July 15, 2012

Making the Mark- Atlantic Telegraph Cable

Yes, dear readers, I'm still researching and double checking my facts for the upcoming Amelia Island's Mark of a Man, book #3 in my Amelia Island's Goodbye Lie trilogy.  When will I make an end??? Hopefully sooner than later.  What I found interesting today was that the first transatlantic telegraph cable was completed 1866 and it is sometimes called the Victorian Internet!

Being unschooled in this matter, I wonder how many spools of cable one ship could hold?  How many supply ships would have to feed the main ship laying the cable?  How was the weather? How deep did it have to go to rest on the ocean's floor? ( 2 miles deep) How long was cable across the Atlantic? ( some 2000 miles long.)  How much research was done to find the best path across the ocean? You can find some of these answers at http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-completed and http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20E11F638551B7493C4A91783D85F4C8584F9. This is only some of the info out there just waiting to be read.

It is fascinating questions like this that take me from my mission, which is to complete the final edit of Mark of a Man.  Please believe me when I say I woke on my story every day because I love doing it!  And, most of all, please be patient.  Thank you!