Morse code was invented by an American named Samuel 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
Finley Breese Morse (1791 – 1872). Samuel Morse wanted to 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
be an artist, but when he found that he couldn’t make a living 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
by painting, he started
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
  In 1832, during a long voyage from Europe to America, Morse 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
began to think about how electricity might be used to transmit 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
messages along wires and started to make up codes. When he 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
got home he set about putting his ideas into practice and, by 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
capable of sending a message down
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
  To send a message, Morse translated what he wanted to say 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
into a code made up of dots and dashes, or dits and dahs, as 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
they are also known. The coded message could then be sent as 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
a series of electrical signals. At the other end, the message 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
was either printed out as dots and dashes, or heard as sounds 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
on a speaker, which could then be translated back into English.
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
  In 1843, Morse was asked by the American Congress to build 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
a test line between Baltimore and Washington DC to show how 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
his system worked. The demonstration, a year later, was a huge 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
success, and it wasn’t long before companies were using the 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
telegraph to send messages in Morse code all over the USA. 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
The system soon spread to 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
  In the 1890s, it became possible to send Morse code 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
messages by radio, as well as down wires, which meant that 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
ships could start communicating using dots and dashes. 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
The use of Morse at sea gave rise to the famous 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
indicating an emergency and requesting urgent assistance. 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
  In April 1912, RMS Titanic became one of the first ships to 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
send an SOS using Morse code when she struck an iceberg and 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
started to sink. SOS in Morse remained the official signal for 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
distress at sea until February 1999, when it was replaced by 
--- RECORDSEPARATOR ---
satellite communication systems.