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“When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England”
@@theoutlook55 it’s a quote from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s a joke about, just like how the idiot in the movie keeps trying to build a castle on a swamp and it keeps collapsing, these people kept trying to lay undersea cable and kept failing over and over until they finally lucked out, and even then it was a temporary victory
I mean in this case it so you could hear it from the opposite bank, confirming to everyone that ot worked. So it's more akin to using fireworks to announce the new year instead of some thing belligerent
@@jesseberg3271Pretty awesome that two of the biggest rivals in history were the first to do something like this, and they used it to fire each other’s cannons. It was like an international handshake.
@timesnewlogan2032 It makes sense. Most disputes happen among neighbors, as does most trade and communication. At their nearest point, you can see France from England and vice versa. If you're in a conquering mood and have some good ships, it's free real estate.
Finally, I've always gotten curious whenever the lines get brought up in my class or in news, "I wonder what the logistical nightmare was trying to set this up during start"
While I love that this story got an episode, I am bitterly disappointed that the SS Great Eastern got barely a mention. We're talking about the largest ship in the world, built by the greatest civil engineer in the world, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. She carried enough coal to transport 4,000 passengers all the way from England to Australia and back without refueling. And that in an age when oceanic steamships were still a new concept.
And, if I remember correctly, it was also a hybrid in that it had sails for when the wind was favourable and engines for when it wasn't. This reduced the amount of fuel needed to make such long voyages and more room for cargo or people.
@@molybdaen11 Better yet, she was properly double-hulled. On one trip to New York, she ran over an uncharted rock needle (later named after her), and acquired a gash in her outer hull 9' wide and 83' long. The result was a slight list to starboard.
It is, how many large wars have countries with high rates of internet started? How many deadly riots have there been? How much ethnic violence? I’d bet you a million dollars it’s no where near the level we saw before the internet.
@@Raziel312 It has. The fact that we are in the midst of several *massive* and overlapping cultural transitions cannot change that. No number of trolls or cancellations or post-truth movements can erase the fact that people are wildly more informed and empathetic than they were even a few decades ago, across every generational line.
It has sometimes been suggested that the breakdown of the first cable was a blessing in disguise because, if rapid communication had been possible in 1861, it would have been more likely that the US and Britain would have gone to war over the Trent affair. Arguably, the long delay while news and diplomatic messages crossed the Atlantic in ships allowed tempers to settle and cooler heads to prevail.
Considering that the Internet developed from mainframe computers connected via phone lines, and that the present-day Net still makes much use of undersea cables, this could be considered one of the stepping stones of the creation of the Internet. Perhaps even the birth of the Net, since it was the first connection of two separate communication networks separated by an ocean (okay, maybe the first-ever connection of two separate telegraph networks might be a more accurate milestone).
Honestly that's the real accomplishment haha. Ironically even for people in the 1800s they didn't have to deal with the kind of insanity we got with the Internet like flat earth whackos and their snake oil salesman were a lot less widespread in their harm
I've known about it for years but I'm still utterly amazed they managed to find the ends of any of the cables that snapped and fell to the seabed in thousands of feet of water.
As crazy as it may seem, large parts of the abyssal deep are relatively smooth mud on top of relatively smooth basaltic rock. If they had enough practice dropping anchor at depth, and heaving it back up again, and with sufficiently accurate charts of where the break took place, the intuition about what lay at the seafloor that a mariner of that age would have had based on how it "felt" when they dropped those hooks would have made the difference and allowed them to snag the cable
Consider how the original sailors undoubtedly would have charted the location, or at least the approximate one, where they lost the cable. So they had a starting point at least.
Fun, true, related fact: When sharks find something strange and new that they don't understand, they check it out. ...By biting it. So any time one lays a cable of any kind on the ocean floor, it needs to be strong enough to withstand the nibbles of curious sharks.
Some context to this as well: the reason sharks bite first and ask questions later is not because they are violent, but because they really have no other way to explore the thing they are curious about. They don’t have hands, so just like toddlers they put everything in their mouths.
Your one-off episodes are usually some of your best imo. However, I highly encourage more of these upbeat, celebratory episodes. I think a lot of people can do with some good feeling episodes, especially in these current times: humans often times suck, but it's nice to see that sometimes, we do accomplish some good.
This story reminds me of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail castle bit. "When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England."
The unfortunate part about quick overseas communication is that you can still use it for baseless arguments and spreading hatred, about as effectively as saying it yourself with less personal risk.
The story of the telegraph line is not really discussed in Canadian Grade 10 history classes at school, but it is mentioned as an important event before Canada became it's own country.
It's not a far cry to suggest that thing like this, or any other major innovative effort in any field, only comes about when one person (or a group of people) are just that determined to see their ideas become reality.
It's truly amazing that they persisted and much of it may be to preserve the man's reputation. The man who gives up on his dream is a fraud, the man who succeeds is a visionary.
"Speedy international communication will bring about world peace!" -looks at the Internet -looks at the world -looks at the Internet again -laughs like The Joker
I remember another issue that came up, that we still have trouble explaining today, is that the signals took an astronomical amount of power compared to if it was set up on land. It was overcome by feeding more power, but it was VERY confusing when the problem came up.
Doesn't seem entirely confusing? Salt water is a great sink for EM fields, and power flowing through a wire generates exactly that. So it would effectively 'leach' power from the cable, this requiring significantly more power to get the same output than if it had been over land. Granted it wouldn't have been obvious then, but I'm not aware of any "trouble explaining it" today?
@@jaelwyn Eh, I was explained this...2nd, 3rd hand? Eh, whatever. I think the main problem is that if you put this in, say a large swimming pool's worth of salt water, you wouldn't get this issue, but it becomes "infinite" at the bottom of the ocean, so it becomes even weirder that we can do it at all (though, I suppose that comes more from we can't find a good law/equation that isn't just estimations). I figured the water/minerals broke down the EM field, or leach in your words, but once you push past a certain point, the immediate area around the cable can't leach at it enough to break it, but it still affects the EM fields (like the relativity of gravity).
Well, sharks are a common cause of cable damage today. (The first is rodents, especially squirrels. I'm a cable designer and they went over that in the first week of training.) More modern undersea cables have a layer of armor to help prevent this chewing from causing damage, so this has become less and less common over time.
Yeah I’m not surprised. I’m honestly amazed they managed to make this work at all Heck, I’m surprised that we can get undersea cables working today. It’s an utterly insane concept
Great episode! As a Newfoundlander, I have two notes. First of all "Newfoundland" rhymes with "understand", no one ever pronounces it right. Second, not only did Canada not exist for another decade, we didn't join it for another century. A cable between Newfoundland and Ireland had literally nothing to do with Canada. In fairness, the cable did pass through what would become Canada to get from NY to NL but Newfoundland was a separate thing until after WW2 and even now is at arms length so to speak. This is our history, not Canada's.
@@metarcee2483 I mean this all also applies to pronouncing the dog breed lol. No hate, just saying the dogs are named that because they were bred here.
2:57 you say "despite that he had no knowledge of the specifics," when I think that, in reality, it's BECAUSE he had no knowledge of what he was investing.
It's been a little while since the last one off video, this one caught me by surprise. I was totally expecting a part 2. Lol. Love your work, great job folks!!!
Is there a more technical in depth video on this? It seems like an extremely important historical event that's underappreciated. This video is great but I would like to know more!
5:29 This kind of optimism in the 1800s is what created the language I speak, Esperanto. It's been used since the 1890s as an international language that is easy to learn. It was created to spread understanding and peace between cultures. I've been able to speak to people from China, Japan, Germany, Korea, France, The Democratic Republic of the Kongo, Russia, Australia, USA, Mexico, Brazil, by using the language. It's also helpful if you travel internationally because there are Esperantists in almost every country who are willing you let you stay with them
One fun thing I learned was that in the short life of the first transatlantic cable, an order was sent for a contingent of canadian troops to stand down as they were no longer needed for whatever operation they had been mobilizing for. The money saved by sending that order through telegraph was a good chunk of the total cost of installing that cable
Thanks for pointing out that Morse didn't create Morse Code alone. It's bad enough that it is named after him, and not Vail, despite Vail's version being the one we use today (and for the last century and then some) over most mediums. One thing you left out is that engineers working on the first cable raised concerns about the signal quality issue. Some basic physics and math showed that the power loss over that distance, for that kind of cable, was just not going to work that well. The reason it took so long is that the voltage dropped so low, it took literal minutes for enough voltage to build up at the other end to energy the electromagnet. But Fields was a businessman, not a scientist or engineer, and he didn't believe them...
Please do the Greek war of independence of 1821 against the ottoman empire next I've been asking for this since the first episodes of the sengoku Jidai!
It’s a shame that the Great Eastern was barely mentioned. She was a marvel of Victorian technology and engineering and would hold the record as the largest ship in the world for over 50 years. At the time, she was really the only ship in existence that was big enough to house the cable rolls.
8:16 Given what we now know about how international instant communication actually affects human interaction, I'm starting to suspect all those cable failures were from time travellers trying to prevent a future that the sheer persistence of humanity guaranteed would happen anyway.
The SS Great Eastern being depicted as the standard wooden ship and not a veritable bridge of iron and economic disaster spanning the entire breadth of the ocean is an insult to its comical size and noncredibility.
I hope you have read Neal Stephenson’s 135-page article “Mother Earth, Motherboard” from Wired Magazine circa 1996. It is exactly this story, juxtaposed with the story of the FLAG modern fiber optic cable. It is, of course, in Stephenson’s inimitable style.
I eagerly await the day that EH does a series on the Second Pacific Squadron, aka the Voyage of the Damned. They even wrecked a few transatlantic cables!
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You guys always make My day! Always look forward to learn more from You all😊😊😊❤❤❤
A new upload from you guys always makes my weekend even better! I'm very excited to watch it! :3
Best. History. Channel. Ever.
I send the video to my friend
ok
“When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built it all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England”
I don't get that reference or its relevance to this video, nor why it has gotten 32 upvotes. Sorry.🤷🏿♂️
@@theoutlook55 it’s a quote from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It’s a joke about, just like how the idiot in the movie keeps trying to build a castle on a swamp and it keeps collapsing, these people kept trying to lay undersea cable and kept failing over and over until they finally lucked out, and even then it was a temporary victory
I understood that reference!
@@samreid6010I thought it was Shrek lol.
More often than not you fail a bunch of times before you succeed. Perseverance is one of the most important parts of innovation.
Laying a cable under the Atlantic Ocean will be a ... *SNAP*!
*drum beat*
Ba dum tiss
And while laying the cable, they were often heard saying "Oh, snap!", only usually not quite that mildly worded...
@@jacobcave1587”Ba Stupid Pee.” Well I’m smiling like an idiot.
The first cable across two countries under water and they use it to shoot stuff. Classic humanity
I mean in this case it so you could hear it from the opposite bank, confirming to everyone that ot worked.
So it's more akin to using fireworks to announce the new year instead of some thing belligerent
And of course it's the French and the Brits.
@@jesseberg3271Pretty awesome that two of the biggest rivals in history were the first to do something like this, and they used it to fire each other’s cannons. It was like an international handshake.
Military dreams always comes first
@timesnewlogan2032 It makes sense. Most disputes happen among neighbors, as does most trade and communication. At their nearest point, you can see France from England and vice versa. If you're in a conquering mood and have some good ships, it's free real estate.
Samuel Morse speaking in Morse code is too, too precious!
My favorite part is the Magikarp under the sea.
Finally, I've always gotten curious whenever the lines get brought up in my class or in news, "I wonder what the logistical nightmare was trying to set this up during start"
While I love that this story got an episode, I am bitterly disappointed that the SS Great Eastern got barely a mention. We're talking about the largest ship in the world, built by the greatest civil engineer in the world, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. She carried enough coal to transport 4,000 passengers all the way from England to Australia and back without refueling. And that in an age when oceanic steamships were still a new concept.
We generally need an episode on Isembard Kingdom Brunel.
Yeah, this is cool and all, but I clicked expecting at least a little more on Brunel
The only ship which not only survived a boiler explosion, but barely noticed it...
And, if I remember correctly, it was also a hybrid in that it had sails for when the wind was favourable and engines for when it wasn't. This reduced the amount of fuel needed to make such long voyages and more room for cargo or people.
@@molybdaen11 Better yet, she was properly double-hulled. On one trip to New York, she ran over an uncharted rock needle (later named after her), and acquired a gash in her outer hull 9' wide and 83' long. The result was a slight list to starboard.
The first successful written message nearly made me cry. We need more positive discoveries like that, and the hope that it would bring.
Though the part about brinking world peace and ending discrimination realy didn’t age well.
Remember when people thought the internet would bring about a new age of understanding and brotherhood?
It is, how many large wars have countries with high rates of internet started? How many deadly riots have there been? How much ethnic violence? I’d bet you a million dollars it’s no where near the level we saw before the internet.
@@Raziel312 "My generation will put it right
We're not just making promises
That we know we'll never keep"
- Phil Collins, 1986
@@Raziel312 It has. The fact that we are in the midst of several *massive* and overlapping cultural transitions cannot change that. No number of trolls or cancellations or post-truth movements can erase the fact that people are wildly more informed and empathetic than they were even a few decades ago, across every generational line.
It has sometimes been suggested that the breakdown of the first cable was a blessing in disguise because, if rapid communication had been possible in 1861, it would have been more likely that the US and Britain would have gone to war over the Trent affair. Arguably, the long delay while news and diplomatic messages crossed the Atlantic in ships allowed tempers to settle and cooler heads to prevail.
You can kinda see the opposite now with the internet: people getting mad and arguing back and forth quickly because there's no cool down period
Considering that the Internet developed from mainframe computers connected via phone lines, and that the present-day Net still makes much use of undersea cables, this could be considered one of the stepping stones of the creation of the Internet. Perhaps even the birth of the Net, since it was the first connection of two separate communication networks separated by an ocean (okay, maybe the first-ever connection of two separate telegraph networks might be a more accurate milestone).
You could say simply sending an electronic signal over a cable was the birth. That's really what it all boils down to in the end
@@2x2is22but for the internet it has to be world spanning or it's just a local network. And for that internet cables are a good option
It moreso was a rebuilding of existing infrastructure lol
The bigger wonder is this guys ability to gather investors lmao
Honestly that's the real accomplishment haha. Ironically even for people in the 1800s they didn't have to deal with the kind of insanity we got with the Internet like flat earth whackos and their snake oil salesman were a lot less widespread in their harm
Surely it was a super power lol
I've known about it for years but I'm still utterly amazed they managed to find the ends of any of the cables that snapped and fell to the seabed in thousands of feet of water.
As crazy as it may seem, large parts of the abyssal deep are relatively smooth mud on top of relatively smooth basaltic rock. If they had enough practice dropping anchor at depth, and heaving it back up again, and with sufficiently accurate charts of where the break took place, the intuition about what lay at the seafloor that a mariner of that age would have had based on how it "felt" when they dropped those hooks would have made the difference and allowed them to snag the cable
Consider how the original sailors undoubtedly would have charted the location, or at least the approximate one, where they lost the cable. So they had a starting point at least.
They have the still connected ends of the cables. They just traced the lines till it ended. Duh😅
Fun, true, related fact: When sharks find something strange and new that they don't understand, they check it out. ...By biting it. So any time one lays a cable of any kind on the ocean floor, it needs to be strong enough to withstand the nibbles of curious sharks.
Some context to this as well: the reason sharks bite first and ask questions later is not because they are violent, but because they really have no other way to explore the thing they are curious about. They don’t have hands, so just like toddlers they put everything in their mouths.
@@mostlyghostey so you could say that, by biting stuff they are asking qustions so, they bite AND ask questions at the same time!
@@darklex5150 and the question most of the time is "is it tasty" and the most likely answer is "absolutely fragging not"
@@theenderdestruction2362well in the case of cables it has a Shocking flavor
Your one-off episodes are usually some of your best imo. However, I highly encourage more of these upbeat, celebratory episodes. I think a lot of people can do with some good feeling episodes, especially in these current times: humans often times suck, but it's nice to see that sometimes, we do accomplish some good.
*Your
This story reminds me of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail castle bit.
"When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up. And that's what you're going to get, Lad, the strongest castle in all of England."
"Many believed that this new era would usher in world peace"
I started cackling
As did I.
Little did they 😂 it’s so dad 😂
The unfortunate part about quick overseas communication is that you can still use it for baseless arguments and spreading hatred, about as effectively as saying it yourself with less personal risk.
*"Too much* communication" -- Homer Simpson
Use to work for a company that made oceanic fiberoptic cables the amount of work that goes into it so it can survive the ocean is amazing
The story of the telegraph line is not really discussed in Canadian Grade 10 history classes at school, but it is mentioned as an important event before Canada became it's own country.
it’s taught in newfoundland!
@@NewfoundMapping Cape Race ❤
I like how determined some people were to make this happen, despite all the numerous setbacks!
It's not a far cry to suggest that thing like this, or any other major innovative effort in any field, only comes about when one person (or a group of people) are just that determined to see their ideas become reality.
@@JonathanScarlet it's only insanity if it doesn't work.
The only thing I wonder is how many of his investors managed to actually turn a profit.
@@aarontrujillo4860 Probably very few.
@andrewhopkins886 Sometimes, you need to be insane to get something done. Just remember to put it back on its shelf in a tidy little box
It's truly amazing that they persisted and much of it may be to preserve the man's reputation. The man who gives up on his dream is a fraud, the man who succeeds is a visionary.
"Speedy international communication will bring about world peace!"
-looks at the Internet
-looks at the world
-looks at the Internet again
-laughs like The Joker
0:00 and 0:30 are so cool! The sound effects are epic and the way the Onomatopoeia's letters turn to smoke is just brilliant!
This was quite a good video. I have to respect Cyrus West Field for not giving up even though he suffered a lot of setbacks.
5:47 interesting how it was the same optimism as with the early internet
I remember another issue that came up, that we still have trouble explaining today, is that the signals took an astronomical amount of power compared to if it was set up on land. It was overcome by feeding more power, but it was VERY confusing when the problem came up.
Doesn't seem entirely confusing? Salt water is a great sink for EM fields, and power flowing through a wire generates exactly that. So it would effectively 'leach' power from the cable, this requiring significantly more power to get the same output than if it had been over land. Granted it wouldn't have been obvious then, but I'm not aware of any "trouble explaining it" today?
@@jaelwyn Eh, I was explained this...2nd, 3rd hand? Eh, whatever. I think the main problem is that if you put this in, say a large swimming pool's worth of salt water, you wouldn't get this issue, but it becomes "infinite" at the bottom of the ocean, so it becomes even weirder that we can do it at all (though, I suppose that comes more from we can't find a good law/equation that isn't just estimations).
I figured the water/minerals broke down the EM field, or leach in your words, but once you push past a certain point, the immediate area around the cable can't leach at it enough to break it, but it still affects the EM fields (like the relativity of gravity).
I love the little fish and cram looking at the cables. Maybe the fish hopes if they attack it can be a super powered fish.
Well, sharks are a common cause of cable damage today. (The first is rodents, especially squirrels. I'm a cable designer and they went over that in the first week of training.) More modern undersea cables have a layer of armor to help prevent this chewing from causing damage, so this has become less and less common over time.
@@bonniedowd294
Under da' sea
Under da' sea
We'll break your cable
Soon as we're able
Make you D/C
Yeah I’m not surprised. I’m honestly amazed they managed to make this work at all
Heck, I’m surprised that we can get undersea cables working today. It’s an utterly insane concept
Always has the best ad transitions 9:35
Amazing how we USED to celebrate things that brought us closer together, but now all we are doing is trying to separate ourselves again.
Because we are going to have a war
I like it when you upload videos I enjoy watching it
1:37 I want to live in the timeline where "Person waves to squirrels" is the most exciting headline
It's mind-blowing to think that France became connected to Britain via electrical cable only a few years after its last Capetian king was ousted...
4:35 “The cable… had been laid” Ok I see what you did here.
love how your art keeps getting better!
Now this shall be quite the awesome topic!
“He had one last marvel up his sleeve”
Well there’s plenty of room up there since he’s not using them to store arms.
It's crazy how I can watch this video with a friend living across the Atlantic ocean instantly.
We've come so far in such a short amount of time.
You guys are the Best! Keep up the good work 😊😊😊❤❤❤❤
The one Victorian/Industrial era mega project that is actually truly a mega project.
The panama canal was also a true mega project. It costs tens of thousands of lives and bankruptcy levels of money to pull off.
It’s easily taken for granted how interconnected the world is now
Amazing video! I didn't know any of this. Can you imagine what that was like for people of 1851? It would be like someone inventing warp drive today.
Happy to see my city mentioned. Watching from Karachi
i wouldn't call it a failure but merely a lesson on what not to do and what one needs to take into consideration during the next attempt
Great episode! As a Newfoundlander, I have two notes. First of all "Newfoundland" rhymes with "understand", no one ever pronounces it right. Second, not only did Canada not exist for another decade, we didn't join it for another century. A cable between Newfoundland and Ireland had literally nothing to do with Canada. In fairness, the cable did pass through what would become Canada to get from NY to NL but Newfoundland was a separate thing until after WW2 and even now is at arms length so to speak. This is our history, not Canada's.
do you say it like, New-fin-LAND, Newfin-Land, or New-Found-Land?
@@YeDickriderthe second, though I’m a prairie boy
I always pronounced it like the dog breed, thanks for clarifying.
@@metarcee2483 I mean this all also applies to pronouncing the dog breed lol. No hate, just saying the dogs are named that because they were bred here.
Maybe they wanted to say "in present day canada". Did Canada even confederate back then or was it still divided into companies like hudson bay?
2:57 you say "despite that he had no knowledge of the specifics," when I think that, in reality, it's BECAUSE he had no knowledge of what he was investing.
It's been a little while since the last one off video, this one caught me by surprise. I was totally expecting a part 2. Lol. Love your work, great job folks!!!
@3:16, you could say that Cyrus had become a... force Field!
Is there a more technical in depth video on this? It seems like an extremely important historical event that's underappreciated. This video is great but I would like to know more!
Amazing work as always! You guys make history even better! You're the Best!😊😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤
5:29 This kind of optimism in the 1800s is what created the language I speak, Esperanto. It's been used since the 1890s as an international language that is easy to learn. It was created to spread understanding and peace between cultures. I've been able to speak to people from China, Japan, Germany, Korea, France, The Democratic Republic of the Kongo, Russia, Australia, USA, Mexico, Brazil, by using the language. It's also helpful if you travel internationally because there are Esperantists in almost every country who are willing you let you stay with them
One fun thing I learned was that in the short life of the first transatlantic cable, an order was sent for a contingent of canadian troops to stand down as they were no longer needed for whatever operation they had been mobilizing for. The money saved by sending that order through telegraph was a good chunk of the total cost of installing that cable
Given how many times the lack of communication has caused things to go from bad to worse, this was a huge leap forward for humanity
When communication turned internationally peak.
5:40 *stares in internet*
Thanks for pointing out that Morse didn't create Morse Code alone. It's bad enough that it is named after him, and not Vail, despite Vail's version being the one we use today (and for the last century and then some) over most mediums.
One thing you left out is that engineers working on the first cable raised concerns about the signal quality issue. Some basic physics and math showed that the power loss over that distance, for that kind of cable, was just not going to work that well. The reason it took so long is that the voltage dropped so low, it took literal minutes for enough voltage to build up at the other end to energy the electromagnet. But Fields was a businessman, not a scientist or engineer, and he didn't believe them...
Please do the Greek war of independence of 1821 against the ottoman empire next
I've been asking for this since the first episodes of the sengoku Jidai!
At 27 miles, the English Channel seems to be the perfect distance to establish proof of concept for transportation and telecommunications.
5:31 Meanwhile in the 21st Century, connected by the modern Internet: Peace was and still isn’t an option.
It’s a shame that the Great Eastern was barely mentioned. She was a marvel of Victorian technology and engineering and would hold the record as the largest ship in the world for over 50 years. At the time, she was really the only ship in existence that was big enough to house the cable rolls.
You should do a series about the development of railroads. I'm really enjoying your videos!
Good morning
3:18 that's why the project failed! A Gyarados munched on the cable!
For those curious the actual international cable station in North America wasnt in St. John's, but the smaller community of Hearts Content.
All I'll say is "Electric Universe" is a fantastic book. And he does not hold back on criticism on some of the more unpleasant characters.
Doing a one-off episode on the great eastern would be an amazing thing! That ship has such an incredible story.
Honestly such a fun history lesson. Thank you for making the topic of history nonpolitical and interesting for a broad audience ♥
Vlogging Through History was amazed at this story. And it was fitting that he chose to react to this video on his birthday.
I can’t believe you didn’t talk about the crazy story of the Great Eastern
A true leviathan of its time.
Sadly it bankrupted Least 3 company's...
This channel taught me more about greek and mesopotamian mythology then my history teacher ever could,big love to the crew behind these videos❤
8:16 Given what we now know about how international instant communication actually affects human interaction, I'm starting to suspect all those cable failures were from time travellers trying to prevent a future that the sheer persistence of humanity guaranteed would happen anyway.
The telegraph to the mobile phone: "You're welcome." 😅
This dudes ability to fundraise is legendary
what fascinating and highly informative video
Excellent episode and it was a 1 episode one instead of a series which is a nice treat sometimes!
I love that you even included the little piece of gold splicing. A little fun fact about the cable 😄
This is way better than the presentation i did on this subject for school as a kid
8:59 “news of a drought”
-man: aw man :(
“And a good harvest in Virginia”
Woman: I frickin’ hare the south
Samuel Morse saying hi in Morse code, amazing
Thank you 🙏🏻 so much for making these amazing videos ❤❤
Amazing story! Cyrus Fields was an awesome salesman! 😊
i would never of expected this kind of telecom in the 1830s WILD. I love History. Ive been getting into the 1860s but jesus 1830
You made history fun for me thak you
"It was the beginning of the Internet"
- Jay Foreman
4:55 Hey, that's my birthday!! Funny how that works.
The SS Great Eastern being depicted as the standard wooden ship and not a veritable bridge of iron and economic disaster spanning the entire breadth of the ocean is an insult to its comical size and noncredibility.
You'd think after so many cable snaps that they would implement some kind of mechanism to catch any wires that snap, a clamp system or something.
9:14 is a really cool illustration.
1:10 no mention of Semaphore?
A new form of communication that everyone thought will unite the world, but instead erupted into chaos. I felt like I heard of that story before...
Realising that the world has been interconnected for 170+ years is insane. It feels like it was far more recent....
"Guys it's gonna work this time I swear"
This dude feels like a modern tech bro who keeps getting funding despite pasted failures because he a has a silver tongue.
I admirer Feild's persistence and love for the idea. And he actually lived to see his dream come true 👍.
With the world as it is, a cable breaking and leaving a continent without internet would be a catastrophe
I hope you have read Neal Stephenson’s 135-page article “Mother Earth, Motherboard” from Wired Magazine circa 1996. It is exactly this story, juxtaposed with the story of the FLAG modern fiber optic cable. It is, of course, in Stephenson’s inimitable style.
I eagerly await the day that EH does a series on the Second Pacific Squadron, aka the Voyage of the Damned. They even wrecked a few transatlantic cables!
I really liked those type of videos !
This was neat to learn! Thank you!
I spent more than half the video thinking some absolute nobody was going to come out of nowhere and steal Fields' thunder.
Always love to watch your videos