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Commercial Pacific Cable Company




The company was established as a joint venture of three companies: the Commercial Cable Company , the Great Northern Telegraph Company , and the Eastern Telegraph Company .

The company used Cableships to lay its undersea cable across the Pacific Ocean from America's west coast. The cables extended a length of 6,912 miles and the project cost approximately $12 million. Before this, messages had to travel across the Atlantic to the Far East via Cape Town and the Indian Ocean , or via London to Russia , then across the Russian landline to Vladivostok , then by submarine cable to Japan and the Philippines .

The first section of cable was laid in 1902 by the cableship Silvertown from Ocean Beach , adjacent to the famous Cliff House in San Francisco to Honolulu . It began operating in January 1 , 1903 . Later that year, cables were laid from Honolulu to Midway , then from Midway to Guam , and then from Guam to Manila . The cables carried the first message to ever travel around the globe from U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt on July 4 , 1903 . He wished "a happy Independence Day to the U.S., its territories and properties . . ." It took nine minutes for the message to travel worldwide.

In 1906 Siemens AG made and laid the section from Guam to Borin Island in the Japanese Archipelago . That company also connected Manila to Shanghai by Silvertown .

By 1946 , the cables were developing serious faults. Over one million dollars was spent on repairs, but the company was unable to maintain a viable service and stopped operating in 1951 . It merged with American Telephone And Telegraph (AT&T).


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