The first international underwater telegraph cable was laid in 1850 across 25 miles of English Channel from Dover to Cape Gris Nez, France. The first transatlantic cable was opened by Queen Victoria and President Buchanan in 1858. Since then, in all parts of the world, some 3,500 cables, totaling 300,000 miles in length, have been put in operation. They lie flat and tensionless on the floor of the ocean, avoid undersea peaks and canyons, go no deeper than about three miles, cost around $2,000 a mile. Inside each cable a copper conducting wire,...
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