First transatlantic telegraph message
On August 16, 1858, Queen Victoria sent a 99-word message of congratulation to President James Buchanan over the freshly-laid transatlantic telegraph cable. The transmission took sixteen and a half hours. Before the cable, news between London and New York moved at the speed of a steamship — about ten days. After it, market prices in London and New York could be exchanged the same day. The cable failed within a month from a voltage error, and a working line was not restored until 1866. But the experiment had proven that the financial centers of two continents could trade on the same information.
Queen Victoria's first message took 16.5 hours to send across an ocean that previously required a 10-day ship voyage. Cyrus Field, the American behind the project, had spent twelve years and four failed cable attempts getting to that moment. The cable burned out within four weeks because the operators ran the voltage too high in an attempt to push messages faster. Field would not get a permanent working line until 1866.
01 · Telegraph & Newspaper
Financial news traveled by telegraph wire then printed in morning papers. A London statement took 3 days to reach New York traders. Information was scarce and power concentrated in those who had it first.
Read the full era →