Comments on: Comments on 9217

Post number 9217

mapalm — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:45:21 -0800

Cables, Cables, Cables
I got to thinking last night about all those cables lying along the ocean floor. This is a fascinating article on the history of telephonic cables; while this one adds a bit more color, and several interesting paintings.

"As history shows, the demand for undersea network capacities will only increase. There's no such thing as too much cable."

By: mapalm

mapalm — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:47:12 -0800

What I really want to see, though, are actual photographs of these huge serpents slumbering on the ocean floor...but i came up empty.

By: msacheson

msacheson — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 08:49:42 -0800

Weird...I was thinking about the same thing last night, mapalm. Thanks for the links.

By: mapalm

mapalm — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:03:21 -0800

Weird, indeed...and glad to share.

By: Umpqua

Umpqua — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:07:03 -0800

This site is not so much historical as it is a brochure for services - but it has some cool photographs. Maybe someone has found some other cool photos?

By: straight

straight — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:07:52 -0800

Is this a trick? OK I fell for it. How can you mention laying undersea cable without linking to Neil Stephenson's utterly fascinating article about how they do it. Among many nifty tidbits: "I found out that the idea of the Internet as a highly distributed, redundant global communications system is a myth,'' he discovered. "Virtually all communications between countries take place through a very small number of bottlenecks, and the available bandwidth simply isn't that great.''

By: mapalm

mapalm — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 09:29:04 -0800

Cool pix, umpqua. Thanx. And straight: no, you didn't fall for anything, save my innocent querries...Thanks for the article.

By: briank

briank — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:24:34 -0800

Though I found the book to be a bit lacking, The Victorian Internet discusses transatlantic cabling in some detail.

By: gen

gen — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 10:59:00 -0800

straight beat me to the Stephenson article link. That was the best (not to mention longest) article Wired ever did.

By: Irontom

Irontom — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 13:17:57 -0800

Yeah, I got in trouble earlier because I printed it out for reading on the train ride home - not knowing it was 55 pages long!

By: beagle

beagle — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:12:14 -0800

I'm curious about the original 1866 cable: presumably it's still there, but obsolete. Does it still come ashore at both ends? Who owns it? Would it still work? -- like for a historic recreation of the original technology? Or is it lost like so much of the transitory technology of the last 200 years?

By: beagle

beagle — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:32:38 -0800

Partially answering my own questions, here's a site with a sketchy description of the Heart's Content station, now a museum, dedicated 1985. The station apparently operated until 1965 or 1985 (can't make out the fuzzy photo), and the technology seems well preserved.

By: beagle

beagle — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:52:00 -0800

And on the Irish end, there's a museum as well. According to this site, both Heart's Content and the Irish Valentia station closed 1966, so after 100 years of operation.

By: mapalm

mapalm — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 14:56:45 -0800

Wheeeeeewwwwwwww!!! Just spent my day reading the Wired article, er, tome. Thank you, thank you, straight. (Would love to know the latest on FLAG, tho - the piece was written in 1996.)

By: crasspastor

crasspastor — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 16:01:28 -0800

No doubt. Thanks for the Stephenson link straight. First coming to mind was The Cryptonomicon for me. Which is the great thing about your link: More Stephenson to read! Going to finish it now. And I also must thank mapalm for inserting some fascination into a mundane day.

By: bradlands

bradlands — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 20:35:06 -0800

The Smithsonian Institution has a small, fascinating exhibition in the American history museum titled "The Underwater Web". There are a few photos in their website, but the artifacts in the exhibit are really remarkable.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 22:05:11 -0800

FLAG was completed in 1997, mapalm, and remains one of the longest single cable links. SEA-ME-WE has a network that stretches around the globe, though. I can't get to flagtelecom.fr tonight. But it's not like there's a lot to "happen" to them -- they're up and running, and if all goes well, you never hear about them.

By: rdr

rdr — Tue, 24 Jul 2001 22:30:09 -0800

There's an alcatel map of cables here and some more internet-centric info here. Forgive me if I've duplicated links.

By: mapalm

mapalm — Wed, 25 Jul 2001 08:14:49 -0800

Thanks to all for a great thread!