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I have only one remark to this shrewd analysis: the parts of the world, cut of 
from Greenwich by cable failure, had certainly their observatories with the 
longitude accurately known (by the cable time from the past when the cable 
did still function or otherwise by astronomical means - even before sea 
cables came, rather accurate longitudes of many geographical spots in other 
continents were known, e.g. by star occultations or Venus transits an so on). 
And GMT was kept autonomously by astronomical methods there even after the 
telegraph connection with Greenwich existed - the whole world wasn't prone to 
rely to one clock and telescope in Greenwich.

So the procedure of ascertaining the GMT by means of the local time and the 
local longitude wasn't confined to the lintel of the cable hut and the 
correct GMT can be known at the wrong end of sea cable from neighbouring 
cable stations, too.

It is true that longitudes from non-cable times were often found to be in 
error of 1-2 arc-minutes after the sea cables had been laid.


Jan Kalivoda


----- Original Message -----
From: "George Huxtable" 
To: 
Sent: Monday, March 24, 2003 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: Cable repair story

   

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