A: Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, B: Singapore, Singapore, C: Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam, D: Friends Colony, Kurla West, Kurla, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, E: Kowloon, Hong Kong, F: Mgarr, Malta, G: China, H: Portugal, Ponta Delgada, Açores
The New York Times article on the transmission of the message on the upper left column of the front page of the paper on August 21, 1911.
On August 20, 1911, in order to determine how long it would take an ordinary commercial telegraphed message, rather than some kind of official government dispatch, to travel around the world by telegraph cable, The New York Times sent a message reading simply “This message sent around the world.” The message left the dispatch room on the 17th floor of the The New York Times building in New York at 7 p.m. on August 20. After traveling more than 28,613 miles, and being relayed by 16 different operators, through San Francisco, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon, Singapore, Bombay, Malta, Lisbon and the Azores–among other places–the reply was received by the same operator in New York 16.5 minutes later. It was the fastest time achieved by a commercial cablegram since the opening of the Pacific cable in 1900 by the Commercial Cable Company.
Timeline Themes
The New York Times reported the story in the left column of its front page on August 21, 1911 with the headline, "Around the World in 16 1/2 Minutes."
