Our Digital Collections Officer, Duncan Mackenzie, looks at the cable ship the Mackay-Bennett and it’s role in recovering the deceased from the Titanic.
Congor Bay Satellite Earth Station Revisted
Explore the site of the Satellite Earth Station in Congor Bay, Barbados, with PK Porthcurno volunteer Robert de Corday Long, who worked for Cable & Wireless when the station was originally opened in 1972.
Five (-ish) Cableships called Retriever
Our Digital Collections Officer, Duncan Mackenzie, explores the history of five cableships, each named Retriever.
The Great Eastern
Duncan Mackenzie, our Digital Collections Officer, explores the history of Isambard Brunel’s SS Great Eastern. The SS Great Eastern was a formidable but flawed iron ship that laid the first successful transatlantic cable in 1866.
Rotokura/Cable Bay, Wakapuaka – New Zealand’s first international telegraph cable
Vida Long is a graduate from Wellington University, New Zealand researches the site of New Zealand’s first international telegraph cable landing,
The Languages of Telegraphy
Citizen curator Hannah Reeves, researched the Marconi Map, created in 1917. The map is colour coded to show the language most used for communications in each country.
Porthcurno to Port Darwin: The Establishment of the Australian Subsea Telegraph Cable
Isabelle Jones is a Young Curator and volunteer at PK Porthcurno. This article looks at the establishment of the first Australian subsea telegraph cable that connected Britain with Australia.
Seashells and Empires: allowing memories to guide my curator research
Citizen Curator Jay Hollis, a student from the University of Exeter is finding ways to be creative in telling stories through the museum’s archives.
Stamp into PK: Stamps from the G7 countries
The telecommunication stamps in the PK collection teach us about the history of communication. All the stamps in this blog were issued by the countries attending the 2021 G7 summit in Cornwall.
Remote Volunteering on the Zodiac Project at PK Porthcurno
Volunteer – Natalie Gunner, an English student at the University of Exeter, describes her experience of volunteering on the Zodiac project. What she has learned throughout the experience and the importance of social history.
Darwin subsea cables
Young Curator Raquel Coning, based in Australia, and inspired by information discovered in The Zodiac magazine, researches the heritage listed subsea cables that connected Darwin, Australia to the world 150 years ago.
Bobby’s Letters
Last year PK Porthcurno was gifted a collection of letters, written between the years 1915 to 1925, from the nephew of Edgar Lawrence Smith – who began his career working for the Western Telegraph Company.