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TRANSATLANTIC TELEPHONE CABLE |
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Clarenville can claim the distinction of being chosen as the first place for the laying of the Transatlantic Telephone Cable which took place in June, 1955. Following a decision of Great Britain, United States and Canada, Clarenville was used as the western terminal of the Transatlantic Telephone Cable or the TAT-1 as it was known. Clarenville was choosen due to it's seclusion from the open ocean giving shelter from fierce |
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storms and deep enough water so that boats would not harm the cable. |
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In the summer of 1955, Her Majesty's Telegraph Ship (HMTS) Monarch, which was the largest cable laying ship in the world at the time, was anchored in Random Sound with her hold full of submarine telephone cable. On June 22, 1955 the town declared a municipal holiday to celebrate the landing of the cable and the opening of the newly constructed cable station on what is now Cormack Drive. The cable was christened |
| in a big ceremony attended by principals of all companies involved, as well as politicians. A champagne bottle was broken over the cable. The champagne bottle contained water from Heart's Content, which is the site of the first Transatlantic Telegraph Cable. |
| The New TAT-1 cable had to be laid in three sections. The east and west ends were a thicker cable designed to withstand the rougher treatment expected in shallow water. The Monarch under Captian J.P.F Betson, left Clarenville on July 22, 1955 and headed toward Oban, Scotland laying the first cable along the Atlantic Ocean floor a distance of 3621km (2,250 miles). The following year a return cable was laid from Oban to Clarenville. The cable was extended overland to Terrenceville, then on to Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia in 1956. The cable had signal amplifiers called repeaters every 37 miles, requiring 51 repeaters in each cable, for a total |
| of 102 repeaters in all which were powered from Oban and Clarenville. The TAT-1 cable provided a capacity of 36 voice circuits which meant that up to 36 phone calls could be made at one given time. The cable also provided a "Hot Line" which was used for private conversations between the world's great leaders. |
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The Clarenville Cable Station which was built on what is now known as Cormack Drive was an important link in an international communications chain. It was managed by Eastern Telephone and Telegraph Company, a subsidiary or AT&T. Known as a "booster" station, |
| its primary responsibility was to supply power to half the cable. The ground floor of the cable station was devoted almost entirely to the production of electricity. It housed four large diesel generators, two of which powered the cable and the other two were held in reserve. The station basement housed 132 batteries, which in the event of a power outage, the batteries automatically took over until the generators could be brought on line. The first floor of the building held the communication equipment. The Clarenville Cable Station played an important role in the repair of cable breaks. By measuring the resistance on the line, the employees in the station could tell the Cable Repair ship, based in St. John's, almost exactly where the break was. Although all telephone conversations between North America and Europe passed through the building, the design of transatlantic system required long distance calls between Clarenville and Europe to be routed via Montreal. |
| On September 25, 1956 at 11 am EST, the first inaugural call took place in a conversation between the British Postmaster General, the chairman of AT&T and the Canadian Minister of Transport. In the first day of public service, there were 588 calls from London to the United States and 119 to Canada. During the first year of operation the telephone cable carried twice the calls made by radiotelephone. |
| Clarenville was also the site of the second transatlantic cable in 1959. This link was similar to the earlier one and was named TAT-2, however the eastern terminus was Penmarch, France, giving North America, a direct telephone cable to the European continent. TAT-2 differed from TAT-1 in |
| that it was longer and required 57 repeaters. The cables entered Smith Sound and came ashore just north of Snook's Harbour, on Random Island, where they were trenched overland to north of Elliott's Cove and extended by submarine cable to Clarenville. TAT-2 used this route to minimize the risk of grappling the wrong cable during maintance problems. |
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Other cables came ashore which could handle more voice circuits. This made the eariler cables obsolete. As a result, the TAT-1 was retired in 1978, followed by TAT-2 in 1982, resulting in the permanent closure of the Clarenville Cable Station. |
Transatlantic Cable Photos: Click to Enlarge Picture
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Transatlantic Cable Video: Click to Watch Video
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Cable Station Construction |
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Cable Celebrations
June 22, 1955
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HMTS Monarch
in Random Sound
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History Television
on the TAT-1
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CBC Archives - TAT-1
External Link |
Sources:
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Journey's Through Time - Bob Hyslop
Clarenville Heritage Society
Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador
Unofficial Clarenville Website
Pictures: The Geneva Cholock Collection, Clarenville Heritage Society.
Video: Larry Bourne, History Television, CBC Television.
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