Earliest commercially viable transatlantic cable?

What it says on the tin. What's the earliest date that they could have laid a transatlantic telegraph cable that would've functioned for at least a few years before failing?
 
Don't think the cabel would be a problem, it would be having a ship to lay it. The Great Eastern was the only ship able to do this. If you could have more than one ship, one to lay the cable and more to carry it, you will have the trouble of a lot of connections and then more likely to break.
The earliest it would have able to be done would be the Gt Eastern's first voyage.
 
In addition to the ship you needed to have a water proof covering strong enough to survive on the floor of the Adlantic. This basically meant the rubber derivative they used.

Since this needed rubber plantations + advanced chemisty I would have said that it was an idea which could not have happened much before it did.
 
In addition to the ship you needed to have a water proof covering strong enough to survive on the floor of the Adlantic. This basically meant the rubber derivative they used.

Since this needed rubber plantations + advanced chemisty I would have said that it was an idea which could not have happened much before it did.

Underwater cables were made of guta percha, and did not require advanced chemistry. The stuff had been used by native Malays for God knows how long and commercialized in Europe in the 1840s.
 
Underwater cables were made of guta percha, and did not require advanced chemistry. The stuff had been used by native Malays for God knows how long and commercialized in Europe in the 1840s.

This was only on the failed first cable, on the second (the one that worked) Chatterton's resin was added to the mix, as well as upgrading the wires etc.

Whilst Chatterton's resin is made up of pine resin and guta percha it is far more reliable and needed to be developed in chemistry labs.
 
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