Fireworks for messagesSourced
An unfinished notebook became a signalling system for ships
In nineteenth-century America, Martha Coston found an unfinished marine-signalling idea in her late husband’s notebooks. She worked with chemists and fireworks experts to develop practical night signals, using combinations of colours to communicate between ships or with shore. The system received a patent in 1859.
Fireworks technology became a way to send messages across dark water.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Martha Coston · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-10