How a Cuban warning reached Texas
The undersea telegraph cable from Havana to Key West, laid around 1867, tied Cuba into the US wire network.
The question
How could a warning from Havana get to Galveston in 1900, with no radio and no telephone across the sea?
The answer: a wire under the sea
Around 1867, an undersea telegraph cable was laid across the Florida Straits from Havana to Key West, about 90 miles. From Key West, lines ran up the Florida Keys and into the mainland US telegraph network, and from there to Washington, New Orleans and Galveston.
So a message tapped out in Morse code in Havana could arrive in Texas in minutes, relayed station to station. Undersea cables were cutting-edge then: the first lasting transatlantic cable had worked only since 1866. See the transatlantic cables.
Who controlled the wire mattered
Because the wires went through Weather Bureau and US government channels, Washington could decide which warnings were passed along. That is how the Cuban forecasts could be blocked in 1900. See Galveston 1900.
Key facts
- Havana to Key West undersea telegraph cable: about 1867, about 90 miles
- Cuban warnings reached the US over that cable, then the mainland telegraph