türkçe links to original article by Prof. Dr. Ural Akbulut
(Milliyet Newspaper)
Telegraph in Turkey in the book "Among the Turks" by
Cyrus Hamlin, the story of Abdülmecid's interest in the
device begins on page 185.
Sultan Abdülmecid
As is well known, Samuel F. B. Morse was among the inventors of the
telegraph and he helped to develop the telegraphic alphabet that
became known as "Morse Code". Less well known is that Morse
received a medal and a citation from Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid in
1847 for his telegraphic wonders.
Morse exhibited a model of the telegraph in Paris in 1838 and made
an agreement with Mellen Chamberlain, a Vermont businessman, to
market the device to the Ottoman Empire. Chamberlain arrived in
Istanbul in May 1839 but the telegraph instrument needed more work
before it could be presented to the Sultan so Chamberlain went to
Vienna to repair the device. However, Chamberlain's ship sank in
the Danube River and he drowned, ending, for the moment, the
telegraph's introduction to Turkey.
Cyrus Hamlin
In 1847, an American professor named J.L. Smith was setting up a
mining school for the Ottoman government and he wanted a telegraph
line between Istanbul and the mines. Smith had Morse's telegraph
instruments brought to Istanbul and together with American
missionary Cyrus Hamlin, who resided in Turkey, they obtained
approval to show the telegraph to Sultan Abdülmecid. After briefing
the Sultan on the telegraph and electromagnetics, Abdülmecid wanted
Smith to go to another room and send the following message: "Has
the French steamer arrived? and what is the news from Europe?"
Seeing the successful transmission from one room in the palace to
another, the Sultan exclaimed "Maşallah!" (Wonderful!). The next
day at 1300 hours, another telegraphic message was successfully
transmitted in front of the Sultan, his Prime Minister and other
ministers. Abdülmecid wanted to award a prize to Smith for this
amazing feat but Smith suggested that Morse would be the more
appropriate recipient so a "Nişan-ı İftihar" (Medal of Honor) and
a "berat" (imperial diploma) were sent to Morse by the Sultan.
Morse wearing his "Nişan-ı İftihar" (first medal on the left)
and his imperial diploma.
Upon receipt, Morse considered the "berat" to be a patent but at
that point in time there was no patent law in Turkey - such a law
was not promulgated until 3 April 1872. In any case, Abdülmecid
asked Smith about the cost of building a telegraph line from
Istanbul to Edirne and upon hearing the amount, considered it
insignificant.
Nevertheless, although the Sultan had a medal sent to Smith, too,
he did not invite him to build a telegraph line. In 1853, during the
Crimean War, the English and French built a line and the Istanbul-
Edirne line the Sultan ordered built on 19 August 1855 was put up
by the French, not Morse. The Ottoman telegraphic network
expanded during the subsequent reigns of Sultans Abdülaziz and
Abdülhamid II, resulting in 5 million telegrams being sent per
year.
Ottoman Turkey's telegraphic network in 1889.
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