The Eastern Telegraph Company set up the African Direct Telegraph Company in 1885 to provide a link between England and her West African Colonies.
One cable ran from Bathurst, Gambia to St Vincent, Cape Verde Islands to connect into the Western Telegraph Company cables to Carcavelos, Portugal and from there to England via the Eastern network. This cable was manufactured and laid by the India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Company using CS’s Dacia and Buccaneer.
The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company manufactured and laid the other cable using CS’s Scotia and Britannia (2). The cable ran from Bathurst, Gambia - Freetown, Sierra Leone - Accra, Gold Coast - Lagos - Brass - Bonny, all in Nigeria. CS Britannia extended this cable in 1893 from Bonny to Calabar and Duala in the German Cameroons.
Overland Telegraph arrived in the Gold Coast on May 24, 1887.