The first successful transatlantic telegraph line is completed. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom sends a telegraph to U.S. President James Buchanan. Near-instantaneous communication between Europe and North America become a reality. However Signal quality declined rapidly, slowing transmission to an almost unusable speed.
The cable was destroyed three weeks later when Chief Engineer, Wildman Whitehouse, applied excessive voltage to it while trying to achieve faster operation. It wasn't until July 27 1866, two cable generations later that acceptable performance was achieved. More
