The 1858 cable fails

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After roughly three weeks of working life and a few hundred messages in each direction, the cable stopped carrying a readable signal. The standard account attributes the failure to deterioration of the gutta-percha insulation, accelerated by the very high voltages applied in an attempt to force a signal through a line that was already weakening. The commercial consequence was severe — the enterprise had been publicly celebrated and was now widely suspected of fraud — and the technical consequence was decisive: the next attempts were preceded by a formal investigation into cable design, testing and electrical practice.

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