Moltke
Around the same time, Major Andreas Adam Georg von Moltke (1780-1846) developed
a simpler type of telegraph for the North Jutland General Command, which was
set up from Skagen to Århus and from Samsø to Sjælland, via
Helgenæs. The most important function of these telegraphs was to warn
Danish ships of the approach of enemy warships and thereby back up the crucial
supply of grain to Norway. Telegraphs of this type were also installed on Bornholm.
The
North Jutland Telegraph. 1810. The Danish National Archives. Photo: Tage
Ludvigsen.
Moltke´s telegraph was much simpler in its construction than the other
telegraphs. Unlike other telegraphs, it did not operate with an actual numerical
system but with letters of the alphabet, which were combined into codes, which,
in turn, were written down in a special, secret hieroglyph alphabet. A cumbersome,
laborious procedure in the opinion of many people.
