Episode 2 of 4

First Official Transcontinental Telegram

When: 16 August 1858
Where: Valentia Island
Part of: The first transatlantic telegraph cable is completed and fails

Queen Victoria sent a Morse code message to President James Buchanan, marking the first official telegram between continents.

On August 16, 1858, the cable was officially opened. Queen Victoria sent a letter of congratulations to President James Buchanan. This was the first official telegram to pass between two continents, though the reception was poor and slow.

Sources

Cyrus W. Field Wikipedia, revision of 2026-03-24
Transatlantic telegraph cable Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-15

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.