Part 13 (1/2)
Later, standing beside her da on the deck of the launch, Ailish looked back at the mighty vessel. It took a long time to get distance enough to see it entirely. The Great Eastern was a s.h.i.+p like no other and a true leviathan of the seas.
At last, shading her eyes against the morning sun's glare, Ailish was able to take it all in. Then she saw, high up on the catwalk, a solitary figure silhouetted against the brilliant blue sky.
The figure waved.
What had Davy said? ”I don't go on deck unless it's for someone incredible and extraordinary.”
Smiling at the compliment, she waved back as hard as she could, then watched as he faded into thin air.
Ailish slipped a hand into her pocket and curled her fingers protectively around the rusted old rivet nestled at the bottom. Tears sparkled on her lashes as she remembered his words. As long as you keep a loved one in your heart, they are with you always.
”You will be with me always, Davy Jones,” she whispered. ”You and your ghost messages.”
Author's Note.
While speaking to students on the brilliant devices we use to chat to friends today I realized they had no idea how it all began. The marvels of communication we enjoy in the 21st century make it difficult to fathom that it wasn't always as it is now. Text messaging, e-mails, satellites and high speed Internet are built upon much humbler beginnings and Canada, especially Newfoundland, played an important role. I decided to investigate and Ghost Messages is the result of that snooping into the dusty past.
Ghost Messages tells of the 1865 attempt to lay the first trans-Atlantic cable which would connect the two halves of the world with instant communication. The communication wasn't digital; it wasn't fibre optics or telephone; in fact, it wasn't even a human voice. It was Morse code transmitted for 2300 nautical miles in dots and dashes along a one-inch thread composed of seven strands of fragile copper wire! (I am pleased to say I have a piece of that original wire cable, dredged up from the bottom of the ocean, and enjoy showing students when I give presentations in schools.) At the time, a transatlantic cable was thought to be an impossibility a” science fiction a” but this was an age of miracles when some of the greatest men of vision and science worked together to create miracles of their own. Their names are synonymous with world-changing advances: Cyrus Field, Samuel Canning, Isambard Brunel, Daniel Gooch, William Thomson (later known as Lord Kelvin), Samuel Morse and Michael Faraday. All of these gentlemen, and many more, contributed to this project.
The Great Eastern was a remarkable s.h.i.+p a” it was five times larger than any vessel built, was seven hundred feet long and utilized three methods of propulsion a” sail, propeller and paddlewheel. The innovative double hull made it unsinkable and nearly indestructible, requiring the invention of the wrecking ball to take it apart.
On that first cable-laying attempt in 1865, one of the greatest captains to sail the blue sea was at the helm, Captain James Anderson. He really did manage not once, but numerous times, to find the one-inch cable when it was lost miles below on the ocean floor. Suspected sabotage by the Fenians is also recorded in the history books, and it was eventually discovered that the cable itself had done the damage when brittle shards of the outer casing imbedded themselves into the wire, shorting the signal.
The legend of the ghost aboard the Great Eastern is well doc.u.mented in the s.h.i.+p's lore; and when the s.h.i.+p was finally dismantled, the skeletons of both the riveter and his bash boy were found between the hulls, where they had fallen to their deaths when the s.h.i.+p was being built. I have taken a little literary licence by naming these forgotten souls as their true ident.i.ties have disappeared into the mists.
As a writer, I could not have dreamed up a more exciting plot. History itself has provided the people, setting and dramatic events complete with a s.h.i.+p of legend, ghosts, broken cables, storms, and sabotage. It is my hope that this book will instill in you a sense of wonder and respect for those intrepid scientists and explorers on whose inventions and discoveries our modern communications world is built. The next time you e-mail, text message or Twitter a friend, remember it all began long ago with a fragile thread thousands of miles long and those whispered ”ghost messages.”
Glossary of Nautical Terms.
Ahoy!: A very old and traditional greeting for hailing other vessels; originally a Viking battle cry.
Chewing the Fat: Having a long chat. ”G.o.d made the vittles but the devil made the cook” was a popular saying used by seafaring men in the 19th century, when salted beef was the staple diet aboard s.h.i.+p. This tough cured beef, suitable only for long voyages when nothing else would keep (remember, there was no refrigeration) required prolonged chewing to make it edible. Men often chewed one chunk for hours, just as if it were chewing gum, and referred to this practice as ”chewing the fat.”
Devil to Pay or Paying the Devil: The expected unpleasant result of some action that has been taken. Sailors adopted the colourful idea of having to pay the devil for whatever fun you had and applied it to the most unpleasant tasks aboard a wooden s.h.i.+p. Caulking (sealing) seams and gaps in the s.h.i.+p was one of them: and it must certainly have been h.e.l.lish to be suspended high above sea on the outside of a s.h.i.+p, or up to your knees in stinking bilgewater deep in the hold, using shredded rope and sticky black pitch to keep the salt.w.a.ter out.
Fathom: A span of six feet. Fathom was originally a land-measuring term, derived from the Ango-Saxon word ”faetm” meaning to embrace. In those days, most measurements were based on average size of parts of the body, such as the hand (horses are still measured this way) or the foot (that's why 12 inches are so named). A fathom was the average distance from fingertip to fingertip of the outstretched arms of a man; or, as it was defined by an act of Parliament, ”the length of a man's arms around the object of his affections.”
Galley: The kitchen of a s.h.i.+p. It is most likely a corruption of ”gallery.” Ancient sailors cooked their meals on a brick or stone gallery laid amids.h.i.+ps.