OTHER COUNTRIES
Many countries built optical telegraphs; here they are in chronological order. Brief details will be given here as they emerge.
FRANCE: 1794
See above.
GREAT BRITAIN: 1796
See above.
CANADA: 1800
In 1800 the first semaphore line in North America began operation, running between Halifax and the town of Annapolis. It was established by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.
DENMARK: 1801
Experiments in Denmark began as early as 1794. The first permanent line was built in 1800 and ran from Copenhagen to Nakkehoved on the north tip of Sealand, with seven intermediate stations. Only two of these were in action by April 1801 when the British Royal Navy showd up for the Battle of Copenhagen. By Royal Decree, in October 1801 the telegraph system was put under the control of the Danish post office. They installed a semaphore line across the Great Belt strait, Storebæltstelegrafen, between islands Funen and Zealand with stations at Nyborg on Funen, on the small island Sprogø in the middle of the strait, and at Korsør on Zealand. This line was in use until 1865.
USA: 1801
The first telegraph system was set up by Jonathan Grout, to carry shipping information from Martha's Vinyard to Boston and Salem. The service appears to have been efficient but was poorly patronised and closed in 1807.
ST HELENA: 1803
Several telegraph station were erected on the island where Napoleon Bonaparte was finally exiled. Why did this remote place need such good internal communications? One reason is that the island garrison were understandably nervous of French rescue attempts. (none were made) One of the standard signals meant: "General Bonaparte is missing'.
PORTUGAL: 1806
The Portuguese Army began working an effective optical semaphore system in 1806, giving the Duke of Wellington a considerable advantage in intelligence-gathering over the French during the Peninsular War. At least two optical telegraph links were still in use in 1889, one across the mouth of the Tagus river, and one from the coast north of Lisbon to the island of Berlenga. These were both water routes, where laying a submarine cable would have been expensive.
INDIA: 1821
The Chunar-Calcutta line was 400 miles long with 45 stations. At the time it was the most ambitious line outside France. A signalling system of four balls was used. A message could get from Chumar to Calcutta in less than an hour.
RUSSIA: 1824
The first line in Russia was opened between St Petersburg and Schlusselburg on Lake Ladoga in 1824. The next line was from St Petersburg to the naval base at Kronstadt on the Gulf of Finland; it had eight stations. In 1835 a much larger undertaking was opened; an 830 km line from St Petersburg to Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Poland was at this time a (very unwilling) part of the Russian empire.
AUSTRALIA: 1828
A limited network was put into use around Hobart for passing shipping information, but very little was done on the mainland, the electric telegraph arriving in 1854. There was however an extensive network of up to 21 stations on the peninsular of Tasmania, which was the site of the notorious penal colony of Port Arthur, and this linked with Hobart. This system was primarily intended for passing alerts about escaped convicts; it was still in operation in May 1873.
PRUSSIA: 1837
In preparation. Schmidt Hamburg-Cuxhaven
SPAIN: 1846
Spain in this period was not noted for efficient administration. Their optical telegraph system was not ready for use until 1846, with the branch to Badajoz not completed until 1850. The system apparently worked effectively- a message from Paris took only six hours to reach Madrid- but it was of course far too late and replacement by electric telegraph began in 1855.
MALTA: 1848
Semaphore towers were constructed at Gharghur and Ghaxaq on the main island, and another was built at Ta' Kenuna on the smaller island of Gozo. Stations were also built at the Governor's Palace, Selmun Palace, and the Giordan Lighthouse. The stations were staffed by the Royal Engineers.
FINLAND: 1854
In preparation.
If any knows of any omissions from this list I would be happy to hear about them.
OPTICAL TELEGRAPHS IN FICTION
Pavane (pub 1968) is an influential alternate history novel by Keith Roberts. Queen Elizabeth the First is asassinated and as a result all of Europe is ruled by a Papacy that stifles all progress, as in the papal ban 'Petroleum Veto'. Long distance communication is by a network of semaphores operated by the powerful Guild of Signallers. It is a depressing book.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels, starting with The Fifth Elephant, (pub 1999) onwards, feature a widespread system of eight-shutter semaphore towers, known as Clacks, (= Fax) which occupy a similar role to that of the Internet. Using advanced clack coding, it is possible not only to send very fast telegrams, but also to encode pictures and send them long-distance. Shopping and Banking via the clacks is also mentioned. Later novels mention the Drum, which seems to be some sort of mechanical data-storage attached to each Clacks tower. There is also such a thing as a Clacks virus, which does its deadly work in a most ingenious way.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH
In 1844 Samuel Morse demonstrated an electric telegraph operating between Baltimore and Washington. The days of the optical telegraph were numbered- but it was a big number. The French only began to replace semaphores with electric telegraphy in 1846, carry on using their optical telegraphs until the 1850s.
The electrical telegraph was faster and much cheaper, requiring operators only at each end, but there were objections: people said of the wires "it could be cut anywhere' which was certainly true, but proved not to be a problem, in peacetime at least.
