Today I saw Cyrus Field's workers laying the final stretch of the Transatlantic Cable. The cable stretched from Valentia Island in western Ireland to Heart's Content in eastern Newfoundland. The transatlantic cable provides telegraph communications between North America and Europe. This cable could relay telegraphs and information in a matter of minutes. This greatly reduced the time it took to deliver the message by boat, which was 10 days. The first communications made through the Transatlantic Cable were transmitted in 1858. The first official telegram to pass between two continents was a letter of congratulation from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom to the President of the United States James Buchanan.
The Transatlantic Cable was invented by Cyrus Field and was attempted unsuccessfully in 1857. This was because the chief engineers could not agree on the cable and how it should work. They used their own way at different ends and the cable was irregular. This caused the first cable to fail. Today the final length was laid and the first message sent. The engineering miracle is finally complete.
I walked through the town and made my way to the Broad Street pump to fetch some water for the cook. I walked towards it and saw a dead cart taking victims of Cholera to the grave sites. I was suddenly intrigued and forgot about getting water, I saw a doctor leaving a house and I questioned him about the outbreak of Cholera that was threatening to take over London. He told me of the past theories of Cholera in the thick smog that rises above the city. The London sewers were improved by Joseph Bazalgette who used theories of gravity to carry the sewerage to a far off section of the Thames. The water was then supposedly treated and filtered, but the disease was still prevalent. An investigation after a family died found that there was an eel in the tap of their home. This meant that the water was not being filtered and was still contaminated by the sewerage. The water was treated from that point on and Cholera became a disease that was worried about no longer.
Early this morning I passed a man carrying a large Spinning Jenny. After inquiring as to who he was, I discovered that his name was James Hargreaves, and that he was, in fact the inventor of the Spinning Jenny. He invented the multi-spool spinning frame in 1764 and this kick-started the Industrial Revolution. The Spinning Jenny was widely used to save time and to create faster workmanship time. this created a better output in wool production. At the time, cotton production could not keep up with demand, and Hargreaves tried to improve the process. The flying shuttle had increased yarn demand by the weavers by doubling their productivity, and now the spinning jenny could supply that demand by further increasing the spinner's productivity.
Today I witnessed the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. I saw thousands of people flock to the bridge to walk the bridge for the first time. The Brooklyn Bridge was initially designed by John Augustus Roebling, but he died soon after of an infection that was caused by a foot injury. His son Washington Roebling continued his work but was later struck down by caissons disease. His wife Emily Roebling taught herself higher mathematics and she assisted him to carry out John Roebling's work. Today, over 1,800 vehicles and 150,300 people crossed The Brooklyn Bridge. Emily Roebling was the first person to cross this bridge and was recognised for her work. The giant bridge took over 13 years to build and 27 people died whilst building the bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is now the only passage between Brooklyn and Manhattan.
My First Day in the Industrial Revolution. Not as great as I thought it would be. The air is polluted and it stinks of gas and smoke form the large towers that billow smoke into the clouds, I can hardly breath. This morning I saw a factory owner standing outside his factory with a whip, as I watched from my window I saw a small child run up to the man. The man yelled at the child for being late and whipped him viciously. So many children are working in these factories. I walked around the nearby square and was astounded at the amount of child workers coming in and out of the factories. Hopefully things will get better.
The Industrial Revolution was a period of time that lasted from around 1733 to 1912. This blog will follow the transition between agriculture to machinery.
