Commercial Cable Company
| Founded | 1884 in New York, United States |
|---|
The Commercial Cable Company was established in 1884 in New York by John William Mackay and James Gordon Bennett, Jr. with the objective of breaking Jay Gould's dominant hold over transatlantic telegraph communications and lowering costs, which notably favored Bennett's newspaper enterprises. Their prominent ship was the CS Mackay-Bennett, named in honor of its founders.
At that time, cable-laying technology had advanced sufficiently to enable a reliable connection from Waterville in Ireland to Canso, Nova Scotia without encountering the significant difficulties that earlier transatlantic cables experienced. Initially, the link to New York City was routed overland but was subsequently replaced by an undersea cable. Soon after, submarine cables were also established from Waterville to Weston-super-Mare in England and to Le Havre in France. Additionally, Commercial Cable collaborated with the German Atlantic submarine cable network.
Within the United States, cable transmissions were managed through its affiliate, the Postal Telegraph Company. The company possessed a 25% ownership interest in the Commercial Pacific Cable Company, which operated a cable connecting San Francisco with Manila and Shanghai following 1906. These entities collectively formed part of the Mackay Companies, also referred to as the Associated Companies.
By the onset of the 20th century, leadership passed to John Mackay’s son, Clarence Mackay, who guided the organization through World War I. His close relationship with senior State Department official Frank Polk allowed governmental use of selected diplomatic communications transmitted via Commercial’s cables. The enterprise thrived until 1928 when it, along with other components of the Mackay System, was acquired by International Telephone and Telegraph (ITT) through its wholly owned subsidiary, the Postal Telegraph & Cable Corporation. In 1935, it underwent restructuring under the American Cable and Radio Corporation. The submarine cables continued to serve telegraph traffic until 1962. Remnants of these cables remained visible near Waterville as late as 1998.
Buildings
The Commercial Cable Company Building, erected in 1897 in New York City, ranked among the city’s earliest skyscrapers but was torn down in 1954.
Located in Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia, a two-and-a-half-story Neo-Classical structure made of brick and granite, constructed in 1888, served as the final surviving transatlantic station. Despite its historical significance—having transmitted messages concerning the sinking of the RMS Titanic and the conclusion of World War I—it was demolished in 2017 due to safety issues. There are plans to develop a spaceport facility in that vicinity.
External links
- The Commercial Cable Company
- Mackay History
- Atlantic Cable
- Photographs of Commercial Cable Company Telegraph Office Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia
- Winkler, Jonathan Reed Nexus: Strategic Communications and American Security in World War I (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2008) – Examination of Commercial Cable and its competitors’ handling of wartime communication challenges.
- Defunct telecommunications companies of the United States
- History of the Atlantic Ocean
- American companies established in 1884
- ITT Inc.
- Telecommunications companies established in 1884
- Technology companies disestablished in 1928
- 1884 establishments in New York (state)
- 1928 disestablishments in New York (state)
- American companies disestablished in 1928