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{{Short description|Telegraph system of the British Empire}}
<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:All Red Line Map 1902.jpg|thumb|400px|The All Red Line in 1902.]] -->{{Missing information|2=the end and fate of the line|date=September 2024|article}}[[File:All Red Line.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.8|{{center| Sketch map of the All Red Line drawn in 1902 or 1903{{efn|name=Darwin-route-not-Perth}} }}]]
The '''All Red Line''' was a system of [[electrical telegraph]]s that linked much of the [[British Empire]]. It was inaugurated on 31&nbsp;October 1902. The informal name derives from the common practice of colouring the territory of the British Empire red or pink on political maps.

==Construction==

The first [[Transatlantic telegraph cable|transatlantic cable]] connected Ireland and [[Colony of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]] in 1858, although it later failed.<ref>{{cite web |title = Transatlantic telegraph cable – 1858 |website=National MagLab |url=https://nationalmaglab.org/education/magnet-academy/history-of-electricity-magnetism/museum/transatlantic-telegraph-cable-1858}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = Transatlantic cable – 1858 |series=IET Library |url=https://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/featured/trans-cable1858.cfm}}</ref> 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 and Labrador|Heart's Content, Newfoundland]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The SS ''Great Eastern'' and the amazing story of the transatlantic telegraph cable |url=http://home.bt.com/tech-gadgets/the-ss-great-eastern-and-the-amazing-story-of-the-transatlantic-telegraph-cable-11363992848355}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{cite web |title=1871 Java - Port Darwin Cable |date=2014-11-05 |work=History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications |url=http://atlantic-cable.com/Cables/1871Java-PortDarwin/ |access-date=2015-01-03}}</ref> By 1872, messages could be sent direct from London to [[Adelaide]] and [[Sydney]]. Australia was linked to [[New Zealand]] by cable in 1876.{{efn|name=Darwin-route-not-Perth|The path of the line through Australia depicted in the image is incorrect: It should instead enter through Darwin and not Perth, with the overland telegraph line moving straight down to Adelaide through [[Alice Springs]] then connecting into Australia's existing telegraph network.}}

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&nbsp;tonnes of cable needed to complete the [[Bamfield, British Columbia]], to [[Fanning Island]] section of the cable. The final cost was around £2&nbsp;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.

==Completion==
The [[Committee on Imperial Defence]] reported in 1911 that the All Red Line was complete. The network had so many redundancies that 49&nbsp;cuts would be needed to isolate the United Kingdom; 15 for Canada; and 5 for South Africa. Many colonies such as South Africa and India also had many land lines. Britain also possessed the majority of the world's underwater-telegraph deployment and repair equipment and expertise, and a monopoly of the [[gutta-percha]] insulation for underwater lines.{{r|kennedy197110}}

The 1911 report stated that the [[Imperial Wireless Chain]] should only be a "valuable reserve" to the All Red Line, because enemies could interrupt or intercept radio messages. Despite its great cost, the telegraph network succeeded in its purpose: British communications remained uninterrupted during the [[World War I|First World War]], while Britain quickly succeeded in cutting Germany's worldwide network.<ref name="kennedy197110">{{cite journal |last=Kennedy |first=P.M. |date=October 1971 |title=Imperial cable communications and strategy, 1870-1914 |journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |volume=86 |issue=341 |pages=728–752 |doi=10.1093/ehr/lxxxvi.cccxli.728  |jstor=563928}}</ref>

The Pacific Cable Board laid a duplicate cable between Canada and New Zealand between 1923 and 1926, using the cable-laying ships ''Dominia''<ref>{{cite web |title=CS ''Dominia'' |series=History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy |website=atlantic-cable.com |url=https://atlantic-cable.com/Cableships/Dominia/ |access-date=2020-12-17}}</ref> and ''[[CS Faraday (1923)|Faraday]]''.<ref>{{Cite news |title = Local and General News |date = 1926-11-17 |newspaper = New Zealand Herald |url = http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19261117.2.44&srpos=163&e=-------100--101----0raglan+1916-ARTICLE-&zto=1 |access-date = 2016-01-01 |pages = 12}}</ref>

==Routes==
'''[[Atlantic Ocean]] stations'''
* [[Great Britain]]
* [[Ireland]]
* [[Dominion of Newfoundland|Newfoundland]]
* [[Canada]]
* [[Saint Helena]]
* [[Ascension Island]]
* [[Barbados]]
* [[Bermuda]]

'''[[Pacific Ocean]] stations'''
* [[Bamfield, British Columbia]], [[Canada]]
* [[Tabuaeran|Fanning Island]], which was deserted until the telegraph relay station was established.
* [[Fiji]]
* [[Hong Kong]]
* [[Norfolk Island]] (branching to [[New Zealand]] and [[Australia]])
* [[Southport, Queensland|Southport]], [[Queensland]], [[Australia]] (the [[Pacific Cable Station]] still exists and is heritage-listed)

'''[[Indian Ocean]] stations'''
* [[Cape Town]],  [[South Africa]]
* [[Durban]],  [[South Africa]]
* [[Keeling Islands]] (branching to [[India]] and [[Africa]])
* [[Mauritius]]
* [[Perth, Western Australia|Perth]], [[Australia]]

==Commonwealth Telegraph Agreement==
{{main|Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation}}

In the final years of the British Empire, with a number of states federated or close to independence, a treaty with clearer financial divisions, responsibilities, and governance was established that would eventually replace the Pacific Cable Board.  A treaty ''Commonwealth Telegraph Agreement'' was signed between [[Commonwealth nations]] in London, 1948 that formed the [[Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation]].<ref>{{cite web|title=The CTO – a brief history {{!}} CTO: Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation|url=http://www.cto.int/about-the-cto/the-cto-a-brief-history/|website=www.cto.int|publisher=Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation|accessdate=19 June 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[All-Red Route]]
*[[Commonwealth Pacific Cable System]]
*[[Electrical telegraphy in the United Kingdom]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em}}

==External links==
*[http://atlantic-cable.com/Maps/index.htm Map of the 1902 line]
*[http://speeches.empireclub.org/62422/data A 1904 speech] by [[Sandford Fleming]] on the importance of an imperial cable system.
*[http://www.iscpc.org/information/Gentlemen_of_the_Cable_Service.htm Gentlemen of the Cable Service]
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:British Empire]]
[[Category:Telegraphy]]
[[Category:Transatlantic telecommunications]]