I did not know that yesterday!

Yes, the cable is laid on the bottom of the ocean. The answer to this fascinating question is perhaps quite dull: "they" use ships to lay cable across the ocean floor. Simple as that. But finding the answer was not that dull; it was actually fairly tough. Here's what I did:


Among the handful of results in google, there was a listing for Pacific International Cable Consulting, Inc., a company that, according to the site description, participates in most aspects of the "loading, laying, and repair of high capacity submarine optical systems." While the site is little more than a corporate profile for the company, I did manage to find something new: a better keyword search. Namely, "submarine cable."

A Google search on the new phrase didn't get me very far, but I did notice that many of my leads were listed in the Telecommunications category. I decided a new strategy: search the web sites in that category for specific pages that included the phrase "submarine cable."

There, I found a link to the FTL Design History of the Atlantic Cable & Submarine Telegraphy. In short, it's a fascinating look at the early days of cable laying in the Atlantic. You should explore all of the links, but one in particular, to a 1925 article, "On Board the Cable Ship," clearly indicates: they use ships to do this work. Also, check out the cool images of actual cable from the mid-1800s.

I hoped for something more definitive, however, so I decided to fine tune my search strategy one more time. A search on the phrase "undersea cable technology" (using the quotation marks) led me to an article entitled " Evolution of a Wired World: The Growth of an Undersea, Intercontinental Network."

Besides being an interesting read on the history of this subject -- and reaffirming that "they" use ships to lay cable on the ocean floor -- I was able to determine who "they" are.

Among others, the U.S. conglomerate Tyco International is heavily involved in the business of laying undersea cable. A visit to the company's site led us to Tyco Submarine Systems. If the top page image doesn't answer your question, searching on Marine Services should do it. Happy reading!