Canada One Dollar Silver Coin 2016 150th Anniversary of the Transatlantic Cable
We live in an era in which instant global communication is at our fingertips; at any given time, we can monitor news events as they unfold, follow the rise and fall of commodity prices around the world or connect with friends and family across the globe. It’s hard to imagine distance as a barrier to the exchange of ideas; but until the mid-19th century, a message sent from New York to London could only be relayed as quickly as the ship it sailed on, and “breaking news” from afar could be several weeks old.
Telegraphy had sped up communication over land, yet oceans still stood as immense, silent barriers—that is, until the successful completion of a permanent transatlantic telegraph cable on
July 27, 1866. This watershed moment finally provided an enduring communication link between the Old World and the New, and made Newfoundland a vital gateway to a world that had suddenly become more accessible!
This proof fine silver dollar commemorates the 150th anniversary of that transatlantic telegraph cable, which revolutionized communications while transforming Newfoundland into an international communication hub.
Design: Designed by Canadian marine artist Yves Bérubé, your coin features a starboard side view of S.S. Great Eastern as the iron steamship triumphantly rests in the harbour of Heart’s Content, Newfoundland. Painstakingly engraved in exceptional detail, the Great Eastern easily dwarfs a local gaff-rigged fishing boat (known as a Jack Boat) off her bow, while her four funnels and six masts rise up to fill the upper portion of the reverse. In the background, the picturesque fishing village and the rolling hills that surround Trinity Bay are a welcome sight, signalling the end of one journey for the crew after spending weeks laying the transatlantic cable along the North Atlantic seabed. This historic cable linking Heart’s Content to Valentia Island, Ireland, is illustrated on the map element that fills reverse’s lower portion. Fittingly, the cable itself is represented on the map.
The transatlantic cable was the result of multiple attempts, from 1857 to 1866.
The first cables were run between Ireland and Bull Arm, Newfoundland, with the final cable moving to Heart’s Content.
The cable consisted of copper wires covered with a latex made from gutta-percha, then wound with tarred hemp and surrounded by iron wire.
The first transatlantic telegraph was sent in 1858 when Queen Victoria sent a congratulatory message to the President of the United States, James Buchanan; this first attempt had such poor reception that it took over 16 hours to transmit the message!
Once the transatlantic cable was fully operational in 1866, only the wealthy could afford to use it since initial rates were very expensive!
Until the cable was in place, some North American newspapers would use an unusual method to receive European news faster: steamships passing near Cape Race, Newfoundland, would toss over a barrel of news and messages into the sea and a boat would recover it in order to forward the news over the Cabot Strait telegraph wire; news items received this way would be printed with the byline “Via Cape Race.”
In 1902, a telegraph cable linking British Columbia to New Zealand completed a circuit that connected many regions of the British Empire, and meant that cables now circumnavigated much of the globe.
By the early 1850s, a submerged cable was successfully transmitting telegraph messages across the English Channel and had inspired the idea of a possible transatlantic link. Buoyed by oceanographic reports of a flat plateau in the Atlantic Ocean that was perfect for laying a cable, funds and support for the project were sought from investors and governments on both sides of the Atlantic.
Since Newfoundland presented the ideal location for the transatlantic cable’s western terminus, telegraph wires were quickly laid over land and across Cabot Strait to connect the island to the wires over the mainland. Soon, all was in place—save the transatlantic cable itself. A first attempt came in 1857, but proved unsuccessful when the cable broke. Another attempt in 1858 called for two ships to meet in the mid-Atlantic, where the cable would be spliced together and laid by one ship sailing east and the other sailing west. Despite more failed attempts, a cable link was completed in August 1858, and the first message received seemed to indicate that “Europe and America are united by telegraphy;” however, it proved to be short-lived as the cable failed on September 3 under a high voltage charge.
In 1865, another attempt was made but with a single ship that would lay the cable in just one trip across the Atlantic. The largest vessel at the time of her launch, the iron steamship S.S. Great Eastern was outfitted to hold the giant coils of cable that would cover the distance between Foilhummerum Bay on Valentia Island and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland. Sadly, the cable snapped once more and it too was lost to the ocean depths. The following year’s attempt would prove to be much more successful and on July 27, 1866, Great Eastern triumphantly steamed into Newfoundland’s Trinity Bay, where the cable was pulled ashore at Heart’s Content.
History was made as the transatlantic telegraph cable was fully operational, and a second cable was in place shortly after, when the Great Eastern successfully retrieved and completed the 1865 cable. It was all a remarkable lesson in perseverance, but the cable succeeded in establishing a communication link that has remained unbroken.
Mintage 20000.
Composition 99.99% pure silver.
Finish proof.
Weight 23.17 g.
Diameter 36.07 mm.
Edge serrated.
Face value: 1 Canadian Dollar.
ArtistYves Bérubé (reverse), Susanna Blunt (obverse).
Manufacturer: Royal Canadian Mint.
