All Red Line

Construction

The first transatlantic cable connected Ireland and Newfoundland in 1858, although it later failed. In 1866, the SS Great Eastern laid out a lasting link from Waterville, County Kerry and nearby Valentia Island, in Ireland, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland.

By 1870, Suez was linked to Bombay, and from there to Madras, Penang, and Singapore. Australia was linked to British telegraph cables directly in 1871, by extending a line from Singapore to Port Darwin, although it ran through the Dutch territory of Java. By 1872, messages could be sent direct from London to Adelaide and Sydney. Australia was linked to New Zealand by cable in 1876.

To complete the All Red Line, therefore, the final major cable laying project was the trans-Pacific section. A resolution supporting such a project was passed by the First Colonial Conference in 1887 and more detailed plans were approved at the 1894 Colonial Conference in Ottawa which was called specifically on the topic of the cable project. The "Pacific Cable Committee" was formed in 1896 to consider the proposal and in 1901 the Pacific Cable Board was formed with eight members: Three from Britain, two from Canada, two from Australia and one from New Zealand. Funding for the project was shared between the British, Canadian, New Zealand, New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland governments. In 1902 the Colonia, a newly-built cable vessel, began laying the 8,000 tonnes of cable needed to complete the Bamfield, British Columbia, to Fanning Island section of the cable. The final cost was around £2 million.

Originally, the British government felt the All Red system should have sea-landings only on British-controlled soil for security purposes. Due to this, Britain actively sought to acquire Fanning Island (now Tabuaeran in Kiribati) to use for a midpoint power regeneration / relay station between Western Canada and Australia on the trans-Pacific Ocean branch of the system. Fanning Island was annexed to the British Empire in 1888.