On January 18, 1903
the first ever two-way wireless communication took place between
President Theodore Roosevelt and England’s King Edward VII. It
changed the landscape of communication forever and paved the way for
radio and television to become a staple of life only a few decades
later. The site for this historic milestone was not a big city. It
was a remote section of beach in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. The man
behind this newfound wonder was Guglielmo Marconi. This is the story
of his wireless site that changed the world forever.
Guglielmo Marconi
was born in Bologna, Italy on April 25, 1874. He became a physicist
and in 1894 first began experimenting with radio waves as a student
at the Livorno Technical Institute in Rome. Basing his work on
advancing the previous work of Henry Hertz and Oliver Lodge Marconi
was able to develop a basic system of wireless telegraphy. From
there he received his first patent in England in 1897.
The former pavilion at the Marconi Site from 2011 |
After founding the
England-based Marconi Telegraph Company in 1899 Marconi got started
on perfecting his wireless telegraph. His first transmission
traveled only a mile and a half but was a success. In March 1900
rumors circulated that perhaps a Marconi wireless station could be
constructed on the Nantucket South Shoal Lightship.
In order to assure
a clear path between receivers Marconi looked for a companion site to
his wireless station in Poldhu on England’s west coast. He found a
perfect location in Wellfleet on Cape Cod. Plans for the
construction of a wireless station at Wellfleet began in May 1901
with the money for the station being fronted by English capitalists
and the work done by Boston contractors.
The Wellfleet
station was situated on eight acres of land, equipped with ten sets
of two poles. Each pole stood nearly 100-feet tall and were set in a
semi-circle fashion. The poles cost $2,900 ($88,000 in 2020) each to
build. In June 1901 the long-rumored wireless station on the
Nantucket Lightship was constructed, although this would only be
connected to Sankaty Head Lighthouse approximately forty-eight miles
away.
Catastrophe came
that November when the strongest storm in three years roared across
Cape Cod. The Marconi station in Wellfleet was completely destroyed
leaving vessels traveling between New York and Europe without the
added aide.
Ironically it was
only when the station was damaged by the storm that the people of
Wellfleet discovered that it was owned by Guglielmo Marconi. It had
been built in relative secrecy. Despite his great accomplishments in
the field Marconi himself remained reserved, not wanting to seem
boastful of how his invention was revolutionizing communication.
Guglielmo Marconi posing with his early wireless apparatus at the turn of the 20th century. (Smithsonian) |
In December 1901 a
wireless station was built at Signal Hill in St. John’s,
Newfoundland. This allowed Marconi to continue with his experiments
with the technology while the Wellfleet station was being rebuilt.
Signal Hill was about as close as North America could get to England
being 900 miles closer to the Poldhu station than the Wellfleet
location.
It took more than a
full year for the new wireless station to be finished in Wellfleet.
In December 1902 it was completed with four 250-foot tall towers on a
rectangular base replacing the original setup. Marconi himself
arrived from Sydney, Australia to inspect the station marking the
first time he had set foot on Cape Cod.
Not long after his
arrival on the Cape Marconi and his assistant George S. Kemp got to
work on what would be his greatest achievement to that point. The
messages between the two world leaders was to be the grand reopening
of the Marconi Wireless Station in Wellfleet. The Wellfleet station
initially had the call letters CC (Cape Cod), this would change to
MCC (Marconi Cape Cod), and finally to WCC when all eastern stations
took the W prefix.
As previously
stated the date of January 19, 1903 was a landmark day in
communication. It was on that date where the first two-way wireless
conversation took place between President Theodore Roosevelt and King
Edward VII.
This accomplishment
made it impossible for Guglielmo Marconi to remain in the shadows of
success any longer. Within a week of the transatlantic conversation
reporters from the leading newspapers and magazines of Boston and New
York descended upon Wellfleet for a chance to find out about the man
behind the invention. Marconi had high hopes of securing the rights
to wireless communication basically everywhere in the world. He was
referred to in some newspapers as a ‘wizard’ and his achievements
were seen as more impressive by the fact that he was not even
twenty-nine years old yet. Just as the fervor around the young
inventor reached a fevered pitch Marconi left Cape Cod and returned
to England by way of New York. He would return often to Cape Cod
however.
Marconi’s goal of
commercializing wireless communication came true in September 1907.
The messages were sent at a rate of twenty words per minute with the
cost ranging from 10 cents a word for regular messages ($2.74 in
2020), and 5 cents a word for press related messages ($1.37 in 2020).
In 1909 Marconi received the Nobel Prize for Physics sharing the
prize with fellow wireless communication pioneer German physicist
Karl Ferdinand Braun.
A second wireless
station was built by Marconi in Chatham overlooking Ryder’s Cove in
1914. The site was chosen for its relative isolation and was built
for a total cost of $300,000 ($7.7 million in 2020). In 1920 the
station became part of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA). It
inherited the WCC call letters and became the busiest ship-to-shore
station during much of the 20th century.
A postcard of the Wellfleet Marconi Site from 1905. |
When World War I
came knocking for America the United States Navy took possession of
the Wellfleet station as well as the Chatham site. In April 1917 the
Wellfleet site fell under the command of J.W. Mullins, the chief
electrician of the Navy. This proved to be the beginning of the end
for the wireless station on the Outer Cape. After the war ended the
station closed. The writing was on the wall from nature as well.
The bluffs along
the Outer Cape have been ravaged by erosion for many decades. Even a
century ago the cliffs rapidly eroding to the point that the concrete
bases closest to them were already being compromised before the
station’s official closing. Despite rumors of the station possibly
reopening late in 1919 nothing came to fruition. The closure of the
Wellfleet Marconi station was a mixed blessing for the residents of
the town. They were not completely upset with its demise due to the
fact that while in operation the sparking of 30,000 watts supplied by
the three-foot rotor could be heard up to four miles away.
Guglielmo Marconi
continued his research and experiments with wireless technology
throughout the remainder of his life. Some later achievements
included a mean system for long distance communication and
experimentation with microwaves and the principles for developing
radar. He received numerous honorary degrees and awards during his
lifetime. After a few years of declining health Marconi died in
Rome, Italy from a series of heart attacks on July 20, 1937 at the
age of 63.
His Wellfleet
wireless station site would be wiped off the map entirely over time.
It was dismantled in 1920. Between 1902 and 1972 the bluff in front
of the station eroded 170 feet. Two of the concrete bases for the
towers eventually fell to the sea. Camp Wellfleet was constructed on
the grounds in 1942 and remained there until 1961 when after it was
deemed unnecessary it became a part of the new Cape Cod National
Seashore.
In 1953 a plaque
commemorating the conversation between Roosevelt and King Edward from
1903 was placed at the site. A shelter was constructed in 1974
housing a scale replica of the wireless site along with a bronze bust
of Guglielmo Marconi. The beach below the cliffs was named Marconi
Beach for the inventor.
An exposed base from the Marconi Wireless Site in 2011 |
In a final piece of
irony the eroding cliffs claimed the replica of the station as well.
In July 2013 the replica and bust were removed and the shelter
demolished. Incredibly only a short time before this a pair of the
original concrete bases were exposed at the beach below. Sadly today
the only remains of the original Marconi wireless station are bits of
wood and brick gathered neatly in an area close to the eroding
cliffs. Someday those will have to be removed as well.
----------------------------------------
My first eBook in 10 years, In Their Footsteps, featuring the interesting stories of Cape Cod's history, is on sale at Amazon.com.
View my previous blog posts: In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Great Colonial Hurricane
In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - Samuel de Champlain and Port Fortune
Photo Prints available here: Smug Mug.com
Be sure to check out my website: Christopher Setterlund.com
My first eBook in 10 years, In Their Footsteps, featuring the interesting stories of Cape Cod's history, is on sale at Amazon.com.
View my previous blog posts: In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - The Great Colonial Hurricane
In Their Footsteps: Cape Cod History - Samuel de Champlain and Port Fortune
Photo Prints available here: Smug Mug.com
Be sure to check out my website: Christopher Setterlund.com
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