Once the telegraph link had been established, Queen Victoria exchanged congratulations with President Andrew Johnson.
The messages took several hours to cross the ocean. But without the cable, a despatch going in one direction alone would have taken up to 12 days by inland telegraph and steamer.
The public impact of the Atlantic telegraph was enormous. The event was widely celebrated in images such as this one.
With landlines and submarine cables now connecting cities and trade centres, news and information could be passed almost instantly, where before it had taken weeks.
The telegraph House at Trinity Bay, Newfoundland. © NMM
