Section of cross-Channel telephone cable, 1897

Section of cross-Channel telephone cable, unknown maker, Europe, 1897.

From the 1890s, telephone cables could successfully be laid across narrow seas, where the distance was sufficiently short that the signals did not deteriorate unduly. This is a specimen of the telephone cable laid across the English Channel in 1897 and is very similar to the first cross-Channel telephone cable which was laid in 1891. It was also similar to the medium-length telegraph cables of the time and differed only in the rather heavier copper conductors and the thicker insulation. The cross-Channel cables were owned by the British Post Office