Transatlantic Cable Ships

Transatlantic cable ships were the vessels that laid submarine telegraph cable across the Atlantic from the 1850s. After failed attempts in 1857 and 1858, the converted steamer SS Great Eastern, then the largest ship afloat, laid the first lasting Atlantic cable in 1866 between Valentia Island, Ireland, and Heart’s Content, Newfoundland, and recovered and completed the lost 1865 cable. Purpose-built cable ships carrying tanks of coiled cable and bow-and-stern sheaves followed, founding the submarine telegraph network.