In fact "age of sail" is a misnomer anyway. It's really "pre-telegraph". Until the major electronic communication cables were laid, most communication was limited to travel speed. The Romans and Chinese had just the same issues as the European empires. Europe got a boost from the semaphore systems in the late 18th and early 19th C, and beacon fires have been in use for most of recorded history, but they don't help if there's a wide enough geogaphical barrier, and generally can only speed communication within a limited area anyway (semaphore was never going to connect New York with San Francisco...).
Warp Ships
- Thread starter Mithras
- Start date
I am not so sure. The longest Russian semaphore line had 1,200 km, andrinku said:
if the telegraph had become available a little later, already planned much
longer lines would have been built, too. To build a semaphore line across
a continent is much easier than building a railroad, and semaphore origi-
nally had a couple of advantages compared to the telegraph (e.g. no lines
that can be cut, only the stations themselves needed to be guarded, etc.).
Semaphore is expensive in running costs and is very vulnerablr to hostile attack. Also, until the 1850's and the immigrant wave westward, the interior of North America was pretty much uncontrolled. The USA's solution to the communication problem was the Pony Express, which had a similar chain of stations to semaphore, but less vulnerability (if the Apaches have wiped out one station, the courier could always proceed to the next one) and would have been cheaper to run.
Look, I'd agree that if the electric telegraph were never invented, that some kind of semaphore would probably have been built across the USA, but historically, it was never a viable proposition.
I found a reference of a push in 1837 for a line to be established between New York and New Orleans. One of the opponents was Samuel Morse, who was pushing his electric telegraph.
For the record, the first US transcontinental telegraph was in operation 1861, with the first successful transatlantic one in 1866 (though cables were laid in 1857 and 1858 that worked briefly before failing).
Look, I'd agree that if the electric telegraph were never invented, that some kind of semaphore would probably have been built across the USA, but historically, it was never a viable proposition.
I found a reference of a push in 1837 for a line to be established between New York and New Orleans. One of the opponents was Samuel Morse, who was pushing his electric telegraph.
For the record, the first US transcontinental telegraph was in operation 1861, with the first successful transatlantic one in 1866 (though cables were laid in 1857 and 1858 that worked briefly before failing).
