Experienced morse code operators can send and receive between 20 and 30 words per minute (and that is FAST!) They do not even need to write down the letters as they hear them, and can remember the message. But now that we have phone lines and satellites and email - do we still need to use morse code?

During World War I and World War II, this was the main way of getting messages back and forth. Even when spies went into enemy territory, they took a radio operator who sent messages back to their home country by using morse code.

And up to very recently coastguards communicated with ships at sea using morse code, rather than by using voice. The first time a ship at sea ever heard a voice, rather than dots and dashes, was in 1906 - and it gave them quite a shock!

This is a radio operator on a ship in the 1920's, working with his equipment.

Using morse code and telegraph is still the most reliable way of getting messages across in very difficult conditions. There is still a place for using morse code, even today.