| "More reliable in bad weather than Cornwall route." Sea Board of
Mendip. I think this refers to the reliability of the land lines from the sea terminal to London. Cables
from Weston had half as far to go on land. |
| "During Irish troubles link was direct Weston to Newfoundland."
Note in Weston
Museum. This needs amplification. The "troubles" are taken to refer to the 1920s. It is possible that cables
were spliced to bypass Waterville at sea but, I think unlikely. More likely a through connection made at Waterville
and a guard put round the station! |
| The above is what I wrote (rather confidently !) in 1998. Since then I have had the benefit of reading Dr de
Gogan's conclusions from rather more deep research [de Gogan]. He finds the
evidence conflicting (if not downright misleading) but concludes that at least some of the CCC cables probably were
diverted and the Valentia (Western Union) ones not. It is certainly possible that Waterville station was connected
but was restricted to relaying signals automatically. There is picture from a
1961 company magazine that is also relevant as it shows staff transferred to Weston in 1922 to operate the main
cables diverted from Waterville. |
| "Gordon Bennett!" |
|
One of the many stories about messages "down the road" that went via a many 1000 mile route. |