This handy tool allows you to convert normal text into morse code. Morse code was in common use at sea from the late 1800’s to the mid 20th Century. It was, and still is a very effective (if not very common) way to communicate on the ocean. Range can be up to 50km on a clear, dark night at sea.
The first early Morse machines scribed dots and dashes on strips of paper. Eventually, the operators became so attuned to the sound of the machine that they found they could decode the message without reading the tape. And so the paper strips became obsolete.
Several other codes were created prior to what we now call morse code. American Morse was used by railway companies, Western Union, and other utilities in North America. International Morse, which became the standard, was used in Europe for the trans-Atlantic cable. The British Marconi Company provided the majority of the early shipboard operators, which led to International Morse becoming the standard code for radio telegraphy.
