TALKING WITH A MAN SEVEN THOUSAND MILES OFF!
The longest wire in the world extends from 18, Old Broad Street, London, E.C., to 29, Cable Street, Calcutta, over seven thousand miles. A telegraphic expert, who visited the London end of the wire, says:—
We have often heard of the wonderful line between this country and Teheran, the capital of Persia, a distance of three thousand eight hundred miles, but we scarcely realized the fact that good signals were obtainable through so great a length of wire until recently, when we availed ourselves of an invitation from Mr. W. Andrews, the managing director of the Indo-European Telegraph Company, to make a visit of inspection.
It was between seven and eight o'clock when we reached the office. In the basement of an unpretentious building in Old Broad Street we were shown the Morse printer in connection with the main line from London to Teheran.
The courteous clerk in charge of the wire, Mr. Blagrove, informed us that we were through to Emden, and with the same ease with which one "wires" from the City to the West End, we asked a few questions of the telegraphist in the German town.
When we had finished with Emden, we spoke with the same facility to the gentleman on duty at Odessa. This did not satisfy us, and in a few seconds we were through to the Persian capital, Teheran.
There were no messages about, the time was favourable, and the employés of the various countries seemed anxious to give us an opportunity of testing the capacity of this wonderful wire. T.H.N. (Teheran) said, "Call Kurrachee," and in less time than it takes to write these words we gained the attention of the Indian town. The signals were good, and our speed must have equalled fifteen words a minute.
The operator at Kurrachee, when he learnt that London was speaking to him, thought it would be a good opportunity to put us through to Agra, and to our astonishment the signals did not fail, and we chatted pleasantly for a few minutes with Mr. Malcolm Khan, the clerk on duty.
To make this trial of telegraphy complete, Agra switched us on to another line, and we were soon talking to a native telegraphist at the Indian Government Cable Station, Calcutta.
At first the gentleman at the other end of the wire could not believe that he was really in direct communication with the English capital, and he exclaimed, in Morse language, "Are you really London?"
Truly this was a great achievement. Metallic communication, without a break, from 18, Old Broad Street, London, to the telegraph office in Calcutta! Seven thousand miles of wire! The signals were excellent, and the speed attained was no fewer than twelve, perhaps fourteen, words per minute.