks in the cable obviously there since the cable was laid. The new section of cable was of a later type manufactured by Messers Newall and Co that had recently been laid in the Red Sea. (Due to the wording of the contract, Newall's had been allowed to keep any portion of cable left over from the contract. This resulted in a poorly laid cable which soon failed.) Service was restored on 18 October.

During this down time the British Times continued to report telegraphic news items with the additional note that they were forwarded by Mail Packet from Guernsey.

The cable again failed on 4 November. The EITCo's own cable ship the Monarch was despatched with Chief Electrician William Preece on board. Two faults were found 7 and 12 miles south of Portland. The sea bed was found to be rocky and so the repaired section was shifted eastward resulting in the laying of an extra 3 miles of cable. Service was again restored on 25 November.

While the cable was out of service again, the Company half yearly meeting was held at the offices of the Electric and International Telegraph Company in Morgate, London. Despite continuing cable faults, the directors issued a slightly reduced dividend of 5/- to shareholders.

On 7 January 1860 another fault was found on the Alderney to Portland section. William Preece was again on station to do repairs aboard the cable ship Resolute on hire from the recently formed submarine cable manufacturer Glass, Elliot and Company. Again, as in 1859, stormy weather held up repairs. The cable was not returned to service until 18 February, a delay of some 6 weeks. Only 9 days later it was down again between Jersey and Guernsey. The Contractor was chartered from the Submarine Telegraph Company (STC, see below) and William Preece reported the cable repaired on 10 March.

On 8 June the cable again failed between Jersey and Guernsey 2½ miles off Jersey. The tug Dumfries was employed. James Graves joined it on 20 June when it arrived off Jersey and the cable was restored to service that evening. It was reported that this was the first time that a cable had been grappled and repaired in one day.

The Company half yearly meeting held the same week was unable to offer any dividend to shareholders because of the expenses incurred in cable repairs. The Company reported that it owned some 123 miles of telegraph cable and employed 13 people.

The cable failed again this time 6 miles off Guernsey on 20 July. The tug Dumfries was available and because of the clement weather service was restored on 3 August.

On 24 August MP Mr Ayrton (Conservative) raised a question on the award of £1800 for the repair of the Channel Islands Telegraph Company cable. Sir G Cornwell for the Liberal Government replied to back bench cheers that it was important to keep telegraphic links to all parts of the Empire open. This does, however, highlight the concerns felt about the reliability of submarine cables at this time. Indeed, the British Government had suffered severe financial setbacks over the failure of the Atlantic cable in 1858 after only 10 weeks of operation and the Red Sea cable to India which had failed in March without ever carrying a single telegram. An article in the influential industry magazine The Builder on 27 August raised questions on the construction of telegraphic cables and whether Gutta Percha should be replaced by India rubber for such ventures. These expensive failures prompted a change of attitude within British Government circles and as a consequence no further funding or underwriting of telegraph cables was made for over 20 years.

On 17 September a fault occurred on the Alderney to Portland section again and on 26 September the Guernsey to Jersey section failed. Both faults were repaired by the EITCo's cable ship Monarch, restoring service on 1 October.

The November half yearly meeting again was unable to issue a dividend to shareholders, reporting that 8 faults had occurred since the cable was opened. Shareholders voted to explore the possibility of a replacement cable between the Isle of Wight and Alderney. A further vote passed a motion to make representations to HM commissioners for an extension to the grant.

On 6 December William Preece Chief Engineer of the Electric and International Telegraph Company presented a paper on The Maintenance and Durability of Submarine Cables in Shallow Waters to the Institute of Civil Engineers in London. His report specifically mentioned the Channel Islands Telegraph Company cable from Portland and he described in detail the construction of the cable and the route it took. The route consisted of 93½ miles of submerged cable and 23 miles of land section. The submarine cable was constructed to two standards; that required for deep water and that for shore ends. Shore ends are subjected to more wear and tear and are therefore thicker and stronger. The Channel Islands Telegraph Company had suffered some 11 faults since they had received the cable from the contractors in August 1858 and they could be classified as follows:

Two due to the careless laying of shore ends (2 kinks found in the cable off Jersey)

Four due to the dragging of ships anchors in the vicinity of the cable, these all being in the Jersey to Guernsey section

Five due to abrasion on rocks, these all being in the Portland to Alderney section.

Preece determined that the laying of the Portland to Alderney section was a mistake. The cable traversed some particularly rocky areas although the Admiralty charts from which the course of the cable had been decided were indicating a sandy bottom. A sandy bottom is the best surface for a submarine cable as there is less likelihood of abrasion and of ships trying to anchor. He considered that, in future when cable routes were selected, a thorough survey of the area should be carried out before laying as it was clear that the Admiralty charts were not always correct. He also voiced concerns about the quality of construction of the cables as he had found severe corrosion on cables in areas of tidal runs off Portland. This was attributable to the high alkaline content of Portland cement stone.

A description of the methods used in finding the position of faults on the submerged cables was also given. This was done in conjunction with a Mr Varley and outlined the processes in determining wire lengths from their electrical resistance. This process is still used today by electricians for fault finding and is better known as the Varley-Megger test.

The Channel Islands Telegraph Company troubles went on and on. On 1 January 1861 the cable between Alderney and Guernsey again failed. The tug Dumfries was once more called to assist and Mr Preece joined the ship on 10 January. The bad winter weather again caused delay and the Dumfries was considered unsuitable to continue with the repairs after the extent of the problem was realised. The Electric and International Telegraph Co. cable ship the Monarch was despatched from Greenwich on 30 January but bad weather meant that she had to shelter in Southampton until 12 February. When she arrived in Guernsey the local engineer James Graves joined her and work began. Some 8 miles of cable between the islands had to be replaced. The cable was badly corroded with copper and investigations indicated that a ship laden with copper ore had sunk in the vicinity some years previously. Mr A C le Bois of the Jersey office announced that the cable had been returned to service at 2:20PM on 26 February.

The problems continued and on 27 March James Graves reported a failure yet again on the Alderney to Portland section some 18 or 20 miles south of Weymouth. Once more bad weather held up repairs and not until 23 April did the Monarch manage to buoy the broken ends. Preece boarded the Monarch and set sail for Jersey to collect spare cable and left for the repair on 29 April. The cable was returned to service the following day at 9:30PM. The same day a letter appeared in the British Press from James Graves announcing that he had been appointed the Chief Electrician aboard the Electric and International Telegraph Co. cable ship Monarch. He expressed his regret at having to leave the island after nearly 3 years but was confident that his replacement, Mr A Fields, would continue in his footsteps. James Graves replaced William Preece who was later to become Sir William Preece, the Chief Engineer of the Post Office. James Graves himself was a very able engineer who also became famous for his invention of the 'sea earth' method of telegraph transmission in submarine cables while working for the Anglo-American Telegraph Company in the late 1860's.

The final straw happened on 17 June when the British Press announced the cessation of telegraphic communication with England. The cable had again failed between Alderney and Portland but this time the Channel Islands Telegraph Company had run out of money. They had spent all their liquid capital on the previous 13 faults and had no assets left for repair. With the cable down they also had little or no hope of redeeming the position as the major source of their income had gone. Shareholders and the British Government were unwilling to provide further funding. The Government realised that the new cable from Jersey to France provided a service and it had so far proved more reliable. In addition the STC had, on the occasion of the fault in March, reduced their price for a telegram to London to that charged by the Channel Islands Telegraph Company, 5/-. The writing was on the wall as the British Press in its edition of the 18 June carried an advert from the STC reaffirming the reduced rates for calls to the UK.

In all, the link to England had been in place some 34 months and in that time it had been out of service for a total of 10 months, a sorry record. In fairness to the company, the path chosen for the cable was not the best; the charts provided by the Admiralty being defective. The route taken to Alderney was also questionable in the light of experience and the original cable had not been of the best quality, a problem which should have been addressed to the contractors. Many of the faults, especially those in the Guernsey to Jersey section, were caused by the dragging of ships anchors and it is possible that some steps could have been taken to prevent or reduce the incidence of such faults.

The Channel Islands Telegraph Company continued, however, with its links to Guernsey and Alderney still intact. While these cables still worked there was still some hope for the company as revenue could still be generated on calls passed on to the Submarine Telegraph Company via the Jersey office. The final blow came on 24 February 1862 when the cable between Guernsey and Jersey failed. Although the Alderney to Guernsey section remained intact the Guernsey Star on 21 May announced with regret that the office in Guernsey was to close on Friday 30 May, the shareholders being well advised not to throw good money after bad.

An attempt to revive the company was made on 19 July 1862 when the directors of the Channel Islands Telegraph Company met with William Preece of the Electric and International Telegraph Company together with Messers Silver and Co., to sound out the possibility of laying a new cable from Jersey via Alderney to the UK, utilising the remaining link between Alderney and Guernsey, which was practically a new cable. William Preece said at the meeting that a suitable course over a sandy bottom would have to be sounded before proceeding further. He also said that the Channel Islands Telegraph Company shareholders should not feel too aggrieved as many cables had foundered in the short history of submarine telegraphy. However, nothing further resulted from that meeting.

A further attempt a resurrecting the company was made in February 1863. Jurat de Quetteville made a proposal that an advance of £12,000 should be made out of public funds as an interest free loan to the company. This would be repaid over the next 25 years out of the 6% annual grant on the original installation costs of £25,000 allowed by HM commissioners for the maintenance of the cable. This offer was well received by the directors and shareholders of the CITCo at a meeting held on the 4 February in the newly formed Merchantile and Commercial Club at the Union Hotel, Royal Square. A meeting of the local Chamber of commerce held the following day also endorsed the proposal. However, there was considerable disquiet about the proposal from the public who were suspicious that the proposed loan would be used to offset the losses made by the shareholders, especially as those endorsing the proposal were shareholders in the company, including the originator of the idea Jurat de Quetteville, who was in any case an unpopular politician. There was also concerns that unless a new cable were laid, the existing cable would continue to be just as fault prone as it had already proved to be. The loan of £12,000 was not sufficient to replace the cable and HM commissioners were not forthcoming in offering to fund the difference and as the 6% grant depended upon the cable remaining serviceable, there were grave concerns that the public funds would indeed never be repaid. The company was, however, not wound up officially and remained on the register for a further 8 years.

The Submarine Telegraph Company

As early as 1858 there were rumours that a cable would be laid from Jersey to France. The Submarine Telegraph Company, founded by Thomas Crampton, had laid the first successful telegraph cable across the English Channel in 1851. By 1858 it was already an established international telegraph carrier and had several cables connected to France and held a license from the French Government to carry telegraphs across French territory.

During the summer of 1859 the Submarine Telegraph Company made applications to the UK and French Governments for permission to run a cable from Jersey to France. At first, the Channel Islands Telegraph Company and their associate company the Electric and International Telegraph Company, who were rivals of the Submarine Telegraph Company, raised objections to the laying of a shore end in Jersey. As a consequence, the States were initially advised by the British authorities to prevent any cable being landed in Jersey. After further negotiations, however, the Channel Islands Telegraph Company removed their objection and the Submarine Telegraph Company was granted a license by the British Government. During September Her Majesty's Government appointed the Earl of Malmesbury to head negotiations with France on behalf of the Submarine Telegraph Company to renew the license to operate on French soil and for permission for the Jersey cable. The French Government at first were reluctant to renew what was a virtual monopoly but in the end conceded and renewed the license for 25 years, half the period initially requested. This in effect opened the way for the French cable.

The route to be taken by the new cable was from Fliquet Bay in Jersey to Pirou and on to Coutanches. On the 10 January 1860 the cable ship Resolute owned by the independent telegraph cable engineer W France and chartered to the contractors Glass, Elliot and Co. arrived off St Catherine's with the cable and landed the shore end at Fliquet and proceeded to pay out the cable to Pirou. The cable used on this route was more substantial than that used by the Channel Islands Telegraph Company. A contemporary description said that the cable consisted of 7 copper strands covered with gutta percha up to a diameter of ", having the same dimensions as the abortive Atlantic cable laid in 1858. The outer cover is made up of 12 No.5 gauge iron wires. The resulting cable was slightly more substantial than that of the Channel Islands Telegraph Company. The cable was laid under the supervision of Mr Canning on behalf of the contractors with Captain Bright of the Submarine Telegraph Company in attendance.

STC cable route

The land line in Jersey was laid underground by the cable manufacturer and contractor, W T Henley of Woolwich, from the shore landing cable point at Fliquet, via St Martins Church, Five Oaks, St Saviours Road, James Street, Colomberie, Hill Street to the Church Street telegraph office. The STC were obviously more parsimonious than the Channel Islands Telegraph Co., as the cable was laid directly into the ground without protection. The friction between the Submarine Telegraph Company and Channel Islands Telegraph Company must have been greatly lubricated as, in the event, they shared the same office. The cable laying was completed by 30 January despite appalling weather, the trenches being continually filled with rain water.

A celebration dinner was held for the contractors and guests at {++}

The French cable link opened for business on 7 May 1860, the connections at the French end accounting for the delay. An advert in the British Press announced the call charges:

The Submarine Telegraph Company

Jersey to Coutances 2/6

Avrances, St Malo, Caen, Grandville & Cherbourg 3/6

Harvre 5/-

Paris, Bolougne 6/-

Bordeaux 7/3

Marseilles 8/6

To Great Britain (via Paris) 20 words 11/6

In conjunction with the British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company.

As can be seen, these were substantial charges, the cost to London being more than twice the Channel Islands Telegraph Company charge. This being in the light of the direct connection provided by the Channel Islands Telegraph Company, however, even at this time the directors of the Submarine Telegraph Company must have had their suspicions about the long term integrity of the Channel line. They were right as on 20 July the Channel Islands Telegraph Company cable failed again. The Submarine Telegraph Company entered the following advert in the British Press on 22 July

The Submarine Telegraph Company

Telegrams to England 11/- per 20 Words

The opportunity to take business from their rival had prompted a reduction of 6d in their rate!

An earlier failure (7 June) prompted a letter from Mr Charles Gerhardi, the local Superintendent of the Submarine Telegraph Company, to be published in the British Press dated 22 June. This referred to a telegram received by M Victor Hugo. It had been claimed that it had arrived too late, however the letter explained that it only took 4½ hours for the telegram to be delivered having been sent from London via Paris. {==}.

The Submarine Telegraph Company cable proved to be more robust than that of the Channel Islands Telegraph Company. The area of sea it crossed was shallower, the bottom sandy and it was less susceptible to the stormy seas and tidal flows of the Channel. It also had the advantage of being newer and using more up-to-date technology, the ship used in the laying was a specially equipped cable ship. The Submarine Telegraph Company also took more care of their investment, regularly warning fishing vessels of its presence through the press. They were thus able to take financial advantage of the periodic failures of the Channel Islands Telegraph Company cable and by March of 1861 had reduced the cost of 20 word telegrams to 5/- in direct competition with the Channel Islands Telegraph Company. Throughout the troubles of its rival, the Submarine Telegraph Company cable held firm. The final failure of the Alderney to Portland section must have come as an unexpected bonus to them as they now had unrivalled access to all telegraphic traffic leaving the island. Following the break in the remaining Jersey to Guernsey section the Submarine Telegraph Company signed a contract with the British Press to provide telegraphic news services commencing on 23 April 1862. On 17 June they opened a sub-office in Guernsey, appointing Mr S Barbet of the High Street as their agent. Telegrams were passed via steam packet for onward transmission from the Jersey Office.

On 19 January 1863 the STC set up an experimental link between its office in Jersey and the London office in Threadneedle Street by connecting its lines through France via Coutances, Caen, Harvre, Dieppe and Beachy Head in a continuous metallic circuit of 380 miles. Those present in the Jersey office included the Manager, Charles Gerhardi, Mr W H Le Feuvre, who was also a director of the CITCo and Mr M V Wardley of the British Press. The circuit worked perfectly and a call was set up between officers at the London office and Jersey. It is interesting to note that the times recorded for the connexion were 6:33PM in London and 6:27½PM in Jersey, synchronisation to Greenwich still not being in place. By coincidence two of the clerks at the London office were young Jerseymen Messrs Gavey and Prichard, who had recently completed their training. The conversation consisted of general chit-chat about the weather and a remark about the recently opened Metropolitan underground railway.

In December of 1863, Mr Gerhardi announced that a telegraph line would be laid from St Helier to Gorey pier. At this time Gorey was used extensively as a commercial port and there was also a large number of boatyards in the area. In variance to the lines so far installed on the island, this new line was constructed using poles and open wire. The probable route taken by the new line which began from a pole at the bottom of Belvedere Hill, Georgetown, was along Samares to Fauvic and down to Martello Tower Number 5 where a reference was made to a very long span of wire, some 430 yards, from the tower to a pole on a small hill on Gorey common. The poles then continued along the common to the office on Gorey pier. The pole at Belvedere Hill was connected to the office in Library Place by underground cable. The project was overseen by Charles Gerhardi and construction took place during December 1863 and January 1864. The overhead construction seems to have been carried out on a strict budget as the poles were placed on average 220 yards apart. This is considerably longer than modern construction where 55 to 80 yard spans are more normally used, but given that only one wire needed to be suspended, this was probably entirely satisfactory. The work was also punctuated by incidents of stone throwing damaging the insulators. The project was completed on 20 January and the line was opened for service on Saturday 23 January with this inaugural telegram sent to HM Lieutenant Govenor:

I take this liberty to address to your Excellency this the first telegram to be transmitted by the new line between St Helier and Gorey to inform his excellency that the line is from this moment open to the public.

The company charged 6d for a telegram from Gorey to St Helier.

The integrity of the STC cable was such that the submarine section only failed 7 times in the period 1860 to 1870 on each occasion due to dragging anchors or trawling. These failures were often followed by a considerable delay in repair as the STC usually placed the Jersey link at the bottom of its priorities, having several more commercially lucrative cables between England and various continental countries. There were occasions where the cable remained out of service for months at a time, September to November 1864, December 1865 to February 1866 and April to July 1869 were notable occasions. These protracted delays caused much inconvenience to both business traffic and the dissemination of news in the local press. The company always used its two cable ships the Retriever and the Resolute.

In September of 1865 came what must have been the first local dispute between public utilities. On 22 September the cable failed. At first it was thought to be a submarine fault but after investigation it was discovered to be in the land line between Fliquet and St Helier. Because the fault was a clean break it was not possible to discover the exact location of the fault with the testing equipment to hand. Consequently, Charles Gerhardi relocated the office temporarily to the shore station at Fliquet and arranged a pony express service from the town office while further testing took place. On 28 September after further investigation the temporary office was relocated to the St Saviour's Inn near St Saviour's church, a more convenient location. Four days later the cable fault was located in Colomberie outside the premises of a certain Miss Hemery. Apparently she had just had a gas pipe installed and during the works the trenchers had severed the cable. Charles Gerhardi called Mr Morris of the Gas Company to the scene to show him the damage and explaining that the STC would expect recompense for the damage. It was estimated that the total cost would be in the order of £30 to £40 which included the cost of getting a Gutta Percha cable jointer over from England. Meanwhile a further temporary station was set up in Westaway's Yard in La Motte Street.

Following this incident, a close watch was kept on the Gas Company's activities and during the laying of a new main down St Saviour's Road, Charles Gerhardi arranged for the cable to be encased in wood ducting covered in bitumen.

On the 30 July 1866, the STC arranged a special illuminated star lit by gas outside its offices to celebrate the connection of the new Atlantic cable. The attraction drew a crowd of some 500 who gazed in wonder until it was extinguished when the office closed at 11:00PM. The following day the Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack were raised outside the office. Charles Gerhardi had more reason than most to celebrate this occasion as he had been involved on the first abortive Atlantic cable in 1858 having been with the Newfoundland party on board the Niagara

The Jersey and Guernsey Telegraph Company Ltd.

The history of this company is as brief as it is controversial.

Before proceeding with the description of the company it will first be necessary to describe the state of the telegraph industry at the time. In 1867 the British Government decided that the telegraph business in the Kingdom had become unmanageable with the current proliferation of telegraph companies. The companies often worked in cartels and the larger companies had monopolised the most profitable routes with wayleave agreements which were often not implemented. As a result of telegrams between smaller towns having to pass through many hands the cost of such messages was often prohibitive. Businessmen, who were fully aware of the trading advantages of the telegraph, were keen to establish a more uniform tariff system throughout the country. The government appointed a commission to look into the problem and at the end of that year the resulting report suggested that the telegraph system should be consolidated under the direction of the Post Office, who was the officially appointed government messenger.

The government report resulted in the Telegraph Act of 1868 which provided for the Post Office to purchase, at its discretion, any telegraph company operating on the UK mainland. The terms for compensation were extremely generous. They included the capital costs of installed lines and equipment and also a formula which allowed for loss of profits over a 20 year period. The announcement of the bill resulted in a rush by speculators to install telegraph lines wherever none existed, for example, to the Scilly Isles which had long been considered an unprofitable venture. The 1868 bill, however, excluded foreign cables and for that purposes of the act that included the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

Since the Electric and International Telegraph Company was mainly concerned with routes within the British Isles, the directors protested to the government that they would be marginalized by the bill leaving them with only one route, to Holland. The government therefore amended the bill the following year to include the special case of the Dutch cable. The Post Office subsequently sold this cable to the Submarine Telegraph Company. This enabled the Electric to be fully wound up and thus released capital for speculation in overseas ventures.

With the door thus opened, the directors of the Isle of Man Telegraph Company, which had been effectively a subsidiary of the Electric and the Channel Islands Telegraph Company, could see a way of making capital out of the sale of their companies to the Post Office. Therefore representations were made to the government. The CITCo was, of course, a moribund company but nevertheless still registered. After talks with the Post Office during July 1869, the local directors approached the parent company with a view to reviving the company and thus profiting from a subsequent sale to the Post Office. However, Robert Grimstone was now more interested in overseas development and refused to fund any new cable out of the Electric sale. This left the local directors with two choices; to fund the venture themselves or to seek funding elsewhere.

Two of the directors Phillip Gossett and F Carrel decided to try and revive the company and approached the Globe Telegraph Trust, a venture capital company with offices in Nicholas Lane off Lombard Street, London, which provided funds for speculative cable projects. The Globe at first seemed willing to pursue the venture and on behalf of the CITCo opened negotiations with the Board of Trade for landing rights. A front company was formed calling itself the Channel Islands Telegraph Association based at 7 Great Winchester Street, London. The new association opened talks with William Henley Telegraph Works for the provision and laying of a new cable.

At the same time two other directors decided to form a new company. This company, which was called the Jersey and Guernsey Telegraph Company, was founded by William Henry Le Feuvre, a flamboyant locally born civil engineer and entrepreneur who also had interests in the Jersey Waterworks Company and the Jersey Railway Company, as well as several ventures in the UK, and Jurat David De Quetteville. The company issued its Articles of Establishment on 26 January 1870 but not before opening tentative negotiations with the Board of Trade during the latter part of 1869. Among the shareholders was William Preece, a personal friend of William Le Feuvre, who, following the demise of the Electric, had been appointed Chief Engineer (Southern District) of the Post Office telegraphs. The company was incorporated on 4 February 1870 with an issue of 15,000 £2 shares, just 2 days before the expiry of the lodging of a purchasing option deadline imposed by the Post Office and 2 days after receiving a cable landing license from the Board of Trade. The new company board consisted of

W Le Feuvre Chairman

C E Philips

Hemery Le Breton

E Haviland-Burke MP

Captain Thomas Carr

? Gauntlet Secretary

William Preece was appointed the company's chief engineer.

Meanwhile, due to a clerical error by a junior clerk at the Board of Trade, the Globe received a letter which implied that a landing license would be granted exclusively to them. This led Nathaniel Holmes and Louis Stoffel, two of the principles of the company, to conclude negotiations during February with William Henley on the laying of a new cable. However, during the following few weeks the Globe apparently got cold feet and failed to come up with the expected funds. Nevertheless, William Henley started manufacture of the necessary cable and made plans for the laying of a cable from Start Point to Guernsey.

At the same time the JGTCo appointed Bullivant and Allen Ltd of Millwall as prime contractors for the laying of the cable. This was a strange choice as they were rope manufacturers not cable makers. In fact Bullivant and Allen approached William Henley for a quotation on the supply of a cable. Henley offered them the Globe cable after adding a percentage to the £25,000 that he had already quoted. Eventually, Bullivant and Allen purchased the cable from Henley's rivals Glass, Elliot and Company of Greenwich. At the end of April the land-line contractors, Warden and Co of Birmingham arrived in the islands to lay the local cables. The new company acquired offices in Hill Street and a cable was laid in iron pipes down to the site of the new railway on the seafront. The JGTCo and the Jersey Railway Co shared a number of directors and no doubt this fortunate relationship led to the ready usage of the Railway Company’s telegraph poles for the routing of the overhead wires. From this point the line was taken overhead along the course of the railway to Beaumont. From here a new route of telegraph poles took the line on to Plemont via St Peter and St Ouen. The railway also had its own private telegraph lines along this route which continued on to St Aubin. As a result the St Aubin’s post office was also linked to the telegraph circuit from the beginning of operations.

While the JGTCo were busy laying land lines, William Henley's cable ship the Caroline, which had been used in the laying of the shore end of the first of the two new Atlantic cables laid in 1865/6, arrived in St Helier Harbour with the new cable on board. Due to a combination of bad weather and legal problems the ship laid up until the end of the following month.

On the 20 May 1870 the JGTCo held its first ordinary shareholder meeting. Here, under questioning from the shareholders, the directors refuted the claim of the Globe to landing rights claiming that they had applied two years previously for a license. This is strange since as at that time the CITCo was still moribund and presumably, therefore, still entitled to the original license. William Le Feuvre admitted that technically he was still a director of the old company, an admission which must have put him into a tricky position; nevertheless, the meeting produced the necessary two thirds majority to carry the proposal to sell out to the Post Office.

On the 6 June, the Caroline left harbour to the sound of McKey's band and made way to Greve au Leçon to attempt to lay the cable. However, the government had sent a small warship, HMS Dasher, to the spot and together with the men of the 17th Regiment on shore prevented the landing of the shore end. All these events were watched by a small crowd of locals. The Caroline eventually backed off and retired in the direction of Guernsey.

On the 8 June yet another strange event occurred. A certain Henry Jones was arrested by the Constable of St Ouen at Plemont, charged with the cutting and taking away of a telegraph cable. He came before the magistrate on the 21 June to answer the charge. His Advocate claimed that he had been carrying out instructions issued by a Mr Bennett of the CITCo. The magistrate was unable to substantiate this and so called for witnesses, the case being remanded until the 12 July. When he next appeared the witnesses included William Le Feuvre who substantiated the defendants claim that a letter signed by Mr Bennett was genuine and that as company secretary must have had authority to order the cutting. The case was therefore dismissed. There appears to be no reason for this action. Certainly, Mr Bennett was still secretary to the moribund company but what possible advantage could be gained from cutting the cable remains a mystery. It could be that it was a vain attempt to prevent the new company from making use of the land portion of the old cable but as the new overhead line was already in place at that time makes that prognosis unlikely.

On the 1 July the parliamentary Select Committee enquiry into the compensation claims associated with the Channel Islands cable was opened in London. The claimants were the Channel Islands Telegraph Company, the Jersey and Guernsey Telegraph Company, William Henley, the Globe Telegraph Trust, the Jersey Railway Company and the Submarine Telegraph Company. The case of the Jersey Railway was dealt with quickly the chairman ruling that as they had no telegraphs connecting directly or indirectly with the Post Office their claim was invalid. The rest of the cases were far more protracted. The Globe claimed to have had exclusive landing rights granted to the Channel Islands Telegraph Association. The Post Master General, Mr Frank Ives Scudamore, refuted this claim suggesting that this must have been a clerical error. The only license was held by the JGTCo. They denied any connection between the CITA the CITCo while admitting to sharing directors. William Henley argued that he had gone to considerable expense in producing a cable and keeping a cable ship on station for several weeks while the government procrastinated. The STC argued that the 1868 Telegraph Bill defined the Channel Islands as 'islands off Europe' and this identified the islands as foreign under the law thus they were due compensation for loss of traffic due to the new direct cable. The Jersey and Guernsey Telegraph Company sought to establish themselves as the only legitimate company serving the islands.

The commission was to last a long time, indeed many months. At the time of the first hearing the law extending the terms of the Bill to include the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man was only just passing through the House of Lords. The initial sitting defined the Telegraph Companies to be included in the bill for consideration. By the end of the month, however, the Bill had passed through its final stages and passed into Law. There now only remained the matters concerning the terms under which the JGTCo would be transferred to the Post Office. The Globe, and the CITCo were not included.

Incredibly, at the time that these negotiations were going on the telegraph cable connecting the JGTCo had not even been submerged. There was some disquiet about this back in Jersey where the Chamber of Commerce accused certain States members in complicity in excluding the former company from the Bill. The chairman of the company, W H Le Feuvre tried to pacify the local business community by publishing a letter in the British Press explaining that the land line portions were already working and that the equipment for operation was installed.

Meanwhile, undeterred by the legal complexities of the compensation question, William Henley proceeded with his planned cable. The Caroline once again set sail from Henley’s Cable Works at Woolwich on 17 September and headed for the Channel Islands. His intention was to lay the Alderney to Guernsey section after which the ship would go on to complete the link between Guernsey and Jersey which had been interrupted in the spring. The deep sea section had already been laid. The Caroline was going to pick up the submerged section to splice and land the shore ends to complete the route. At 7:00pm on 26 September the Caroline docked in Guernsey having completed the Alderney to Guernsey section. The boat laid-up until Wednesday 28 September because of fog, but arrived off Greve au Leçon at 12 noon. A cable of 20 tons per knot with a diameter of 3½” was landed. The British Press reported:

“Sixty men swimming and in boats brought the cable ashore. Scrambling like cats they hauled the cable up the cliff in a great feat of engineering and tied the cable to the post of the JGTCo. The chairman W H L Feuvre was present along with William Preece and a very few spectators. The event was recorded by the camera of Mr Sharpe of King Street. The toast was drunk with the master of the Caroline, Captain Galelio representing Mr Henley”

The cable was tested by the local electricians Mr Mayo, Mr Winter and the STC electrician Mr Gerhardi present.

By 18 September the Caroline had finished all the shore ends of the Guernsey to Jersey and Alderney to Guernsey sections both cables having been tested ready for connection. It seems, however, that William Henley decided not to proceed with the cross channel cable to Start point.

On the 8 October the