When electronics was young - part 6

After Morse had instigated the world’s first telegraph line in 1843, practical men developed this new means of communications, and constructed improved and more reliable equipment. Before long overland lines were no longer sufficient and intercontinental lines were proposed. In 1850, a cable was laid between Dover and Calais. A similar operation failed when it was first tried in the Mediterranean (between Sardinia and Algeria), owing to that sea being much deeper in places than the English Channel. Only in 1857 did Newall & Co, with Werner von Siemens as adviser, achieve success and the first deep-sea cable was laid.