Editing Submarine communications cable (section)

===First commercial cables===
[[File:British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Co. Limited 3 shilling stamp c. 1862 remaindered without control number.jpg|thumbnail|right|A [[telegraph stamp]] of the British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Co. Limited (c. 1862).]]

In August 1850, having earlier obtained a concession from the French government, [[John Watkins Brett]]'s [[English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company]] laid the first line across the [[English Channel]], using the converted [[tugboat]] ''Goliath''. It was simply a copper wire coated with [[gutta-percha]], without any other protection, and was not successful.<ref name=Haigh/>{{rp|192–193}}<ref>The company is referred to as the English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company</ref> However, the experiment served to secure renewal of the concession, and in September 1851, a protected core, or true, cable was laid by the reconstituted [[Submarine Telegraph Company]] from a government [[Hulk (ship type)|hulk]], ''Blazer'', which was towed across the Channel.<ref name=Haigh/>{{rp|192–193}}<ref name=Brett>{{cite journal|last=Brett|first=John Watkins|title=On the Submarine Telegraph|journal=Royal Institution of Great Britain: Proceedings: Vol. II, 1854–1858|date=March 18, 1857 |url=http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Article/Brett/index.htm|access-date=17 May 2013|type=transcript|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130517155316/http://www.atlantic-cable.com/Article/Brett/index.htm |archive-date=17 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="guarnieri 7-1"/>

In 1853, more successful cables were laid, linking Great Britain with Ireland, [[Belgium]], and the [[Netherlands]], and crossing [[The Belts]] in Denmark.<ref name=Haigh/>{{rp|361}} The [[British & Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company]] completed the first successful Irish link on May 23 between [[Portpatrick]] and [[Donaghadee]] using the [[collier (ship)|collier]] ''William Hutt''.<ref name=Haigh/>{{rp|34–36}} The same ship was used for the link from Dover to [[Ostend]] in Belgium, by the Submarine Telegraph Company.<ref name=Haigh/>{{rp|192–193}} Meanwhile, the [[Electric & International Telegraph Company]] completed two cables across the [[North Sea]], from [[Orford Ness]] to [[Scheveningen]], the Netherlands. These cables were laid by ''Monarch'', a [[paddle steamer]] which later became the first vessel with permanent cable-laying equipment.<ref name=Haigh/>{{rp|195}}

In 1858, the steamship ''Elba'' was used to lay a telegraph cable from [[Jersey]] to [[Guernsey]], on to [[Alderney]] and then to [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]], the cable being completed successfully in September of that year. Problems soon developed with eleven breaks occurring by 1860 due to storms, tidal and sand movements, and wear on rocks. A report to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1860 set out the problems to assist in future cable-laying operations.<ref>{{cite book |title= Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers |issue=Volume 20 |page=26}}</ref>