The Mysteries of History (May 24 Edition)
Telegraph; Brooklyn Bridge; World War 1 British Convoy
1844 — Samuel Morse Sends the First Telegraph Message
public domain image of a telegraph operator from wikimedia commons
Samuel F.B. Morse effectively killed the Pony Express on this day in 1844 when he proved the efficacy of his invention, the telegraph, transmitting the message “What Hath God Wrought?”
But just as it wasn’t God who made honky-tonk angels, it also wasn’t God who made the telegraph. In conjunction with the telegraph (which was not Morse’s idea, but he was the one who breathed life into it), Morse invented the code that would be used to transmit messages using the telegraph (eponymously known as Morse Code), a series of dots and dashes (taps of short and longer duration) that represented letters of the bullhouse alphabet.
Within a decade, there were 20,000 miles of telegraph wires strung across the country, prefiguring the telephone lines to come and contributing to population and business expansion.
Questions: Have you ever sent or received a telegram? If not, who is your nearest relative (parent, grandparent) who has sent or received one? Have you seen the superb Meg Ryan-direct movie Ithaca (2015) based on a novel by America’s most underrated author (besides me, that is), William Saroyan?
1883 — Brooklyn Bridge Opens
public domain image from wikimedia commons
The iconic Brooklyn Bridge spanning the East River and connecting Brooklyn to Manhattan (another one, the much less picturesque Manhattan Bridge, would come into being a couple of decades later) opened to traffic on this day in 1883 after fourteen years of design and construction.
At the time, it was the largest suspension bridge ever built (now it’s a bridge in Türkiye [Turkey]).
Present at the ceremony dedicating the Brooklyn Bridge were U.S. President Chester Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland, who would succeed Arthur as President, holding that office from 1885-1889, and then again from 1893-1897 (the only President besides Trump to have two non-consecutive terms).
The designer of the bridge, John Roebling, was born in Germany, emigrated to America when he was 25, and only became a civil engineer after failing in his initial attempt at making a living in Pennsylvania as a farmer (which proves how difficult it can be to make a go of farming, and that it’s not for a lack of intellect or creativity that many are unable to make a living at it).
John Roebling died from tetanus as a result of an accident just before construction on the bridge began. His son Washington A. Roebling (who had been at the Battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War) took the reins as chief engineer of the project, and was immensely aided in the role by his wife Emily, who had to become the de facto “ramrod” of the project when her husband was sidelined from an accident he suffered on the dangerous job.
On this date in 1883, two souls were the first to get a ride over the bridge: Emily, and a rooster, who was sitting on her lap (roosters were a symbol of victory). Within the next 24 hours, a quarter of a million people walked across the bridge, on the pedestrian promenade that John Roebling had designed for that purpose.
Some people called the Brooklyn Bridge the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”
Questions: What was the accident that resulted in John Roebling getting tetanus? What caused Washington Roebling’s illness, and what was its long-term affect on him? Why would it have been fitting for Emily Roebling to ride a burro across the bridge?
1917 — Allied Ships Begin Receiving Escorts During World War 1
image generated using Bing Image Creator
There’s safety in numbers, especially when you’re being accompanied by burly bodyguards.
During World War 1, after German U-boats (U-boats = Unterseeboots = Undersea Boats = Submarines) had destroyed and sunk many allied vessels — military, commercial, and quasi-military (commercial vessels carrying munitions and other war materiel) — the British Navy began escorting such vessels across the ocean with naval craft and crew. This convoy system, where merchant ships traveled in groups of 10 to 50 rather than singly/alone, and were under the protection of the British Navy, significantly reduced the loss of lives and ships, contributing significantly to the eventual victory for the Allied forces over their enemies.
Convoys of ships that began their journeys to Europe from as far north as Halifax, Nova Scotia, and as far south as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were accompanied by fleets of military vessels prepared for battle.
Questions: What do you think would have happened if the crossing guard (convoy) system had not been implemented — would the Allies still have prevailed? If so, at what cost (how many more lives would have been lost, and how many more years of misery would the world have had to endure)?
