Porthcurno - Nerve Centre of Empire

The Scilly cable and the short-lived 'Brisk' affair were mere dabblings in the shallows by comparison with the earlier exploits of the great cable pioneers who in 1858 and 1866 had succeeded in bridging the mighty Atlantic, to connect the New World with the old. Their eventual success, despite many early failures and difficulties, launched international communications on a world which was ripe for this development. It was not long before West Cornwall was to become a vital link in this expansion. The early Atlantic cables had landed in Ireland, but in June 1876, that significant month in which the 'Brisk' project failed and the Scilly cable opened, Sir John Pender formed the Falmouth-Gibraltar-Malta Telegraph Company. Pender had been associated with the successful Atlantic cable of 1866 and now looked to this new company to form a vital link in an all submarine route to India.

The inland system from London to Falmouth, which had been so useful to the Lloyds watcher at Pen Olver on the Lizard, was now operated by the Post Office (nationalisation day had come) and its presence was no doubt the reason for the initial choice of Falmouth as the terminal for the new cable. However Falmouth is a busy harbour, and a cable landed there would have been in continuous jeopardy from dragging ships anchors. On reconsideration, Porthcurno became the choice, and the inland system was extended to it on the very same wooden poles that had been put up to support the wires connecting with the 'Brisk'. The name of the Company was now manifestly absurd, and in time it was changed to the 'Eastern Telegraph Company'.

Porthcurno or 'PK' as it was known in telegraphic abbreviation was to prove an ideal site as a cable landing, with a soft shell-sand beach, protected from westerly gales by the adjacent headland. The shore-end was laid by the screw steamship 'Investigator', the main cable by the 'Scanderia' supported by the 'Hibernia' and 'Edinburgh' - for this was a major expedition and the start of engineering developments in the lonely valley that were soon to make the 'Brisk' venture look faintly ridiculous. On June 8th 1870 John Pender sat on an upturned packing case in a hut above the beach and watched the first message transmitted. Porthcurno's role in international communications had begun.

Events followed so rapidly that only a summary is given, together with some extracts from contemporary records to give the flavour of this remote corner of England a century and more ago. Without them the narrative becomes a mere catalogue of dates.

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