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[Illustration: H.M.S. Agamemnon entering Valentia Bay with first
Atlantic Cable.
_Frontispiece._]
THE STORY OF THE
ATLANTIC CABLE
BY
CHARLES BRIGHT
F. R. S. E., A. M. INST. C. E., M. I. E. E.
AUTHOR OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHS, SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA, THE EVOLUTION OF THE
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, 1837-1897, THE LIFE STORY
OF SIR CHARLES TILSTON BRIGHT
_WITH FIFTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS_
NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1903
COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
_Published November, 1903_
PREFATORY NOTE
The jubilee of Submarine Telegraphy having lately been achieved, and
that connected with the Atlantic cable being somewhat close at hand, it
has been thought a suitable moment for the appearance of this little
volume.
In these days when the substitution of submarine cables by wireless
telegraphy systems is a subject of common talk, it may be well to pause
for a moment and contemplate the period of time covered by the gradual
evolution of old and existing methods which at length achieved the
result we now enjoy--a practical commercial telegraphic system between
all the nations of the world, and notably between the United Kingdom and
America.
By a somewhat curious coincidence the engineer of the first Atlantic
cable accomplished his achievement at practically the same youthful age
(twenty-six) as Mr. Marconi when first transmitting signals across the
Atlantic without any intervening wires.
C. B.
21 OLD QUEEN STREET, WESTMINSTER, S. W.,
_October, 1903_.
CONTENTS
_PART I_
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 13
_PART II_
THE PIONEER LINE
CHAP.
I. EVOLUTION OF ATLANTIC TELEGRAPHY IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND 27
II. THE MANUFACTURE OF THE LINE 46
III. THE FIRST START 61
IV. PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER ATTEMPT 74
V. THE TRIAL TRIP 84
VI. THE STORM 89
VII. THE RENEWED EFFORT 105
VIII. "FINIS CORONAT OPUS" 115
IX. THE CELEBRATION 137
X. WORKING THE LINE 144
XI. THE INQUEST 155
_PART III_
INTERMEDIATE KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCE
XII. OTHER PROPOSED ROUTES 161
XIII. EXPERIENCE, INVESTIGATION, AND PROGRESS 169
_PART IV_
COMMERCIAL SUCCESS
XIV. THE 1865 CABLE AND EXPEDITION 177
XV. SECOND AND SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT 188
XVI. RECOVERY AND COMPLETION OF THE 1865 CABLE 197
XVII. JUBILATIONS 208
XVIII. SUBSEQUENT ATLANTIC LINES 212
XIX. ATLANTIC CABLE SYSTEMS OF TO-DAY 219
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
H.M.S. Agamemnon entering Valentia Bay with
first Atlantic Cable _Frontispiece_
FIG. PAGE
1. Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1855 29
2. The Brooke "Sounder" 32
3. Specimen of the Ocean Bed 34
4. John Watkins Brett, Charles Tilston Bright, Cyrus
West Field--Projectors 38
5. Manufacture of the Core 49
6. Serving the Core with Hemp-Yarn 50
7. Applying the Iron Sheathing 51
8. The Deep-Sea Cable 52
9. The Shore-End Cable 52
10. Coiling the Finished Cable into the Factory Tanks 54
11. U.S.N.S. Niagara 55
12. The Paying-out Machine, 1857 57
13. Coiling the Cable on Board 58
14. Landing the Irish End of the Cable 63
15. Reshipment of the Cable aboard H.M.S. Agamemnon
and U.S.N.S. Niagara in Keyham
Basin 75
16. The Self-Releasing Brake 77
17. The Principle of the Brake 78
18. Bright's Paying-out Gear, 1858 80
19. The Reflecting Magnet 82
20. Reflecting Galvanometer and Speaker 83
21. Principle of the Reflecting Instrument 83
22. Deck of H.M.S. Agamemnon with Paying-out
Apparatus 84
23. Stowage of the Cable Coil on the Niagara 85
24. The Loading of the Agamemnon 85
25. Experimental Maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay 88
26. H.M.S. Agamemnon in a Storm 96
27. The Agamemnon Storm: Coals Adrift 103
28. In Collision with a Whale while Cable-Laying 123
29. Landing the American End 133
30. Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1858 135
31. Facsimile of the First Public News Message Received
through the Atlantic Cable 150
32. The North Atlantic Telegraph Project, 1860 162
33. The North Atlantic Exploring Expedition, 1860 167
34. The Main Cable, 1865-'66 180
35. The Great Eastern at Sea 183
36. Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern 185
37. The Picking-up Machine, 1866 191
38. Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms--and Men 193
39. "Foul in Tank" while Paying-out 196
40. S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second Atlantic Cable 199
41. Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics Adopted
for Picking up the 1865 Cable 203
42. S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows 205
43. Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea type 217
44. Shore-End of the 1894 "Anglo" Cable 217
45. Atlantic Cable Systems, 1903 221
PART I
INTRODUCTORY
The Electric Telegraph--First Land Telegraphs--First Submarine
Cables: Dover to Calais, 1850-'51--Other Early Cables: England to
Ireland, 1853, etc.
_The Electric Telegraph._--The advances made in electric science are so
bold and rapid that our still comparative ignorance of the precise
nature of electricity must always seem strange. We are not, however,
here directly concerned with electricity as a physical science, but
rather with its practical applications to the still present system of
telegraphy, by way of introduction to the gradual development of
Trans-Atlantic telegraphy. The electric telegraph, together with the
railway-train and the steamship, constitute the three most conspicuous
features of latter-day civilization. Indeed, it may be truly said that
the harnessing of this force of nature (electricity) to the service of
man for human intercourse has effected a change in political,
commercial, and social relations, even more complete than that wrought
by steam locomotion. Like its fellow emblems, the telegraph was the
outcome of many years of persevering effort on the part of numerous
scientific investigators and inventors; like them also, it was perfected
for practical use on both sides of the Atlantic by men of our own race
and speech, such as Cooke, Wheatstone, and Morse.
_The First Land Telegraphs._--The first practical telegraph-line in the
world--namely, that on the Great Western Railway from Paddington to West
Drayton, shortly afterward extended to Slough--was within the year of
Queen Victoria's accession to the throne, and in the same year as the
first trunk line of railway and the first ocean steamer.[1] Improvements
and novelties in telegraphic instruments were rapidly made by inventors
from all the civilized nations--e. g., Morse, Vail, and Henry in
America; Breguet in France; Steinheil and Siemens & Halske in Germany;
and Schilling in Russia; besides Alexander Bain, Bright, and Hughes in
England. Commercial interests were soon formed to work the new
invention, and in England the Electric and International Telegraph
Company, the British and Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company, and other
large concerns were the means of establishing telegraphic communication
throughout the kingdom--only to be absorbed by Government later on. Our
theme does not include--even in the course of introduction--a study of
the development of land telegraphy. The apparatus and methods employed
are, to a great extent, entirely different; indeed, the only point in
common between the cardinal principles and submarine telegraphy is that
electricity, as generated by a voltaic battery, is the common agent, and
consequently the metal conducting-wire is employed in both.[2] But in
subaqueous (as well as in subterranean) telegraphy the poles and
porcelain insulators require to be substituted by an insulating covering
round the entire conductor; and the point of contact in practise between
land and marine telegraphy is really, therefore, in the matter of
insulation for subterranean or subaqueous wires.
_First Submarine Cables._--A Spaniard named Salva appears to have
suggested the feasibility of submarine telegraphy as far back as 1795,
and in 1811 Sommering and Schilling conducted a series of experiments,
more or less practical, when a soluble material--said to have been
india-rubber--was first used for insulating the wire.
But the earliest records of practical telegraphy under water of which
there are any particulars relate to the experiments conducted by Dr.
O'Shaughnessy (afterward Sir William O'Shaughnessy Brooke, F.R.S.)
across the River Hugli on behalf of the East Indian Company in 1838.[3]
Referring to his practical researches a little later, O'Shaughnessy
remarked: "Insulation, according to my experiments, is best accomplished
by enclosing the wire (previously pitched) in a split rattan, and then
paying the rattan round with tarred yarn; or the wire may--as in some
experiments by Colonel Pasley, R.E., at Chatham--be surrounded by
strands of tarred rope, and this by pitched yarn. An insulated rope of
this kind may be spread across a wet field--nay, even led through a
river--and will still conduct the electrical signals, without any
appreciable loss." In 1840 Professor Wheatstone (afterward Sir Charles
Wheatstone, F.R.S.) explained to a committee of the House of Commons the
methods by which he thought it possible to establish telegraphic
communication between Dover and Calais. He appears to have been unaware
of the prior experiments just alluded to, for his system of insulation,
though more fully developed, was practically the same.
Prof. S. F. B. Morse, the well-known inventor of the telegraph apparatus
bearing his name, also made a study of this problem in 1842, when he
laid down an insulated copper wire across New York harbor, through which
he transmitted electric currents. Hemp soaked in tar and pitch,
surrounded with a layer of india-rubber, constituted the insulation.
Morse was a great letter-writer, and records of his early work are
solely based on his own statements at a time when he noted in his diary:
"I am crushed for want of means. My stockings all want to see my mother,
and my hat is hoary with age." In 1845 Ezra Cornell, who was afterward
the founder of Cornell University, laid a cable, twelve miles long, to
connect Fort Lee with New York, in the Hudson River. The cable consisted
of two cotton-covered copper wires, insulated with india-rubber, and
enclosed in a leaden pipe. It worked well for several months, but was
broken by ice in 1846. In that year Mr. Charles West paid out by hand
an india-rubber insulated wire in Portsmouth harbor, through which he
signaled from a boat to the shore. The experiment was intended as the
forerunner of the establishment of telegraphic communication between
England and France, but for want of the necessary funds was not followed
up.
Subaqueous, or marine, telegraphy owed its institution, however, to the
introduction of gutta-percha, for insulating purposes. The late Dr.
Werner Siemens having invented a machine for applying gutta-percha to a
wire--similar in principle to the machine for making macaroni--considerable
lengths of gutta-percha-covered subterranean wires were laid in Germany
and Prussia between 1846 and 1849; and in 1849 Siemens laid a
gutta-percha insulated conductor in the harbor of Kiel which was used
for firing mines. Following this came the extensive system of
underground lines laid down in England for the Magnetic Telegraph
Company by their engineer, Mr. (afterward Sir Charles) Bright, in
accordance with a patent of his. Short lengths were also laid, mostly
through tunnels, by the Electric Telegraph Company a little later.
On the 10th day of January, 1849, the late Mr. C. V. Walker, F.R.S.,
electrician to the Southeastern Railway, laid a gutta-percha-covered
conductor, two miles long, in the English Channel. The wire was coiled
on a drum on board the laying vessel, from which it was paid out as the
vessel progressed. Starting from the beach at Folkestone, the line was
joined up to an aerial wire, 83 miles in length, along the Southeastern
Railway, and Mr. Walker, on board the Princess Clementine, succeeded in
exchanging telegrams with London.
On the 23d July, 1845, the brothers Jacob and John Watkins Brett
addressed themselves to Sir Robert Peel, as Prime Minister and First
Lord of the Treasury, relative to a proposal of theirs for establishing
a general system of telegraphic communication--oceanic and otherwise.
They were referred to the Admiralty, Foreign Office, etc., and gradually
became involved in a departmental correspondence--more academic than
useful--in which they were passed backward and forward from one
government office to another. After considerable negotiations with both
governments concerned, a concession was at last obtained by the Messrs.
Brett, and a company formed for instituting telegraphy between England
and France by means of a line from Dover to Calais. Twenty-five nautical
miles of No. 14 copper wire covered with 1/2-inch thickness of
gutta-percha was then manufactured, the electrician's tongue being the
only test applied to some of the lengths. The shore ends for about two
miles from each terminus consisted of a No. 16 B.W.G.[4] conductor
covered with cotton soaked in india-rubber solution, the whole being
incased in a very thick lead tube. The rest of the line was composed of
the gutta-percha insulated wire above described, with 30-pound leaden
weights fastened to it at 100-yard intervals,[5] the laying vessel
having to be stopped each time one was put on. The submersion of the
line was successfully effected, but it only lived to speak a few more or
less incoherent words--one being a short complimentary communication to
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, shortly afterward Emperor of the French. It
subsequently transpired that a Boulogne fisherman had hooked up the line
with his trawl, "mistaking it for a new kind of seaweed!" This
enterprise excited little attention at the time. It was, in fact,
regarded as a "mad freak" and even as a "gigantic swindle." When
accomplished, The Times remarked, in the words of Shakespeare, "The jest
of yesterday has become the fact of to-day"; and a few hours later it
might with equal truth have been said that "the fact of yesterday has
become the jest of to-day!" The feasibility of laying such a line and of
transmitting electric signals across the Channel had, however, been
proved. The signals obtained had, moreover, the effect of eradicating
the then very prevalent belief that, even if the line were successfully
submerged, the current would become dissipated in the water.[6] It now
remained to find a satisfactory method of protecting the insulated
conductor from injury during and after laying. The excellence of the
insulating material was recently testified to when some portions were
recovered.
Though the above line was not, practically speaking, turned to any
account, it was by no means abortive, for the signals it had conveyed
were sufficient to "save the concession," which was renewed by the
French Government on December 19, 1850. But the previous failure had
made capitalists distrustful; and only some weeks before the expiration
of the time limit the necessary funds had not been raised.
_Dover-Calais, 1850-'51._--The undertaking was saved by the energy and
talent of one man, Mr. T. R. Crampton, an eminent railway engineer. He
raised the necessary capital (£15,000), putting his own name down for
half this amount and being joined by Lord de Mauley and the late Sir
James Carmichael. He (Mr. Crampton) also settled the type of cable to be
laid--based on the iron pit-rope; this, in one form or another,
practically remains the type of to-day. The cable contained four copper
conducting-wires of No. 16 B.W.G., each one covered with two layers of
gutta-percha to No. 1 gage; these four insulated conductors, or "cores,"
were laid together and the interstices filled up with strands of tarred
Russian hemp. The outer covering consisted of ten galvanized-iron wires
of No. 1 gage wound spirally round the bundle of cores; this armor was
provided "with a view to protecting the insulated conductors from the
strains and chafing which had so seriously interfered with the chances
of the previous line." The completed cable weighed about seven tons to
the mile. It was coiled into the hold of an old pontoon hulk, which was
then taken in tow by two steamers. A third tug to stand by, and a small
man-of-war steamer to act as pilot, accompanied the laying expedition.
The cable was landed at the foot of the South Foreland lighthouse and
paid out toward Cape Sangatte, but the weather was less favorable than
on the previous occasion; moreover, the weight of the cable--in the
absence of efficient holding-back gear--caused it to run out too
rapidly, notwithstanding the slight depth (some 30 fathoms) encountered.
Added to this, the tugs drifted with the wind and tide. Thus when the
vessels arrived within about a mile of the French coast no more cable
was left on board, and a fresh length had to be procured and spliced on
before the line was complete. This cable proved a lasting success: it
underwent numerous and extensive repairs, and it was only quite recently
that its abandonment took place.
_Other Early Cables._--The success of Crampton's line gave considerable
impetus to submarine telegraphy. Similar enterprises sprung up on all
sides; but many failures occurred before these operations came to be
regarded as ordinary industrial undertakings. In the course of the
following year (1852) three unsuccessful attempts were made to establish
telegraphic communication between England and Ireland. In the
first--between Holyhead and Howth--the cable was not heavy enough to
contend with the rough bottom, and strong currents and disturbances from
anchors experienced in these waters; but this undertaking is remarkable
as being the only instance in which an effort was made to do without any
intermediate serving between the insulated conductor and the iron
sheathing. In the second attempt--between Port Patrick (Scotland) and
Donaghadee (Ireland)--the cable consisted of a central copper conductor
covered first with india-rubber, then with gutta-percha, and then hemp
outside all. This cable, being far too light, was actually carried away
by the strong tidal currents and even broken into pieces during laying.
In the third endeavor, between the same two points, the arrangements for
checking the cable while paying out being again inadequate, there was
not sufficient to reach the farther shore. However, in 1853, a heavy
cable, weighing 7 tons per mile, with six conductors, was successfully
laid for the Magnetic Telegraph Company by the late Sir Charles
Bright.[7] This was in upward of 180 fathoms--the deepest water in which
a cable was laid for some time--and proved a permanent success, forming
the first establishment of telegraphic communication with Ireland. Only
a year elapsed before it became evident that another cable was required
to meet the traffic between England and the Continent, and an additional
line was laid from Dover to Ostend. Anglo-Dutch and Anglo-German cables
followed in due course; and in less than ten years from the commencement
of its operations over the first Channel cable, the Submarine Telegraph
Company (since absorbed by the state) was working at least half a dozen
really excellent cables, varying from 25 to 117 miles in length,
connecting England with the rest of Europe. During the next few years
submarine communication was established between Denmark and Sweden, as
well as between Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia; and between Sardinia and
the north coast of Africa; but where successful, the measures adopted
were, in the main, similar to those we have already described in
connection with the preceding lines, though special conditions were, in
some instances, the means of introducing certain modifications and
improvements. Several serious failures were, however, experienced in the
deep water of the Mediterranean which had a detracting effect--in the
public mind--on the chances of the great undertaking which was to
follow.
PART II
THE PIONEER LINE
CHAPTER I
EVOLUTION OF ATLANTIC TELEGRAPHY IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND
Gradual Evolution--The Projectors--Survey of the
Route--Soundings--Nature of the Ocean Bed--Formation of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company--Raising Capital--Critics, "Croakers,"
and Crude Inventors.
As has been shown in the introductory chapter, the efforts of the early
projectors of submarine telegraphy were at first confined to connecting
countries divided only by narrow seas, or establishing communication
between points on the same seaboard. The next step forward, with which
we are here immediately concerned--that of spanning the Atlantic Ocean
between Europe and America--was aptly characterized at the time as "the
great feat of the century." By its means the people of the two great
continents were to speak together in a few moments, though separated by
a vast ocean.
This was the first venture in transoceanic telegraphy. There was no
applicable data to go upon; for the vast difference between laying short
cable-lengths across rivers, bays, etc., in shallow water, and that of
laying a long length of cable in depths of over two miles across an open
ocean will be easily recognized--at any rate, by the sailor and
engineer.
The wires of the Magnetic Telegraph Company had already been carried to
various points on the west and south coast of Ireland; and, in 1852, Mr.
F. N. Gisborne, a very able English engineer, obtained an exclusive
concession for connecting St. Johns, Newfoundland, with Cape Ray, in the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, by an overhead telegraph-line. The idea was to
"tap" steamers coming from London to Cape Race at St. Johns, and pass
messages between that point and Cape Breton, on the other side of the
Gulf, by carrier-pigeons. A few miles of cables were made in England,
and laid between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Mr. Gisborne
then surveyed the route for the land-line across Newfoundland, and had
erected some forty miles of it, when the work was stopped for want of
funds. When in New York in 1854, Gisborne was introduced to Mr. Cyrus
West Field, a retired merchant, who became enthusiastic on the subject,
and formed a small, but strong, syndicate for the practical realization
of Gisborne's scheme. A cable eighty-five miles in length was made in
England, to be laid between Cape Breton and Newfoundland; but after
forty miles had been paid out, rough weather ensued, and the undertaking
had to be abandoned. A fresh instalment was, however, sent out in 1856,
and successfully laid across the Gulf, thus connecting St. Johns with
Canada and the American lines. The conductor of this line instead of
being a single solid wire was, for the first time, composed of several
small wires laid up together in strand form--with a view to avoiding a
flaw in any single wire stopping the conductivity, besides affording
increased mechanical pliability.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1855.]
The feasibility of uniting the two vast systems of telegraphy had
engaged the consideration of some of those most prominently associated
with electric telegraphy on both sides of the Atlantic. It had been
already shown that cables could be successfully laid and maintained in
comparatively moderate depths in the Mediterranean, Black Sea, etc., but
the nearest points between the British Isles and Newfoundland are nearly
2,000 miles apart. The greatest length of submarine line which had
hitherto been effectively submerged--110 miles--formed but an
insignificant portion of such an enormous distance; and that, too,
involving a depth of nearly three miles for a large proportion of the
way, instead of about 300 fathoms.
Apart from the engineering difficulties entailed by this vast distance
and depth, the question was then undetermined as to the possibility of
conveying electric currents through such a length in an unbroken
circuit, and at a speed that would enable messages to be passed rapidly
enough in succession to prove remunerative. Various researches had been
made--by Faraday among others--with a view to determining the law in
relation to the velocity of electricity through a conducting-wire.
The retarding effect of the insulating covering had already been
discovered; but the exact formula for the working speed of cables of
definite proportions and lengths was not correctly arrived at till some
years later. The similarity, in principle, of a cable to a Leyden jar
was first pointed out by Mr. Edward Brailsford Bright in the course of a
paper read before the British Association in 1854. He showed that on
charging a gutta-percha-covered wire, the insulating material tended to
absorb and retain a part of the charge and to hold back, as a static
charge, some of the electricity flowing as current through the
conductor--just as the charge (of opposite potential) induced on the
outside plate of a Leyden jar statically holds the primary charge on the
inner plate, until either are neutralized. The brothers, Edward and
Charles Bright, made a series of extensive experiments on long lengths
of underground wires; and these investigations were supplemented later
by Mr. Edward Orange Wildman Whitehouse (formerly a medical
practitioner), who became electrician to the first Atlantic cable. Mr.
Whitehouse was a man of very high intellectual and scientific
attainments, and a most ingenious and painstaking experimenter.
The retardation of the electric current through an insulated wire due to
induction--a phenomenon practically unknown with bare, aerial wires
suspended on posts, and of no consequence with quite short cables--was
overcome by using a succession of opposite currents. By this means the
latter, or retarded, portion of each current was "wiped out" by the
opposite current immediately following it; and thus a series of electric
waves could be made to traverse the cable, one after the other, several
being in the act of passing onward at different points along the
conductor at the same time. The Messrs. Bright devised a special key
(embodied with a patent for signaling through long cables) for
transmitting these alternating currents from the battery; and this was
followed by others to effect the same object--one by Professor Thomson
(now Lord Kelvin), who became electrical adviser to the enterprise.
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--The Brooke "Sounder."]
A certain degree of knowledge regarding the nature of the bed of the
Atlantic Ocean was now available; for in the summer of 1856 a series of
soundings had been taken by Lieutenant O. H. Berryman, U.S.N., from
U.S.N. Arctic, and also independently by Commander Joseph Dayman, R.N.
(H.M.S. Cyclops), showing what was called "a gently undulating plateau
extending the whole distance between Ireland and British North America."
These depths (averaging about 2-1/2 miles) compared favorably with those
that had presented themselves farther southward. The ground was found
to shoal gradually on the Newfoundland side, but rose more rapidly
toward the Irish shore. The soundings were taken with the ingenious
apparatus of Lieut. J. M. Brooke, U.S.N. (Fig. 2), which formed the
prototype of all similar deep-sea sounding-tubes of the present day. In
this, at the extremity of the sounding-line a light iron rod, C,
hollowed at its lower end, passed loosely through a hole in the center
of a cannon-ball weight, A, which is fastened to the line by a couple of
links. On the bottom being touched, the links reverse position, owing to
the weight being taken off, and the cannon-ball, or plummet, B, being
set free, remains on the ground, leaving the light tube only to be drawn
up with the line.[8] In the act of grounding, however, the open end of
the tube presses into the bottom, a specimen of which is consequently
obtained--unless it be rock or coral. An oozy bottom was found
throughout the soundings. The specimens brought up to the surface were
shown under the microscope to consist (Fig. 3) of the tiny shells of
_animalculæ_--the indestructible outside skeletons of the animal
organisms known as _diatomaceæ_ and _globigirenæ_ foraminiferæ largely
composed of carbonate of lime.[9] No sand or gravel was found on the
ocean bed, from which it was deduced that no currents, or other
disturbing elements, existed at those depths; for otherwise these frail
shells would have been rubbed to pieces. As it was, they came up
entire--without a sign of abrasion. The plateau or ridge--which was
found to extend for some 400 miles in breadth--was considered a
veritable feather-bed for a cable. Indeed, in his subsequent report to
the United States navy, Lieut. M. F. Maury, U.S.N., spoke of this
"shallow platform or table-land" as having been "apparently placed for
the express purpose of holding the wires of a submarine telegraph and of
keeping them out of harm's way." Lieutenant Maury concluded his report
as follows: "I do not, however, pretend to consider the question as to
the possibility of finding _a time calm enough, the sea smooth enough, a
wire long enough, or a ship big enough_, to lay a coil of wire sixteen
hundred miles in length." These words form amusing reading nowadays, as
do also the suggestions of "telegraph plateaus" furnished by Providence
as a resting-place for the Atlantic cable. The "plateau" idea was only
true to the extent that the bed of the ocean in these regions afforded a
smooth surface as compared with the Alpine character prevailing north
and south of it. These soundings at something like fifty-mile intervals
were not, however, originally undertaken with the Atlantic cable
expressly in view. Indeed, for many years--until experience pointed to
the absolute necessity--no special surveys were made previous to the
laying of a cable.[10]
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Specimen of the Ocean Bed. (Magnified 10,000
times.)]
Formation of the _Atlantic Telegraph Company, 1856._--Cyrus Field,
besides being a man of sanguine temperament and intense business
energy, also possessed shrewdness and foresight. Thus, he immediately
recognized the value of Gisborne's concessions, and determined to turn
them to the fullest account. His extraordinary acumen told him that by
improving on the exclusive landing rights already obtained in America,
he would place himself in the strongest possible position in regard to
the big notion of an Atlantic cable. No sooner had he made up his mind
to this effect than he set to work to accomplish the idea; and very soon
exclusive rights were obtained in his name (Gisborne having entirely
dropped out of the negotiations) for practically every important point
in connection with the landing of an Atlantic cable on British North
American territory. The period for these rights was fifty years, besides
which he obtained various grants of land. Thus it will be seen he had
assured himself a very strong position in connection with any project
for an Atlantic cable without having had (in the words of his brother,
Henry Field) "any experience in the business of laying a submarine
telegraph." Mr. Field's syndicate was about this time registered as the
New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, which was now
capable of debarring competition for a considerable period, at any rate.
Armed with this apparent monopoly, Mr. Field went over to England,
empowered by his associates to deal with the exclusive concession
possessed by the above company for the coast of Newfoundland and other
rights in Nova Scotia, etc. He had already been over before in
connection with the Gulf of St. Lawrence cable. He had, on that
occasion, met Mr. John Watkins Brett, who thereupon interested himself
financially in the "Newfoundland Company." On his second mission (in
July, 1856) he at once put himself into communication with Mr.
(afterward Sir Charles) Bright, who was known to be already making
various preparations with a view to an Atlantic cable in connection with
the Magnetic Telegraph system. On September 26, 1856, an agreement was
entered into between Brett, Bright, and Field in the following terms,
their signatures being reproduced as they appear at the foot of the
document:
"Mutually, and on equal terms we engage to exert ourselves for the
purpose of forming a Company for establishing and working of electric
telegraphic communication between Newfoundland and Ireland, such Company
to be called the Atlantic Telegraph Company, or by such other name as
the parties hereto shall jointly agree upon."
[Illustration: Signatures, from top to bottom: John W. Brett, Charles T.
Bright, Cyrus W. Field]
[Illustration: John Watkins Brett (Projector).
Charles Tilston Bright (Projector and Engineer).
Cyrus West Field (Projector).
FIG. 4.]
Let us see now what the united efforts of these three "projectors" had
before them. The ground had already been to some extent cleared by their
individual exertions when working independently, as well as in other
ways. Bright, and also Whitehouse, had already proved the possibility of
signaling through such a length of insulated wire as that involved by an
Atlantic line. The soundings that had been recently taken showed that
the depth was only unfavorable in the sense of being something far--but
uniformly--greater than that in which any cable had previously been
submerged. Finally, the favorable nature of the landing rights secured
by Field on the other side went a long way toward insuring against
competition, apart from the actual permission. There yet remained, then,
the necessity of obtaining (_a_) Government recognition, and, if
possible, Government subsidies; (_b_) the confidence and pecuniary
support of the moneyed mercantile class; besides which a suitable form
of cable had to be designed and manufactured, as well as all the
necessary apparatus for the laying of the same.
As a result of considerable discussion, the two governments concerned
eventually came to recognize the importance and feasibility of this
undertaking for linking together the two great English-speaking nations,
and the benefits it would confer upon humanity. Both the British and
United States Governments gave a subsidy, in return for free
transmission of their messages, with priority over others.[11] This,
however, only jointly amounted to 8 per cent of the capital, and was
payable only while the cable worked.[12]
The Atlantic Telegraph Company was registered on October 20, 1856, and
the £350,000 decided on as the necessary capital for the work was then
sought and obtained in an absolutely unprecedented fashion. There was no
promotion money, no prospectus was published, no advertisements, no
brokers, and no commissions, neither was there at that time any board of
directors or executive officers. The election of a board was reserved
for a meeting of shareholders, to be held after allotment by the
provisional committee, consisting of the subscribers to the Memorandum
of Association. Any remuneration to the projectors was left wholly
dependent on, and subsequent to, the shareholders' profits being over 10
per cent per annum, after which the projectors were to divide the
surplus.
The campaign was opened in Liverpool, the headquarters of the "Magnetic"
Company, the greater proportion of whose shareholders were business
men--merchants and shipowners--mainly hailing from Liverpool,
Manchester, Glasgow, and London, who appreciated the value of America
being connected telegraphically with Great Britain and Europe through
their Irish lines.
The first meeting of the "Atlantic" Company was convened for November
12, 1856, at the underwriters' rooms in the Liverpool Exchange. This was
called together by means of a small circular on a half-sheet of
note-paper, issued by Mr. E. B. Bright, manager of the "Magnetic"
Company. The result was a crowded gathering composed of the wealth,
enterprise, and influence of Liverpool and other important business and
manufacturing centers. Similar meetings were also held in Manchester and
Glasgow, and a public subscription list was opened at the "Magnetic"
Company's office of each town. In the course of a few days the entire
capital was raised, by the issue of 350 shares of £1,000 each, chiefly
taken up by the shareholders of the "Magnetic" Company. Mr. Cyrus Field
had reserved £75,000 for American subscription, for which he signed, but
his confidence in his compatriots turned out to be greatly misplaced.
The result has been thus recounted by his brother: "He (Cyrus Field)
thought that one-fourth of the stock should be held in this country (the
United States), and he did not doubt from the eagerness with which
three-fourths had been taken in England, that the remainder would be at
once subscribed in America." In point of fact, it was only after much
trouble that subscribers were obtained in the States for a total of
twenty-seven shares, or less than one-twelfth of the total capital.
Thus, notwithstanding their professed enthusiasm, the faith of the
Americans in the project proved to be strictly limited. At any rate,
they did not rise to the occasion. Indeed, the undertaking was very much
an affair of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, the officers of which led
the shareholders to take a lively interest from the first in the
Atlantic project as forming the nucleus of a great extension of
business.
The first meeting of shareholders took place on December 9, 1856, when a
board of directors was elected. This included the late George Peabody,
Samuel Gurney, T. H. Brooking, T. A. Hankey, C. M. (afterward Sir
Curtis) Lampson, and Sir William Brown, of Liverpool, no less than nine
(representing the interests of different towns) being also directors of
the "Magnetic" Company, including Mr. J. W. Brett. The first chairman
was Sir William Brown, subsequently succeeded by the Right Hon. James
Stuart-Wortley, M.P. Two names may be further specially referred to as
destined, in different ways, to have the greatest possible influence in
the subsequent development of submarine telegraphy. Mr. (afterward Sir
John) Pender, who was then a "Magnetic" director, afterward took a
leading part in the vast extensions that have followed to the
Mediterranean, India, China, Australasia, the Cape, and Brazil, besides
several of the subsequent Atlantic lines. Up to the time of his death he
was chairman of something like a dozen, more or less allied, cable
companies, representing some £30,000,000 of capital, and mainly
organized through his foresight and business ability. Then, again, Prof.
William Thomson, of Glasgow University, was a tower of scientific
strength on the Board. He had been from the outset an ardent believer in
the Atlantic line. His acquisition as a director was destined to prove
of vast importance in influencing the development of transoceanic
communication, for his subsequent experiments on the cable during
1857-'58 led up to his invention of the mirror galvanometer and
signaling instrument, whereby the most attenuated currents of
electricity, which are incapable of producing visible signals on other
telegraphic apparatus, are so magnified by the use of a reflected beam
of light as to afford signals readily legible. (A full description of
this invention will be found in its proper place--farther on.)
Mr. (afterward Sir Charles) Bright was appointed engineer-in-chief, with
Mr. Wildman Whitehouse (who had become closely associated with the
project) as electrician, while Mr. Cyrus Field became general manager.
* * * * *
It must not be supposed that because the capital was raised without
great difficulty, and because the project had far-seeing supporters,
that there was any lack of "croakers." On the contrary, the prejudice
against the line as a "mad scheme" ran perhaps even higher than in the
case of most great and novel undertakings. The critics were many, and
with our present knowledge it is difficult to recognize that many of the
assertions and suggestions emanated from men of science as well as from
eminent engineers and sailors, who, we should say nowadays, ought to
have known better. For example, the late Prof. Sir G. B. Airy, F.R.S.
(Astronomer Royal), announced to the world: (1) that "it was a
mathematical impossibility to submerge a cable in safety at so great a
depth"; and (2) that "if it were possible, no signals could be
transmitted through so great a length."
From the very outset of the project the engineer-in-chief (as soon as
appointed) had to deal with wild and undeveloped criticisms and
suggestions, partly from "inventors," who desired to reap personal
benefit by the scheme, and amateurs in the art generally, all of which
appear singularly ludicrous nowadays.
The fallacy most frequently introduced was, perhaps, that the cable
would be suspended in the water at a certain depth. Naturally the
pressure increases with the depth on all sides of a cable (or anything
else) in its descent through the sea, but, as practically everything on
earth is more compressible than water, it is obvious that the iron wire,
yarn, gutta-percha, and copper conductor, forming the cable, must be
more and more compressed as they descend. Thus the cable constantly
increases its density, or specific gravity, in going down, while the
equal bulk of the water surrounding it continues to have, practically
speaking, very nearly the same specific gravity as at the surface.
Without this valuable property of water, the hydraulic press would not
exist.
The strange blunder here described was participated in by some of the
most distinguished naval men. As an instance, even at a comparatively
recent period, Captain Marryat, R.N., the famous nautical author, writes
of the sea: "What a mine of wealth must lie buried in its sands. What
riches lie entangled among its rocks, or remain suspended in its
unfathomable gulf, where the compressed fluid is equal in gravity to
that which it encircles."[13]
To obviate this non-existent difficulty, it was gravely proposed to
festoon the cable across, at a given maximum depth between buoys and
floats, or even parachutes--at which ships might call, hook on, and talk
telegraphically to shore!
Others again proposed to apply _gummed cotton_ to the outside of the
cable in connection with the above burying system. The idea was that the
gum (or glue) would gradually dissolve and so let the cable down
"quietly"!
As an example of the crude notions prevailing in the mind of one
gentleman with a proposed invention, to whom was shown an inch specimen
of the cable, he remarked: "Now I understand how you stow it away on
board. You cut it up into bits beforehand, and then join up the pieces
as you lay."
Some again absolutely went so far as to take out patents for converting
the laying vessel into a huge factory, with a view to making the cable
on board in one continuous length, and submerging it during the process!
Finally, one naval expert assured the company that "no other machinery
for paying out was necessary than a _handspike_ to stop the egress of
the cable."