“Mr Cable” Robert Halpin – the Irish captain who connected the world | Season 4 – Episode 64

Today, in our digital age, everyone is connected across the globe and instant communication is now taken for granted. But there was a time before the digital age when transoceanic telegraph cables were laid to connect the continents, and they heralded the beginning of a new era in global telecommunications. 

In this story we are focussing on the career of Robert Halpin the County Wicklow Sea captain who worked first as an engineer on the SS Great Eastern to lay a 6,000-tonne submarine transatlantic telegraph cable over 2,600 miles from Valentia Island, County Kerry to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland. Later, Halpin as captain of the SS Great Eastern went on to refine the process of laying transoceanic telegraph cables around the world and was then widely known as “Mr Cable”.

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APPRENTICESHIP 

Robert Halpin (1836–1897) was born in Wicklow, a port town on Ireland’s east coast. His parents ran the Bridge House pub, and from a young age, he developed a keen interest in the sailors who frequented the bar. At the age of eleven, he left home behind to embark on a maritime career, beginning with a seven-year apprenticeship on the sailing ship Briton. Aged just 22, Robert was given command of the sailing ship Argo, which was wrecked on its maiden voyage leading to a nine-month suspension of his master’s ticket. 

THE FIRST CABLE

The initial effort to link Britain and Ireland to North America with an underwater cable was first attempted in 1858. On 16th August 1858 the first messages exchanged were between Queen Victoria and U.S. President James Buchanan and the old and new worlds were connected which became widely referred to at the time as the Eighth Wonder of the World! However, the connection lasted only a week before a worker overloaded the current, melting the cable. 

GREAT EASTERN

Entering our story is The Great Eastern, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. At the time of her construction, she was the largest ship afloat, measuring 692 feet in length, displacing 32,160 tons, and capable of carrying 4,000 passengers and 418 crew members.

Laid down in May 1854, she was designed to capitalise on the surge in trade and emigration to Australia following the discovery of gold. She could carry 18,000 tons in her double hull, with coal bunkers holding enough fuel for a round trip from England to Australia. 

The paddle engines were the oscillating type with four cylinders each 74 inches in diameter and a 14-foot stroke. The 56-foot diameter paddles could be shortened to 36 feet to match the ship’s draught. The propeller was made of cast iron, fitted with four blades, giving it a diameter of 24 feet and weighed 36 tons. In 1867, steam powered steering gear designed by John McFarlane, a steam engineer from Belfast, was installed.

ISAMBARD KINGDOM BRUNEL

Brunel lost some control over the launch of his ship when the company directors sold 3,000 spectator tickets. As he prepared for the launch Brunel was unhappy at the crowds and when the directors asked him to choose a name for the ship, he replied, ‘Call her Tom Thumb if you like.’ 

Launching a ship if this size was not as straightforward as it is today. To avail of the high tide the launch was set for 3rd November 1857, however, due to numerous mechanical failures and setbacks, it was not until 1:30 pm on 31st January 1858 that the ship was afloat. Four steam tugs manoeuvred the Great Eastern to the Deptford side of the river for fit out.

COMMERCIAL FLOP

On the Australian and subsequent routes, the Great Eastern was a commercial flop and many of her voyages were full of drama. This was the case in 1861 on her third voyage to America with 400 passengers on board, the ship left Liverpool on 10th September captained by James Walker. A huge storm engulfed the ship, and the port and starboard paddle wheels were both destroyed, the rudder controls damaged and subsequently the life-boats were lost as well. After drifting for three days the ship was eventually brought back under control and steamed for the south coast of Ireland, some 300 miles distant. 

Upon arriving at Queenstown (Cobh, County Cork), the harbourmaster denied the Great Eastern entry due to concerns over the ship’s lack of control. Given her 692-foot length, there was a significant risk of chaos in the harbour, a concern that soon proved justified. Injured passengers were evacuated by lighter, and the ship remained offshore for three days until HMS Advice towed her in. As she entered the harbour, a quartermaster was killed by whiplash from the wheel. Further mishap followed when the Great Eastern collided with the American barque Samuel Maxley, severely damaging her stern and removing several davits, along with the barque’s anchor and chain.

SS GREAT EASTERN CABLE LAYER 

By 1865 the ships owners were in financial difficulty and in the same year, she was chartered to the newly established Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (Telcon) and given a new lease of life when fitted out as a telegraph cable layer. 

To conduct her cable laying duties for Telcon (the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company) in 1865 the Great Eastern was fitted with three waterproof tanks for storing conductor cable: the forward tank (51’6″ by 20’6″) held 693 nm, the midships tank (58’6″ by 20’6″) held 899 nm, and the aft tank (58′ by 20’6″) held 898 nm, totalling 2,490 nm of conductor cable capacity. On her decks large winches and cable spooling machinery was installed. 

THE CABLE

In 1865, the Gutta Percha Company merged with Glass, Elliot, and Company to form Telcon to produce a 2,600-mile cable. The 6,000-tonne conductor had seven copper strands, each 0.048 inches in diameter, coated with alternating layers of Chatterton’s Compound, gutta percha, jute soaked in catechu, and tarred hemp. Webster and Horsfall of Birmingham supplied 1,600 tons of .095-inch steel wire to armour the cable.

HALPIN JOINS GREAT EASTERN

Robert Halpin is best known for his impact on global telecommunications and in 1865, he joined the Great Eastern as first officer, sailing on 26th July on a mission to lay a 2,600-mile cable between Europe and America – from Valentia Island, Kerry to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland. 

While laying the cable at a speed of 5–7 knots and 600 miles from the Newfoundland coast, disaster struck when the cable accidentally snapped and was lost overboard and the Great Eastern returned to port. 

On 13th July the following year, with a newly constructed conductor cable, the Great Eastern set sail once more from Valentia Island and began laying the cable on the seabed. Two weeks later, the cable was successfully landed and started operating at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland 

The Great Eastern then returned to the site where the 1865 cable had been lost, marked with a buoy, retrieved it from the ocean floor, spliced it, and laid the remaining 600 miles back to Newfoundland. By 8 September 1866, two telegraph lines were transmitting messages across the Atlantic.

CAPTAIN HALPIN

In the summer of 1874, with Robert now captain, the Great Eastern sailed out from Heart’s Content, Newfoundland on a mission to carry out repairs on the cables laid in 1865 and 1866. Captain Halpin displayed remarkable seamanship by manoeuvring the Great Eastern at least 12 nautical miles away from the cable break point. In what must have been an emotionally and physically demanding operation for the captain and crew, a grapnel was attached to a wire rope was then lowered overboard, and the ship was allowed to drift until the cable was hooked. It was then brought to the surface and spliced and signals were restored. 

From 1869 to 1874 Captain Halpin commanding the Great Eastern laid 41,800 km (26,000 miles) of transoceanic telegraph cables connecting Brest to St. Pierre and Miquelon (France) and the Bombay-Aden-Suez cable, and additional routes including Australia-New Zealand-East Indies, Madras-Singapore-Penang, and Madeira-Brazil. 

GREAT EASTERN IN DUBLIN

After her career as a cable layer the Great Eastern suffered numerous commercial failures. In the Spring of 1887 the ship was towed to Dublin and paying visitors were invited on board to take afternoon tea, however it was a financial disaster so she was towed back to Liverpool where following the refusal of a liquor licence she was put up for sale and was sold for a measly £16,000 and was to be broken up.

Henry Bath and Sons ship breakers, auctioned the ships outer plates, copper and brass and gunmetal and with souvenir hunters all seeking a part of the once might ship the auction total was boosted to £58,000. The ship breaking company estimated it would take 200 men one year and £20,000 to dismantle the ship, ensuring a profit. However, it took two years, and the company ended up losing money.

ROBERT HALPIN RETIREMENT

Robert Halpin earned worldwide acclaim for his accomplishments and was honoured with the title of Knight of the Order of the Rose by Brazilian Emperor Pedro II. He also received the Legion d’Honneur and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. In 1889, he was appointed an honorary Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve.

In 1873 Robert Halpin was married to Jessica Munn of Heart’s Content, Newfoundland and returning to Wicklow c.1875 he became chairman of the Wicklow Gas Company, Wicklow Harbour Master and Secretary of Wicklow Harbour Commissioners. He also ran unsuccessfully as a Member of Parliament. 

In 1876 he engaged a fashionable architect and built an expensive house near to Wicklow town in the townland of Tinakilly overlooking the Irish Sea.

Robert Halpin, died aged 57 at Tinakilly House on 20 January 1894 and is buried at Wicklow Parish Church. His achievements are marked with a display at the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, a granite obelisk in the centre of Wicklow town, a 48 cent stamp from An Post and the Halpin Memorial Medal awarded as an annual swimming prize. 

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Sources of Information and Photo Credits: 

Atlantic Cable Blog – History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications

from the first submarine cable of 1850 to the worldwide fiber optic network

Atlantic Cable Broadsides and Lithographs

Captain Robert Halpin Plaque – Sheila1988

Coast Monkey – Ann Robinson

Dinner Invitation – Scan by NYPL

History Ireland

History of the Atlantic Cable – our thanks to this incredible blog

Lawrence Photograph Collection – Robert French

Maritime Museum of the Atlantic – Bloomer Collection 

Museums Victoria Collections

National Museum of Ireland – Flicker

Science Photo Library

The Atlantic Telegraph – William Russell

If you have an idea for a story, email Kevin Reid [email protected]