March 11, 1869.
Professional cable-laying ships once again appeared on the Mediterranean Sea and Red Sea. To those along the Mediterranean coast, it was no longer anything strange. In recent years, as nations placed increasing importance on the role of telegraphs, capable countries and companies had all begun laying telegraph lines beneath the sea.
This time, one of the vessels undertaking the cable-laying work came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while the other came from Germany. They began work in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea respectively.
From Trieste in the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Egypt, then from Egypt across the sea to East Africa, another round of cable laying began.
This time, it was a dual-line project. After all, relying on a single cable to maintain contact between East Africa and Europe was not safe enough.
The plan to lay a duplicate line had long been sitting in Ernst's desk. It had already been envisioned when the first cable from East Africa to Europe was laid, but funding constraints at the time had prevented both projects from being carried out together.
Afterward, the first cable had continued operating well. Since the entire line was not used for civilian purposes and belonged to East Africa's government-exclusive network, its workload was limited. Thus, construction on the second line had been delayed again and again—or rather, Ernst had nearly forgotten the plan altogether.
Now that his father was preparing to depart for East Africa, communication between father and son had become indispensable. To guard against unexpected incidents, Ernst decided to restart the cable-laying work.
Submarine cables were, comparatively speaking, rather fragile things. Laying a duplicate line was equivalent to buying insurance; even if the commonly used line suffered an accident, the backup line could be activated immediately.
East Africa, First Town.
"This is