In 2001 we celebrated the 100th
anniversary of Marconi's transmission across the Atlantic Ocean. In 2002
we are celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first transmission across
the Pacific Ocean. It wasn't by wireless though, it was underwater cable
telegraphy. The cable went from Bamfield, British Columbia, Canada to Southport,
Queensland, Australia. It was completed on October 30th 1902. The
completion of this link provided a line of communication around the world
for the British Empire. This became known as the "All Red Route"
because the cable only came ashore in parts of the Empire and the maps
of those days showed the British Empire coloured red.
The equipment displayed here is only a fraction of the
400 pieces we have.
Where the heck is Bamfield?
Bamfield is located on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British
Columbia,Canada
It was the North American terminus of the Canada-Australia underwater
cable. This included the longest stretch of cable in the world, over 4000
miles long.
Transmitters, relays, regenerators, resistors, capacitors, syphon recorders.
All this technology to produce squiggles halfway around the world.
This is a piece of paper tape with signals inked on it by a syphon recorder.
This piece is from a box of tapes recovered from the Bamfield site.
Perhaps someone is out there that can still read this.
Some of the equipment used at Bamfield
Gulstad relay
resistance decade box
perforator typewriter
capacity magnifier
unidentified as yet
fork relay
Lord Kelvin galvanometer
cable splicer's tool chest. It still
contains gutta percha,gutta percha
joint tissue and chatterton's compound
signal regenerator on the left and perforator on the right
K.C. Cox was an engineer with the Pacific Cable Board back in the 1920s'.
He worked from Australia to Bamfield and left his mark on this piece of
equipment.
some of the manuals in our library
An important site which is a "must-visit" is:
The Cable and Wireless Museum in Porthcurno, England
http://www.porthcurno.org.uk/index.html
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