A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DGeorge Murray, Lord : 1761-1803
In 1796, the British government, alarmed by the military implications of the development of the optical telegraph at a time of war with France, hurry to develop their own system. Their top priority is to link the Admiralty in London to the ports on the south coast of England, principally Portsmouth in Hampshire and Deal in Kent. By the end of this year, they purchase the shutter telegraph from the inventor, George Murray (1761-1803), for 2,000 pounds sterling.
 Murray's Shutter Telegraph System
The shutter telegraph system they build consists of a chain of 15 stations on hills, roofs and other prominent sites, some as far as 16km apart. (Many of these are still named 'Telegraph Hills' on modern maps.) On the roof of each tower was a frame in which six octagonal boards, or shutters, were mounted vertically in three rows of two. These pivoted on a horizontal axis and could be 'opened' or 'shut' by rope or cable, and were thus able to generate 64 permutations, to represent letters or numbers in code.
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