Talk:Submarine Telegraph Company

Submarine Telegraph Company has been listed as one of the Engineering and technology good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do so. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can reassess it.
Review: October 4, 2019. (Reviewed version).

A fact from Submarine Telegraph Company appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 February 2019 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the opening of the Submarine Telegraph Company's first oceanic telegraph cable was marked by remotely firing a cannon in Calais from a telegraph station in Dover?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2019/February. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Submarine Telegraph Company.

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Ocean?[edit]

In the remark: "This was the first telegraph cable to be put in service across an ocean." Surely no one believes that the English Channel is an ocean? Crossing the English Channel, 35 km, is not the same as crossing the Atlantic, Pacific, or Indian Oceans.Gregorybard (talk) 18:59, 22 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

You have a point, even getting a cable across the Irish Sea was harder, but it was definitely the first of something and I couldn't find a better form of words. SpinningSpark 22:57, 5 March 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Spelling variations[edit]

Hi Spinningspark, Thanks for this fascinating history. I notice there are different spellings for Wilkins and Wetherly, Wetherley, Weatherly, even within Haigh and in other sources via a search but I couldn't see any variations that included Wilkinson for Wilkins per the List of cables laid table. Is Wilkinson in any of the sources? Thanks, JennyOz (talk) 00:26, 23 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

No, that was my error, now corrected. Thanks for bringing that up; if you have any other queries on the sources please note that I will soon be returning Haigh and a number of other sources I have on interlibrary loan for writing a set of telegraphy articles, so I won't have access in the future. SpinningSpark 01:01, 23 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that. No other queries, regards, JennyOz (talk) 01:44, 23 February 2019 (UTC)[reply]

GA Review[edit]

This review is transcluded from Talk:Submarine Telegraph Company/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: The Rambling Man (talk · contribs) 20:06, 24 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

ooh, two of my articles in the same month. Is that double thanks required or thanks squared? SpinningSpark 22:46, 24 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

" until they were nationalised in 1890" the company or the cables?
- The company is meant, but, of course, the government acquired the cables and other assets of the company as well. I could change "they were" to "the company was", but would you then complain that "company" had a repeated mention in the sentence? SpinningSpark 20:15, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
" laid two miles of " needs conversion for our metric friends.
- done SpinningSpark 20:32, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
If the company was known as English Channel Submarine Telegraph Company when it was formed, I would have thought this should be in the lead.
- Personally, I think that would unnecessarily clutter the lead. That name was very short lived, and strictly speaking, it was a different company, not the same company changing its name. SpinningSpark 21:17, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
  - I just think it would be reasonable to state in the lead the original name of the company. It may have been short-lived but it was the original name... The Rambling Man (Staying alive since 2005!) 21:26, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
    - Ok, I've worked it in, but as I said, this is not a straightforward name change. SpinningSpark 23:40, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
Do all our readers know what a "paddle tug" is?
- On agf of reader intelligence, I would have to say yes – the term is sum of parts – but I've wikilinked anyway. SpinningSpark 21:59, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
" Cap Gris Nez" Gris-Nez is hyphenated.
- Unhyphenated seems to be a common form in English, possibly in the majority of sources, but at least 50/50. Both Haigh and Huurdeman, the sources for this passage have the unhyphenated form. So does Kieve, but as "Cape Gris Nez". Smith has "Cape Grisnez". SpinningSpark 10:57, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"Dover-Calais" should be an en-dash.
- Done SpinningSpark 10:57, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"This was a difficult business.." quick repeat of "business" (but in a different context) and a little colloquial sounding for me.
- changed to "...difficult task". SpinningSpark 11:06, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"out a mile before" convert again.
- Done SpinningSpark 20:32, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"with HMS Widgeon who were tasked " should that be "which was" rather than "who were"?
- Done SpinningSpark 11:06, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"cannon in Calais. Calais replied..." Calais Calais...
- Reworded. SpinningSpark 11:17, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"for the lifetime of the Company" no need for capital C.
- Done SpinningSpark 11:12, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"Effect of the submarine telegraph.... " is there any additional information about what that actually is, alongside the text presented?
- Good question. I've seen this mentioned in a couple of sources (can't remember exactly where), but nothing I felt could be firmly stated as an encyclopaedic fact, so I settled for just adding the image. It does seem to be a hope that is repeatedly expressed for the telegraph "The new communications system that emerged in the 1860s and 1870s inspired hopes of peace and progress...". Kipling wrote in a poem on submarine cables "And a new World runs between: whispering "Let us be one!" This author cites submarine cables as one example of a more general hope that technology will bring better understanding and peace "Exhibitions and technological inventions reinforced one another in the propagation of a rhetoric of peace and communion between peoples where "All men become brothers."" In 1850, of course, they were still within living memory of the Napoleonic wars. SpinningSpark 19:43, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
" the GPO" I would spell that out for the many readers who don't know what GPO means.
- Done SpinningSpark 11:12, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]
"• Until 1863," that's a funny looking bullet point...
- It was not meant to be a bullet, it was meant to be an asterisk, but I used the wrong template. It marks a note to the "Cable manufacturer" heading in the table which is marked with an asterisk. SpinningSpark 19:58, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

That's all I have from a quick runthrough. The Rambling Man (Staying alive since 2005!) 12:11, 30 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think I've now addressed all the points you raised. SpinningSpark 11:17, 1 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, looks fine to me. Meets the GA criteria and those items left unresolved above shouldn't stop it being promoted. Cheers. The Rambling Man (Staying alive since 2005!) 10:58, 4 October 2019 (UTC)[reply]