Robert Halpin - Telegraphy

Telegraphy

Before the 1860s there was great interest in Telegraphy and the linking of Europe to America by telegraphic cable. The first successful cable was laid in August 1858. Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom exchanged congratulations briefly with the American President James Buchanan. This first success proved the telegraph could be done underwater but this also didn't last but a week only because a workman applied too much voltage through the cable and "fried" it.

Pioneered by Cyrus Field, mainland Europe had been connected by telegraphy as had Europe to Britain and Britain to Ireland. A company was formed that converted the Great Eastern into a cable layer and Halpin was given the post of First Engineer. Their task was to lay a submarine transatlantic telegraph cable from Valentia Island, County Kerry to Newfoundland, Nova Scotia. The cable, 2600 miles long was stored in the ship's tanks and weighed 6000 tons.

1,862 miles from Valentia, the cable broke and the "Great Eastern" returned to Europe. Rumour has it that the price of shares on the stock exchange hit rock bottom and that Halpin purchased many in hope (or expectancy) of making a killing. In 1866 with Robert at the helm the ship returned to the exact spot, recovered and repaired the broken cable. In July that year, the "Great Eastern" arrived at Hearts Content, Newfoundland and completed the connection between the continents which has never been interrupted since.

Later, as captain, Halpin laid an estimated 26,000 miles (41,800 km) of cable (more than enough to circle the globe). The cable routes included the French Transatlantic Cable from Brest to St. Pierre-Miquelon in 1866 (under the patronage of Julius Reuters), the 1869 Bombay-Aden-Suez cable, and the Australia-New Zealand-East Indies, Madras-Singapore-Penang, and Madeira-Brazil.

For Halpin's services, Brazilian Emperor Pedro II made him Knight of the Order of the Rose. He was also awarded the Legion d'Honeur, elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. His circle included Lord Kelvin, who had been aboard the Great Eastern as chief engineer overseeing the cable laying, Admiral Sherard Osborn, who proposed him for Fellowship of the Royal Geographical Society, the American hydrographer Matthew Fontaine Maury, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Ferdinand de Lesseps, and Edmund Dickens, nephew of Charles Dickens amongst other notables of the day.

On returning to Wicklow c.1875 after a brief residence near London, Halpin became chairman of the Wicklow Gas Company, Wicklow Harbour Master and Secretary of Wicklow Harbour Commissioners. He built a family home at Tinakilly, now a hotel, two miles north of Wicklow. He was Secretary of the Wicklow Harbour Commissioners in 1880 when the East Breakwater was built - arguably the most important built structure in the small maritime port's history. He ran for political office as a Unionist in July 1892, losing to Sweetman who was the Anti-Parnell Home Rule candidate. Halpin managed to defeat the outgoing Parnellite Home Rule candidate, Corbett.

On 20 January 1894, Robert Halpin died at age 58 of gangrene resulting from a minor cut after trimming his toe nails and accidentally cutting into the skin. A granite obelisk, erected in 1897, in the centre of Wicklow town commemorates his life and career. The land for the obelisk was donated by Lord Fitzwilliam and since called Fizwilliam Square.

He was married to Jessica Munn of Heart's Content, Newfoundland. They had three daughters, Ethel, Belle and Edith. The last daughter, Belle, died in 1952. The family is buried at the Wicklow Parish Church with a Celtic Cross headstone marking the grave. Many artifacts from his life were donated by his daughters to the Maritime Institute of Ireland. There is a display in the National Maritime Museum of Ireland, Dún Laoghaire.