Genre:

Illustration, Satire

Relevant illustrations:

wdct.

Illustrators:

J T *

Subjects:

Telegraphy, Technology, Politics, War, Internationalism, Comparative Philology

    Like many Tenniel illustrations of the 1865 and 1866 Atlantic cable enterprises, this shows Father Neptune talking to his mermaids about the trans-Atlantic telegraph. He relaxes on a rock, smoking a pipe, and looks down at the cable which is inscribed with the words 'Alabama Squabble'—a reference to a long-running dispute between Britain and the United States of America concerning the damage done to the interests of the Union states during the American Civil War by the CSS Alabama, a Confederate ship built in Britain. Neptune says to his mermaids: 'Why there's nothing but messages! Look here, girls. If they can't come to terms one way or tother, and let me enjoy my Whits'n holidays in peace and quiest—blest if I don't break the cable'.