CHAPTER XI

THE INQUEST

Expert Trials--Expert Evidence

The great historical sea-line having collapsed, some of the foremost of

the electrical profession were called in--first to determine the nature

of the interruption with a view to possible remedy, next to elicit _the

cause_.

_Expert Opinions on the Failure._--Mr. Cromwell Fleetwood Varley, the

electrician to the Electric Telegraph Company, Mr. E. B. Bright, the

chief of the "Magnetic" Company; and Mr. W. T. Henley, the well-known

telegraph inventor, were severally requested by the "Atlantic" Company

to report on the subject in conjunction with Sir Charles Bright and

Professor Thomson.

First of all the dead line was subjected to a series of tests. For this,

resistance-coils and Messrs. Bright's apparatus for ascertaining the

position of a fault were employed. There was every evidence of a serious

electrical leakage about 300 miles from Valentia, but there did not

appear to be any fracture in the conductor, as exceedingly weak currents

still came through fitfully. According to the above location, the main

leak through the gutta-percha envelope was in water of a depth of about

two miles. At that time means were not devised for grappling and

lifting a cable from such depths. But from independent tests by Thomson

and Bright, it appeared likely that the Valentia shore end was also

especially faulty. Accordingly, it was underrun from the catamaran-raft

(previously used in 1857) for some three miles, but, on being cut at the

farthest point at which it was found possible to raise the cable, the

fault still appeared on the seaward side. The idea of repairs had,

therefore, to be abandoned, and the cable was spliced up again.

The conductor being again intact, efforts were made to renew signals

with the curb-key recently invented by Messrs. Bright. By means of this,

currents of opposite character were transmitted so that each signaling

current was followed instantly by one of opposite polarity, which

neutralized, by a proportionate strength and duration, all that remained

of its predecessor. Though this was the right principle on which to

work, the "patient" was too far gone, and all efforts proved unavailing;

for signaling purposes the poor cable was defunct.

Having dealt with the nature of the interruption, we now come to the

_cause_. It was first of all abundantly clear from the station-diaries

kept by the electricians at Valentia and Newfoundland, and by other

irrefragable evidence, that when the laying was completed, and the cable

ends were handed over to them from the ships on August 5th, all was in

good working order.

The authorities were unanimous in their opinion. Mr. C. F. Varley

declared that "had a more moderate power been used, the cable would

still have been capable of transmitting messages." In giving extra force

to the above opinion, Mr. Varley described an experiment he had made on

the cable in conjunction with Mr. E. B. Bright:

We attached to the cable a piece of gutta-percha-covered wire,

having first made a slight incision, by a needle-prick, in the

gutta-percha to let the water reach the conductor. The wire was

then bent, so as to close up the defect. The defective wire was

then placed in a jar of sea-water, and the latter connected with

the earth. After a few momentary signals had been sent from the

five-foot induction-coils into the cable, and, consequently into

the test-wire, the intense current burst through the excessively

minute perforation, rapidly burning a hole nearly one-tenth of an

inch in diameter, afterward increased to half an inch in length

when passing the current through the faulty branch only. The burned

gutta-percha then came floating up to the surface of the water,

while the jar was one complete glow of light.

Professor Hughes, the inventor of the type-printing telegraph, and,

subsequently, of the microphone, considered that "the cable was injured

by the induction-coils, and that the intense currents developed by them

were strong enough to burst through gutta-percha." Professor Wheatstone

gave a similar opinion.

Some one inquired of the electrician whether, if any one touched the

cable at the time when the current was discharged from the

induction-coil, he would receive a shock sufficiently strong to cause

him to faint. It was admitted in reply that "those who touched the bare

wire would suffer for their carelessness, though not if discretion be

exercised by grasping the gutta-percha only."

The chairman of the company (the Right Honorable J. Stuart Wortley,

M.P.), in the course of a deputation to Lord Palmerston later on,

stated that "far too high charges of electricity were forced into the

conductor. It was evidently thought at that time by certain electricians

that you could not charge a cable of this sort too highly. Thus they

proceeded somewhat like the man who bores a hole with a poker in a deal

board; he gets the hole, to be sure, _but the board is burned in the

operation_."

Professor Thomson (now Lord Kelvin), writing in 1860, expressed the

following opinion:

It is quite certain that, with a properly adjusted

mirror-galvanometer as receiving-instrument at each end, twenty

cells of Daniell's battery would have done the work required, and

at even a higher speed if worked by a key devised for diminishing

inductive embarrassment; and the writer--with the knowledge derived

from disastrous experience--has now little doubt but that, if such

had been the arrangement from the beginning, if no induction-coils

and no battery-power exceeding twenty Daniell cells had ever been

applied to the cable since the landing of its ends, imperfect as it

then was, _it would be now in full work day and night, with no

prospect or probability of failure_.[50]

Summing up the _cause_ of the untimely ending to the ill-used cable,

perhaps the concisest verdict would be, in mechanical-engineering

_parlance_, that "high-pressure steam had been got up in a low-pressure

boiler."

PART III

INTERMEDIATE KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCE

CHAPTER XII

OTHER PROPOSED ROUTES

North Atlantic Telegraph Project--Exploring Expedition--Ice

Troubles--South Atlantic Telegraph Project.

The gradual failure of the 1858 cable after a short period of working,

and the slow rate at which messages were capable of being transmitted,

naturally deterred capitalists from providing the means for another

cable of such length in deep water.

Several schemes, however, for a fresh line on other routes were brought

forward; and there was an alternative route between Great Britain and

America by which the transmission of the electric current could be

subdivided into four comparatively short sections. This was known in

1860 as the North Atlantic Telegraph project, in which the route was

from the extreme north of Scotland to the Faroe Islands, thence to

Iceland; from there to the southern point of Greenland, and so on to

Labrador or Newfoundland. The distances were (varying a little according

to landing-places selected) approximately:

Miles

From the north of Scotland to Faroe Islands 225

From the Faroe Islands to Iceland 280

From Iceland to Greenland, S. W. Harbor 700

From Greenland to Labrador 550

----

Total 1755

[Illustration: FIG. 32.--The North Atlantic Telegraph Project, 1860.]

From the electrician's point of view, these subdivisions were extremely

favorable as compared with the long continuous length entailed by an

Atlantic cable between Ireland and Newfoundland. Then, again, the

soundings (except for a section between Greenland and Labrador) did not

yield anything approaching the more southern depths. But against these

obvious advantages there was the engineering objection--which at first

seemed insurmountable--that the Greenland coast was bound up by ice for

a great part of the year, in addition to the risk of injury to the cable

from the grounding of icebergs. This latter was of less moment, for it

could be provided against by keeping the cable when approaching shore in

the middle of any inlet, and thus away from the shallow sides where the

icebergs "ground." There was also the probable difficulty of obtaining a

trained staff to work a line when laid to such inhospitable regions.

However, having regard to the anxiety exhibited by many to get to the

North Pole, this did not present an insuperable obstacle.

This bold project, with a route across the coldest and iciest regions of

the Atlantic, was originally brought to the notice of the Danish

Government by Mr. Wyld, the geographer, even before the Atlantic

Telegraph Company had been established. It was again introduced in a

different form by Colonel T. P. Shaffner, an American electrician of

some note. Colonel Shaffner made a strong case of the series of short

stages geographically afforded by the North Atlantic deviation. After

the 1858 cable had ceased working, to back up his belief in the

advantages of the route, which he characterized as having "natural

stepping-stones which Providence had placed across the ocean in the

north," he actually chartered a small sailing vessel, and, with his

family on board, put forth from Boston on August 29th, 1859, for the

purpose of making the preliminary survey. He landed in Glasgow in

November of that year, and presented to the public the results of his

voyage. During the voyage, Colonel Shaffner sounded the deep seas to be

traversed between Labrador and Greenland and between Greenland and

Iceland. His first object was to convince the public that there were no

insuperable difficulties in the way. He found a warm supporter in Mr. J.

Rodney Croskey, of London, who advanced the "caution" money to the

Danish Government for the concessions requisite in the Faroes, Iceland,

and Greenland.[51]

On May 15th, Lord Palmerston granted an audience to an influential

deputation, headed by the Right Honorable Milner Gibson, M.P., and four

other members of the House of Commons, to solicit the assistance of

Government in sending out ships and officers to make the necessary

official survey for ascertaining the practicability of the proposed

route. The Premier appeared fully to appreciate the advantages of the

north-about scheme, and in a very short time the Admiralty were directed

to send out an expedition for the purpose of making the required survey.

The Admiralty selected for this duty Captain M'Clintock, R. N.,[52] an

officer of great experience in the navigation of the Arctic seas, and

H.M.S. Bulldog was placed under his command. This distinguished officer

was directed to take the deep-sea soundings, and he sailed from

Portsmouth on his mission in June, 1860. In the meantime, the promoters

of the enterprise purchased the Fox, the steam-yacht formerly employed

in the successful search for the remains of the Franklin expedition, and

fitted her out for the purpose of making surveys of the landing-places

of the respective cables. The Fox was placed under the command of

Captain Young,[53] of the mercantile marine, an officer well known for

his distinguished labors under M'Clintock in the Franklin search. At the

same time, Dr. John Rae, F.R.G.S., an intrepid Arctic explorer,

volunteered his services to join the Fox, and take charge of the

overland expeditions in the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and Greenland. Colonel

Shaffner, as concessionaire--besides two delegates on the part of the

Danish Government, Lieutenant von Zeilau and Arnljot Olafsson--also

accompanied the Fox expedition, to take part in the necessary surveys.

Before the departure of the Fox, which sailed on July 18, 1860, her

Majesty Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, and other members of the

royal family, honored the enterprise by a visit to that vessel, while

lying off Osborne, and showed a lively interest in the details of the

expedition.

On the return of the expedition, Sir Leopold M'Clintock wrote a full

report to Sir Charles Bright, the consulting engineer of the project.

In this, Sir Leopold favored the route as perfectly practicable,

pointing out that the ice would not really prove a difficulty, and

strongly approving of the original intention of a land-line across

Iceland to Faxe Bay, "as by so doing you will avoid the only part of the

sea where submarine volcanic disturbances may be suspected."

The results of the voyages of H.M.S. Bulldog and the steam-yacht Fox

were brought before a crowded meeting of the Royal Geographical Society

on January 28, 1861. Sir Leopold M'Clintock then gave the first public

account of his numerous and careful soundings along, and in the vicinity

of, the proposed course of the cable, interspersed with many useful

remarks and hints as to ice, the best time for laying the line, etc., as

well as the probable sphere of volcanic action in and off the south of

Iceland. The above was followed by an exhaustive paper by Sir Charles

Bright, giving a synopsis of Captain Young's report on his voyage in the

Fox, including the examination of various estuaries and harbors, so as

to enable a decision to be arrived at as to the best landing-places, the

climatic conditions, etc.

From both sets of soundings it was shown that, as a rule, the bottom was

of ooze. Dr. Wallich, the naturalist of the expedition, had brought up

brightly colored starfish from depths of over a mile, whereas it had

previously been believed that nothing could possibly live under such an

enormous pressure of water.

[Illustration: FIG. 33.--The North Atlantic Exploring Expedition, 1860.]

Then came a highly instructive paper by Dr. Rae. He gave a number of

interesting particulars of his land surveys, the population, price of

food, wages, etc. He also described the ride of the Fox party across

Iceland, while making important suggestions as to the route for the

land-line with a view to avoiding the geysers.

Captain R. B. Beechey, R.N., afterward made a beautiful oil-painting of

the party, including some of the Eskimos on the occasion of landing to

explore the inland ice at Igaliko Fiord (see Fig. 33).[54]

At this time, however (1861), there was still too much discouragement

owing to the stoppage in working of the first Atlantic cable, and to

other causes with which we are about to deal. Moreover, there were those

who still feared the ice-floes; and in the end the public did not

respond sufficiently. Thus, after all, the "Grand North Atlantic

Telegraph" project, which had been worked out with so much trouble and

expense, was never actually realized.

* * * * *

Another scheme which attracted some attention about the same time was

described as the "South Atlantic Telegraph." This was for a long length

of cable between the south of Spain and the coast of Brazil, touching at

Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cape de Verde Isles, Don Pedro, and

Fernando de Noronha Isles on the way, and stretching out to the West

Indies and the United States. Then there was a project for a cable on an

intermediate route from Portugal to the Azores, and thence to America,

via Bermuda and the Southern States. Being, however, to a great extent

foreign in their scope, these latter schemes found little favor in this

country at the time. They have, however, since been realized in some

shape or form.

CHAPTER XIII

EXPERIENCE, INVESTIGATION, AND PROGRESS

The Red Sea Line--Government Inquiry--Electrical Standards and

Units--Further Cables--Improvements in Manufacture, Testing, and

Working--Completion of Pioneer Stage.

_The Red Sea Line._--Mr. Lionel Gisborne had obtained powers from the

Turkish Government to carry a telegraph-line across Egypt and lay a

cable down the Red Sea. The importance of this line to Great Britain led

the Government to give definite assistance.

The first portion of the proposed cable--from Suez to Aden, with

intermediate landings--was laid in 1859. The different sections broke

down one by one. They were all laid very taut, the slack in some cases

being less than one per cent, though the bottom was in certain parts

very uneven. The second portion of the line, from Aden to Kurrachee,

with intermediate stations, was laid during 1860, the slack working out

at 0.1 per cent only. Faults developed very quickly in all the sections

of both portions of the line. Apart from the small allowance for slack,

the type of cable adopted was of far too fragile a nature for some of

its rough, reef-like resting-spots; indeed, the undertaking was spoken

of as "like running a donkey for the Leger"! The promoters of this

enterprise, having neither specially qualified men nor the necessary

materials for carrying out repairs, were obliged to abandon it before

any commercial work had been effected. This was a most unfortunate line

in every way, for a complete message was never got through the entire

length, but only through each section separately. Nevertheless, until

quite recently, it cost Great Britain £36,000 per annum.

_Inquiry on the Construction of Submarine Telegraphs._--Aroused more

especially by the above failure, the Government, in 1859, before

undertaking further responsibility, resolved to thoroughly investigate

the construction of cables. It was also felt that the ultimate failure

of the Atlantic line was possibly due, in part, to weak joints and

general defects in the manufacture of the insulating envelope. This

committee--under the direction of the Board of Trade, with Captain,

afterward Sir Douglas, Galton, R.E., in the chair--devoted twenty-two

sittings (covering a considerable period of time) to questioning

engineers, electricians, professors, physicists, manufacturers, and

seamen, who had taken part in the various branches of cable-work and

whose knowledge or experience might throw light on the subject.

Investigations were instituted concerning the structure of all cables

previously made, and the quality of the different materials used, as to

special points arising during manufacture and laying, on the routes

taken, electrical testing, and on sending and receiving instruments,

speed of signaling, etc. Actual experiments were also made in connection

with this inquiry, to ascertain (1) the electrical and mechanical

qualities of copper, pure and alloyed; also of gutta-percha and other

insulating substances; (2) the chemical change in their condition when

submerged; (3) the effects of temperature and pressure on the insulating

substances employed; (4) the elongation and breaking strain of copper

wires; of iron, steel, and tarred hemp separately and combined; (5) the

phenomena connected with electrically charging and discharging

conductors; (6) methods of testing conductors and of locating faults;

besides the whole science and practise of cable-making and laying.

The report of the committee was not published till some time afterward.

It expressed a conviction that submarine telegraphy might be made sure

and remunerative in the future, based on the evidence adduced regarding

the proper manufacture and working of submarine telegraphs.

_Formulation of Electrical Standards and Units._--This inquiry was

shortly followed by an important paper before the British Association

for the advancement of science by Sir Charles Bright and Mr. Latimer

Clark (then in partnership), which put the practise of electrical

testing on a systematic basis, thereby considerably forwarding all

electrical work connected with submarine telegraphy. A committee was

formed shortly afterward, which gave the suggestions then brought

forward the seal of universal officialdom.

_Further Cables._--About this time a number of other cable enterprises

were set afoot, some in shallow water and others in comparatively great

depths. Though few of them were able to benefit by the information

obtained in the inquiry, they were, in the main, more or less

successful. These projects included cables between Malta and Alexandria,

besides others in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. Sir Charles Bright,

Mr. (afterward Sir C. W.) Siemens, Mr. Lionel Gisborne, and Mr. H. C.

Forde were mainly associated with them as engineers and electricians.

The line which met, however, with the most complete and lasting success

was the first cable to India, laid (by Sir Charles Bright) in several

sections along the Persian Gulf in 1863-'64. In this undertaking Messrs.

Bright & Clark (engineers to the Government) introduced a complete

system of electrical and mechanical testing. Every joint was, for the

first time, efficiently tested, and the insulated core submitted to a

hydraulic pressure representative of that which it would experience when

laid.[55] A formula was also arrived at by an elaborate series of

experiments for the effect of temperature on the insulation, which

showed how enormously the resistance of gutta-percha increased by

consolidation when submitted to the low temperatures of the bottom of

the ocean. Chatterton's compound had been already introduced for

adhering the gutta-percha envelope to the wires, as well as for

cementing together the different insulating coats; but Bright & Clark's

preservative composition for the iron armor was first used in this

enterprise. This mixture not only evades the oxidation that iron wires,

even when galvanized, are subject to, but resists the attacks of the

teredo and other objectionable animal life. Moreover, besides the type

of cable being eminently suitable, the manufacture was carried out with

extreme care and with all the advantage of experience and improved

methods.[56]

_Completion of Pioneer Stage._--With the successful termination of the

above enterprise, forming the first telegraphic connection between the

United Kingdom, Europe, and India, the science of constructing and

laying submarine telegraphs was pretty definitely worked out, and no

very striking departure has since been introduced. The pioneer stage

may, indeed, at this juncture, be said to have reached completion.

For this reason the rest of our narrative on the Atlantic cable will be

told more briefly--though at greater length than the contents of this

chapter, recounting only the stepping-stones to what was to follow.

PART IV

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

CHAPTER XIV

THE 1865 CABLE AND EXPEDITION

Fresh Efforts and Funds--The Contractors' Share--Design and

Construction--Provisions for Laying--S.S. Great Eastern--Sailing

Staff--Landing the Irish End--Another Bad Start.

_Fresh Efforts and Funds._--Though their cable had ceased to work, the

Atlantic Telegraph Company was kept alive by the promoters.

In 1862 the Government was prevailed on to despatch H.M.S. Porcupine to

further examine the ocean floor 300 miles out from the coasts of Ireland

and Newfoundland, respectively.

It took a considerable time to raise the full amount of capital required

for another Atlantic cable, for this could only be done gradually. The

great civil war in America stimulated capitalists to renew the

undertaking. One of the main advantages adduced was, on this occasion as

before, the avoidance of misunderstandings between the two countries.

Another--intended by Mr. Cyrus Field as a special inducement to his

fellow countrymen--was the improvement of the agricultural position of

the United States, by extending to it the facilities already enjoyed by

France of commanding the foreign grain-markets.[57] On this account the

project was warmly supported by John Bright and other eminent

free-traders.

Mr. Field, however, met with as little success in obtaining pecuniary

support in the States as he had in connection with the previous line.

His brother, Mr. H. M. Field, writes:

The summer of this year (1862) Mr. Field spent in America, where he

applied himself vigorously to raising capital for the new

enterprise. To this end he visited Boston, Providence,

Philadelphia, Albany, and Buffalo, to address meetings of merchants

and others. He used to amuse us with the account of his visit to

the first city, where he was honored with the attendance of a large

array of "the solid men of Boston," who listened with an attention

that was most flattering to the pride of the speaker addressing

such an assemblage in the capital of his native State. There was no

mistaking the interest they felt in the subject. They went still

further; they passed a series of resolutions, in which they

applauded the projected telegraph across the ocean as one of the

grandest enterprises ever undertaken by man, which they proudly

commended to the confidence and support of the American public.

After this they went home feeling that they had done the generous

thing in bestowing upon it such a mark of their approbation. _But

not a man subscribed a dollar._

In point of fact, as before, the cable of 1865--as well as that of

1866--was provided for out of English pockets. Let us now substantiate

this statement by a glance at events. The late Mr. Thomas Brassey was

the first to be appealed to in England, and he supported the venture

nobly. Then Mr. Pender[58] was applied to, and here also substantial aid

was forthcoming. Both these gentlemen had joined the board of the

Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, which had just been

formed (in April, 1864) as the result of an amalgamation of the

Gutta-Percha Company and Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co. Mr. Pender, who had

been largely instrumental in effecting this combination, became the

first chairman.

_The Contractors' Share._--Shortly after the first Atlantic cable was

laid, Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co. availed themselves of the services of

Mr. Canning and Mr. Clifford, whose engagements on Sir Charles Bright's

staff for the "Atlantic" Company had terminated. Thus, with an

additional staff of electricians, they had placed themselves in a

position to undertake direct contracts for laying, as well as

manufacturing, submarine telegraphs. They had, indeed, carried out work

of this character in the Mediterranean during the year 1860; and on the

amalgamation of the two businesses above mentioned into a limited

liability company, their position was still further strengthened.

The capital raised for the new cable by the Atlantic Telegraph Company

was £600,000; and, by agreeing to take a considerable proportion of

their payment in "Atlantic" shares, the contractors practically found

more than half of this amount. In the result, the undertaking became a

contractors' affair from first to last.

_Design and Construction._--It will be seen that the new cable was to be

an expensive one as compared with that of 1857-'58. It was the outcome

of six years' further experience, during which several important lines,

referred to in the last chapter, had been laid. It also followed upon

the exhaustive Government inquiry to which allusion has been made.

[Illustration: FIG. 34.--The Main Cable, 1865-'66.]

The actual type adopted (Fig. 34), on the recommendation of Sir Charles

Bright and other engineers who were additionally consulted, was much the

same in respect to the conductor and insulator--300 pounds copper to 400

pounds gutta-percha per nautical mile--as that which the former had

suggested for the previous Atlantic line. This combination for the

length involved was based on Professor Thomson's law for the working

speed of a cable, as depending inversely on the resistance of the

conductor as well as on the electrostatic capacity of the core. The

armor consisted of a combination of iron and hemp, each wire being

enveloped in manila yarns. The object of incasing the separate wires in

hemp was (1) to protect them from rust due to exposure to air and water,

and (2) to reduce the specific gravity of the cable, with a view to

rendering it more capable of supporting its own weight in water. This

form of cable, bearing a stress of about eight tons,[59] and suspending

eleven miles of itself, was considered by most of the authorities at

that period to perfectly fulfil the conditions required for deep-sea

lines.[60] The claims of light hempen cables, without any iron, had been

urged for meeting the difficulty of lay and recovery in deep water; and

this type formed a sort of compromise, its total diameter being 1.1

inch, weighing 1 ton 16 hundredweight in air, and only 14 hundredweight

in water. The shore end was to have a further outer sheathing of twelve

strands, each strand containing three stout galvanized-iron wires of No.

2 B.W.G., bringing the weight up to 20 tons per mile. This was to be

joined on to the main deep-sea type by a gradually tapering length of

twenty-five fathoms.

_Arrangements for Laying._--It was determined that this time the cable

must be laid in one length, with the exception of the shore ends, by a

single vessel. There was but one ship that could carry such a cargo.

This ship was the Great Eastern, the conception of that distinguished

engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. She was in course of construction by

the late Mr. Scott Russell at the time of the first cable, and it was a

subject for regret that she was not then available. An enormous craft of

22,500 tons, she did not prove suitable at that time as a cargo-boat;

and the laying of the second Atlantic cable was the first piece of

useful work she did, after lying more or less idle for nearly ten

years.[61] It is sad to think of the way this poor old ship was

metaphorically passed from hand to hand. Even at this period three

separate companies had already been formed one after another to work

her. As promoter and chairman of one of these, Mr. (afterward Sir

Daniel) Gooch took an active part in arranging for her charter on this

undertaking, and it was in this way that he became a prominent party in

the enterprise.

All the cable machinery was fitted to the Great Eastern, on behalf of

the Telegraph Construction Company, by Mr. Henry Clifford to the designs

of Mr. Canning and himself. It was constructed and set up by the famous

firm of engineers, Messrs. John Penn & Son, of Greenwich. In the main

principles the apparatus employed was similar to that previously adopted

in 1858 on the Agamemnon and Niagara. There were, however, several

modifications introduced, as the result of the extra experience gained

during the seven years' interval. The main point of difference was the

further application of jockeys to the paying-out gear in a more complete

form.

As it was not practicable to moor so enormous a vessel off the works at

East Greenwich, the cable had to be cut into lengths and coiled on two

pontoons, and thence transferred to the big ship.

[Illustration: FIG. 35.--The Great Eastern at Sea.]

_Landing the Irish End._--At length all the cable having been

manufactured and shipped from the Greenwich works, the Great Eastern,

under the command of Captain (later Sir James) Anderson,[62] left the

Thames on July 23, 1865, with a total dead weight of 21,000 tons, and

proceeded to Foilhommerun Bay, Valentia. Here she joined up her cable to

the shore end, which had been laid a day earlier by S.S. Caroline, a

small vessel chartered and fitted up for the purpose. The great ship

then started paying out as she steamed away on her journey to America,

escorted by two British men-of-war, the Terrible and the Sphinx.

_The Sailing Staff._--On behalf of the contractors, Mr. (afterward Sir

Samuel) Canning was the engineer in charge of the expedition, with Mr.

Henry Clifford as his chief assistant. As we have seen, both these

gentlemen had been engaged with Sir Charles Bright on the first line,

besides having much experience in mechanical engineering as well as in

cable work. On the contractors' engineering staff there were also Mr.

John Temple and Mr. Robert London. Mr. C. V. de Sauty served as chief

electrician, assisted by Mr. H. A. C. Saunders and several others. By

arrangement with the Admiralty, Staff-Commander H. A. Moriarty, R.N.,

acted as the navigator of the expedition. Captain Moriarty was possessed

of great skill in this direction, a fact which had been made clear in

the previous undertaking.

[Illustration: FIG. 36.--Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern.]

The Atlantic Telegraph Company was represented on board by Professor

Thomson and Mr. C. F. Varley as electricians, the former acting mainly

as scientific expert in a consultative sense. Mr. Willoughby Smith, the

electrician to the Gutta-Percha Works, was also on board at the request

of the contractors, though holding no exact official position. Both Mr.

Field and Mr. Gooch accompanied the expedition, the former as the

initial promoter of the enterprise, and the latter on behalf of the

Great Eastern Company. Representing the press there were also on board

Dr. (afterward Sir W. H.) Russell, the well-known correspondent of The

Times, as the historian of the enterprise, and Mr. Robert Dudley, an

artist of repute, who produced several excellent sketches of the work in

its different stages for the Illustrated London News.

_A Bad Start._--Unfortunately trouble soon arose. The first fault

declared itself the day after starting, when eighty-four miles had been

paid out. It was decided to pick up back to the fault, which was

discovered after ten and a half miles had been brought on board. A piece

of iron wire was found to have pierced the cable diametrically, so as to

make contact between the sea and the conductor. The faulty portion was

cut out, and the paying out resumed as soon as the cable was spliced up

again. On July 29th, when 716 miles had been laid, another and more

serious fault appeared. The arduous operation of picking up again

commenced. After nine hours' work the fault was safe inboard, and the

necessary repair effected. On stripping the cable another piece of iron

wire was discovered sticking right through the core. Anxiety and

misgivings were now felt by all on board, for it seemed that such

reverses could only be attributed to malevolence. On August 2d yet a

further fault was reported; they were now two-thirds of the way across,

1,186 miles of cable being already laid. Again they had to pick up, and

this time in a depth of 2,000 fathoms. One mile only had been recovered,

when an accident of some kind happened to the machinery. The great ship,

having stopped, was at the mercy of the wind and swell, and heavy

strains were brought on the cable, which consequently suffered badly in

two places. Before the two injured portions could be secured on board

the cable parted and sank. Mr. Canning at once decided to endeavor to

recover the cable, notwithstanding the fact that it lay in 2,000

fathoms. After maneuvering in this way for about fifteen hours, 700

fathoms of rope had been hove in, when one of the connecting links gave

way, and all beyond it sank to the bottom. The work was recommenced with

hempen ropes, two miles farther west, in a depth of 2,300 fathoms, and

on August 8th the cable was again hooked; but when raised to within

1,500 fathoms of the surface, yet another connecting link parted, the

strain being about nine tons. Two more attempts were made, but both were

doomed to end in failure. The store of rope being now quite exhausted,

the work had to be abandoned, and on August 11, 1865, the fleet of ships

parted company to return home--shattered in hopes as well as in ropes!

CHAPTER XV

SECOND AND SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT

Further Funds--Fresh Provisions--New Picking-up

Machine--Staff--Cable-Laying again--Success.

The results of the last expedition, disastrous as they were from a

financial point of view, in no wise abated the courage of the promoters

of the enterprise. During the heaviest weather the Great Eastern had

shown exceptional "stiffness," while her great size and her maneuvering

power (afforded by the screw and paddles combined) seemed to show her to

be the very type of vessel for this kind of work. The picking-up gear,

it was true, had proved insufficient, but with the paying-out machinery

no serious fault was to be found. The feasibility of grappling in

mid-Atlantic had been demonstrated, and they had gone far toward proving

the possibility of recovering the cable from similar depths.

_Further Funds._--To overcome financial difficulties, the Atlantic

Telegraph Company was amalgamated with a new concern, the Anglo-American

Telegraph Company, which was formed, mainly by those interested in the

older business, with the object of raising fresh capital for the new and

double ventures of 1866. The ultimate capital of this company amounted

(as before) to £600,000. In raising this, Mr. Field first secured the

support of the late Sir Daniel Gooch, M.P., then chairman, and

previously locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway

Company, who, after what he had seen on the previous expedition,

promised, if necessary, to subscribe as much as £20,000. On the same

conditions, Mr. Brassey expressed his willingness to bear one-tenth of

the total cost of the undertaking. Ultimately, the Telegraph

Construction Company led off with £100,000, this amount being followed

by the signatures of ten directors interested in the contract (as

guarantors) at £10,000 apiece. Then there were four subscriptions of

£5,000, and some of £2,500 to £1,000, principally from firms

participating in the subcontracts. These sums were all subscribed before

even the prospectus was issued or the books opened to the public. The

remaining capital then quickly followed.

The Telegraph Construction Company, in undertaking the entire work, were

to receive £500,000 for the new cable in any case; and, if it succeeded,

an extra £100,000. If both cables came into successful operation, the

total amount payable to them was to be £737,140. In fact, it was, if

possible, even more of a contractor's enterprise than that of 1865.

It was now proposed not only to lay a new cable between Ireland and

Newfoundland, but also to repair and complete the one lying at the

bottom of the sea. A length of 1,600 miles of cable was ordered from the

contractors. Thus, with the unexpended cable from the last expedition,

the total length available when the expedition started would be 2,730

miles, of which 1,960 miles were allotted to the new cable, and 697 to

complete the old one, leaving 113 miles as a reserve.

_Fresh Provisions._--The new main cable was similar to that of the year

before, but the shore-end cable determined on in this case was of a

different description. It had only one sheathing, consisting of twelve

contiguous iron wires of great individual surface and weight; and

outside all a covering of tarred hemp and compound. That part of the

line which was intended for shallow depths was composed of three

different types. Starting from the coast of Ireland, eight miles of the

heaviest was to be laid, then eight miles of an intermediate type, and

lastly fourteen miles of a lighter type, making thirty miles of

shoal-water cable on the Irish side. Five miles of shallow-water cable,

of the different types named, were considered sufficient on the

Newfoundland coast.

The previous paying-out machinery on board the Great Eastern was altered

to some extent by Messrs. Penn to the instructions of Messrs. Canning &

Clifford. Though different in detail, the main improvement over the 1865

gear consisted in the fact that a 70-horse-power steam-engine was fitted

to drive the two large drums in such a way that the paying-out

machinery, as in 1858, could be used to pick up cable during the laying,

if necessary, thereby avoiding the risk incurred by changing the cable

from the stern to the bows. This addition of Penn trunk-engines, as well

as the general strengthening of the entire machinery, was made in

accordance with the designs of Mr. Henry Clifford.

[Illustration: FIG. 37.--The Picking-up Machine, 1866.]

The picking-up machinery forward (Fig. 37) after the previous expedition

was considerably strengthened and improved with spur-wheels and

pinion-gearing. It had two drums worked by a similar pair of

70-horse-power engines. This formed an exceedingly powerful machine, and

reflected great credit on those who devised and constructed it.

Similar gear was fitted up on board the two vessels--S.S. Medway and

S.S. Albany--chartered to assist the Great Eastern.

For the purpose of grappling the 1865 cable, twenty miles of rope were

manufactured, which was constituted by forty-nine iron wires, separately

covered with manila hemp. Six wires so served were laid up strandwise

round a seventh, which formed the heart, or core, of the rope. This rope

would stand a longitudinal stress of 30 tons before breaking.

In addition, five miles of buoy-rope were provided, besides buoys of

different shapes and sizes, the largest of which (Fig. 38) would support

a weight of twenty tons. As on the previous expedition, several kinds of

grapnels were put on board, some of the ordinary sort, and some with

springs to prevent the cable surging, and thus escaping while the

grapnel was still dragging on the bottom; others, again, were fashioned

like pincers, to hold (or jam) the cable when raised to a required

height, or else to cut it only, and so take off a large proportion of

the strain previous to picking up. Most of this apparatus was furnished

by Messrs. Brown, Lenox & Co., the famous chain, cable, anchor, and buoy

engineers, several of the grapnels being to their design, as well as the

"connections."

The propelling machinery of the Great Eastern had similarly received

alteration and improvement in the intervals of the two expeditions.

Moreover, the screw propeller was surrounded with an iron cage, to keep

the cable and ropes from fouling it, as had been provided for the

Agamemnon and Niagara in 1857.

[Illustration: FIG. 38.--Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms--and Men.]

The testing arrangements had been perfected by Mr. Willoughby Smith in

such a way that insulation readings could be continuously observed,

even while measuring the copper resistance, or while exchanging signals

with Valentia. Thus there was no longer any danger of a fault being paid

overboard without instant detection. On this occasion also condensers

were applied to the receiving-end of the cable, having the effect of

very materially increasing--indeed, sometimes almost doubling--the

working speed.

On June 30, 1866, the Great Eastern, steaming from the Thames--followed

by the Medway and Albany--arrived at Valentia, where H.M.S. Terrible and

Racoon were found, under orders to accompany the expedition. The Medway

had on board forty-five miles of deep-sea cable in addition to the

American shore end.

The principal members of the staff acting on behalf of the contractors

in this expedition were the same as in that of the previous year. Mr.

Canning was again in charge, with Mr. Clifford and Mr. Temple as his

chief assistants. In the electrical department, however, the Telegraph

Construction Company had since secured the services of Mr. Willoughby

Smith as their chief electrician, while he still acted in that capacity

at the Wharf Road Gutta-Percha Works. Mr. Smith, therefore, accompanied

the expedition as chief electrician to the contractors. Captain James

Anderson and Staff-Commander H. A. Moriarty, R.N., were once more to be

seen on board the great ship, the former as her captain, and the latter

as navigating officer. Professor Thomson was aboard as consulting

electrical adviser to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, while Mr. C. F.

Varley was ashore at Valentia as their electrician. Sir Charles Bright

(then M.P. for Greenwich) was at this period serving on various

committees of the House of Commons;[63] but his partner, Mr. Latimer

Clark, took up quarters at Valentia to personally represent the firm as

consulting engineers to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. Mr. J. C.

Laws and Mr. Richard Collett[64] being respectively aboard and ashore at

the Newfoundland end in the same interests. Mr. Glass, the managing

director of the Telegraph Construction Company, was ashore at Valentia

for the purpose of giving any instructions to his (the contractor's)

staff on board, while Mr. Gooch and Mr. Field were aboard the Great

Eastern as onlookers and watchers of their individual interests.

_Cable-Laying again._--On July 7th the William Cory--commonly known as

the Dirty Billy--landed the shore end in Foilhommerum Bay, and afterward

laid twenty-seven miles of the intermediate cable. On the 13th, the

Great Eastern took the end on board, and having spliced on to her cable

on board, started paying out. The track followed was parallel to that

taken the year before, but about twenty-seven miles farther north. There

were two instances of fouls in the tank, due to broken wires catching

neighboring turns and flakes, and thus drawing up a whole bundle of

cable in an apparently inextricable mass of kinks and twists quite close

to the brake-drum. In each case the ship was promptly got to a

standstill and all hands set to unraveling the tangle. With a certain

amount of luck, coupled with much care, neither accident ended fatally;

and, after straightening out the wire as far as possible, paying out was

resumed.

[Illustration: FIG. 39.--"Foul in Tank" while Paying out.]

_Successful Completion._--Fourteen days after starting the Great Eastern

arrived off Heart's Content,[65] Trinity Bay, where the Medway joined on

and landed the shore end partly by boats, thus bringing to a successful

conclusion this part of the expedition. The total length of cable laid

was 1,852 nautical miles; average depth, 1,400 fathoms. Rejoicings then

took place during the coaling of the Great Eastern--to provide for

which as many as six coal-laden steamers had left Cardiff some weeks

before. The rejoicings were somewhat damped by the fact that the cable

between Newfoundland and Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) still remained

interrupted, and that consequently the entire telegraphic system was not

even now completed. However, in the course of a few days this line was

repaired, and New York and the east of the United States and Canada were

once more put into telegraphic communication with Europe.

The telegraphic fleet put to sea again on August 9th.

CHAPTER XVI

RECOVERY AND COMPLETION OF THE 1865 CABLE

Prospects and Plans--Setting to Work--Repeated Failures--Ultimate

Triumph--Electricians

Ashore--"Spot-watching"--"Putting-through"--Pioneering--Working the

Lines.

_Prospects and Plans._--It now remained to find the end of the cable

lost on August 2, 1865, situated about 604 miles from Newfoundland, to

pick it up, splice on to the cable remaining on board, and finish the

work so unfortunately interrupted the year before. The difficulties to

be overcome can be readily imagined, the cable lying 2,000 fathoms

without mark of any kind to indicate its position. The buoys put down

after the accident had long since disappeared, either their moorings

having dragged during various gales of wind, or the wire ropes which

held them having chafed through, owing to incessant rise and fall at the

bottom. The position of the lost end had to be determined by

astronomical observations. These necessitate clear weather, and can then

only give approximate results on account of the variable ocean currents,

which sometimes flow at the rate of three knots. Moreover, for grappling

and raising the cable to the bows, the sea must be tolerably smooth; and

in that part where the work lay a succession of fine days is rare, even

in the month of August. However, they still had on board Captain

Moriarty, one of the ablest navigators in the world. Added to this, the

greater portion of the cable in deep water had been paid out with about

15 per cent slack.

The chiefs of the expedition, fully confident of success, hastened their

preparations, and on August 9, 1866, the Great Eastern again put to sea,

accompanied by S.S. Medway. On the 12th the vessels arrived on the scene

of action, and joined company with H.M.S. Terrible and S.S. Albany,

these vessels having left Heart's Content Bay a week in advance to buoy

the line of the 1865 cable and commence grappling.

The plan decided on was to drag for the cable near the end with all

three ships at once. The cable when raised to a certain height, was to

be cut by the Medway stationed to the westward of the Great Eastern, so

as to enable the latter vessel to lift the Valentia end on board. This

was, of course, before the days of cutting and holding grapnels as we

now have them, which render it possible for a single ship to effect

repairs--even where it is out of the question to recover the cable in

one bight.

[Illustration: FIG. 40.--S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second

Atlantic Cable.]

_Setting to Work: Repeated Failures._--When the Great Eastern arrived on

the grappling ground, the Albany (with Mr. Temple in engineering charge)

had already hooked and buoyed the cable, but the buoy-chain having been

carried away, they not only lost the cable, but 2,000 fathoms of wire

rope besides. On August 13th the Great Eastern made her first drag,

about fifteen miles from the end, and, after several vain attempts, the

cable was finally hooked and lifted about 1,300 fathoms. During the

operation of buoying the grappling rope, a mistake occurred which

resulted in the rope slipping overboard and going to the bottom.

The Great Eastern now proceeded six miles to the eastward, and commenced

a new drag, for raking the ocean bed with 2,400 fathoms of wire rope.

About eleven o'clock at night the grapnel came to the surface with the

cable caught on two of the prongs. Boats were quickly in position

alongside the grapnel. Shortly afterward they were endeavoring to secure

the cable to the strong wire rope, by means of a nipper, when the

grapnel canted, allowing the line to slip away from the prongs--like a

great eel--and disappear into the sea. On the 19th the cable was once

more hooked, and raised about a mile from the bottom, but the sea was

too rough for buoying it. During the following week all three vessels

dragged for the cable at different points, according to the plan

previously arranged, but the weather was unfavorable, and the cable was

not hooked--or, if hooked, had managed to slip away from the grapnels.

The ship's company about this time became discouraged--in fact, more and

more convinced of the futility of their efforts.

On the 27th the Albany signaled that they had got the cable on board

with a strain of only three tons, and had buoyed the end, but it was

soon discovered that her buoy was thirteen miles from the track of the

cable, and that she had recovered a length of three miles which had been

purposely paid overboard a few days before. Shifting ground to the

eastward about fifteen miles, the vessels were now working in a depth of

2,500 fathoms. As the store of grappling rope was diminishing day by

day, and the fine season rapidly coming to an end, it was decided to

proceed at once eighty miles farther east, where the depth was not

expected to exceed 1,900 fathoms, and there try a last chance.

_Ultimate Triumph._--After the above repeated failures, the cable was

hooked on August 31st by the Great Eastern (when the grapnel had been

lowered for the thirtieth time), and picking up commenced in very calm

weather. The monster vessel did her work admirably. To quote the words

of an eye-witness: "So delicately did she answer her helm, and coil in

the film of thread-like cable, that she put one in mind of an elephant

taking up a straw in its proboscis." When the bight of cable was about

900 fathoms from the surface, the grappling-rope was buoyed. The big

ship then proceeded to grapple three miles west of the buoy (Fig. 41),

and the Medway (with Mr. London on board) another two miles or so west

of her again. The cable was soon once more hooked by both ships, and

when the Medway had raised her bight to within 300 fathoms of the

surface she was ordered to break it. The Great Eastern having stopped

picking up when the bight was 800 fathoms from the surface, proceeded to

resume the operation as soon as the intentional rupture of the cable had

eased the strain, which, with a loose end of about two nautical miles,

at once fell from 10 or 11 tons to 5 tons. Slowly, but surely, and amid

breathless silence, the long-lost cable made its appearance at last (see

opposite), for the third time above water, a little before one o'clock

(early morn) of September 2d.[66]

Two hours afterward the precious end was on board, and signals were

immediately exchanged with Valentia. This was at once led into the

testing-room, where Mr. Willoughby Smith, in the presence of all the

leaders on board, applied the tests which were to determine the

important question regarding the condition of the cable, and whether it

was entirely continuous to each end. In a few minutes all suspense was

relieved, the tests showed the cable to be healthy and complete, and

immediately afterward (in response to the ship's call) the answering

signals were received from the Valentia end, which were received with

loud cheers that echoed and reechoed throughout the great ship.

_Electricians Ashore: "Spot-watching."_--Let us now look at those

patiently watching day after day, night after night, in the wooden

telegraph cabin on shore, the experience of whom may be taken as a fair

sample of that of the electrician ashore during repairing operations in

the present day.

[Illustration: FIG. 41.--Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics

Adopted for Picking up the 1865 Cable.

_A_--Point where cable was buoyed by the Great Eastern.

_B_--Point where cable was broken by the Medway.

_C_--Bight of cable ultimately brought to surface by Great Eastern.

]

Such a length of time had elapsed since the expedition left Newfoundland

that the staff at Foilhommerum, under the superintendence of Mr. James

Graves, felt they were almost hoping against hope. Suddenly, on a Sunday

morning at a quarter to six, while the tiny ray of light from the

reflecting instrument was being watched, the operator observed it moving

to and fro upon the scale. A few minutes later the unsteady flickering

was changed to coherency. The long-speechless cable began to talk, and

the welcome assurance arrived, "Ship to shore; I have much pleasure in

speaking to you through the 1865 cable. Just going to make splice." Glad

tidings were also sent from the ship via Valentia to London, and, by

means of the 1866 cable, to Newfoundland and New York. Thus it happened

that those being tossed about in a stormy sea held conversation with

Europe and America at one and the same time.[67]

"_Putting Through._"--The recovered end was spliced on without delay to

the cable on board, and the same morning at seven o'clock the Great

Eastern started paying out about 680 nautical miles of cable toward

Newfoundland. On September 8th, when only thirteen miles from the Bay of

Heart's Content, just after receiving a summary of the news in The Times

of that morning, the tests showed a fault in the cable. The mischief was

soon found to be on board the ship, and caused by the end of a broken

wire, which, bending at right angles under the weight of the men

employed in the tanks, had been forced into the core. This occurrence

explained the probable cause of the faults (of same character) which had

shown themselves during paying out the year before, tending to remove

all suspicion of malicious intent. The faulty portion having been cut

out, and the splice made without delay, paying out again proceeded,

finishing the same day at eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The Medway

immediately set to work laying the shore end, and that evening a second

line of communication across the Atlantic was completed. The total

length of this cable, commenced in 1865, was 1,896 miles; average depth,

1,900 fathoms.

[Illustration: FIG. 42.--S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows;

Depth, 2 Miles.]

_Pioneering._--The main feature and accomplishment in connection with

the second and third Atlantic cables of 1865 and 1866 was, without

doubt, the recovery of the former in deeper water than had ever been

before effected, and in the open ocean; just as in the first 1858 line

it was the demonstration of the fact that a cable could be successfully

laid in such a depth and worked through electrically. In the interval

between the two undertakings cable repairs had certainly been carried

out in the Mediterranean in 1,400 fathoms. Moreover, the recovery and

repair of a cable from the depths of the open ocean are now matters of

ordinary every-day occurrence, forming part and parcel of cable

operations generally. These facts should not, however, in any way

detract from the greatness of the achievement at that time in so vast

and boisterous an ocean.

_Working the Two Lines._--Professor Thomson's reflecting-apparatus for

testing and signaling had been considerably improved since the first

cable. In illustration of the degree of sensibility and perfection

attained at this period in the appliances for working the line, the

following experiment is of striking interest: Mr. Latimer Clark, who

went to Valentia to test the cable for the "Atlantic" Company, had the

conductor of the two lines joined together at the Newfoundland end, thus

forming an unbroken length of 3,700 miles in circuit. He then placed

some pure sulfuric acid in a silver thimble,[68] with a fragment of zinc

weighing a grain or two. By this primitive agency he succeeded in

conveying signals twice through the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean in

little more than a second of time after making contact. The deflections

were not of a dubious character, but full and strong, the spot of light

traversing freely over a space of twelve inches or more, from which it

was manifest that an even smaller battery would suffice to produce

somewhat similar effects. Again, in testing these cables it was found

that if either was disconnected from the earth and charged with

electricity, it required more than an hour for half of the charge to

escape through the insulating material to the earth. This speaks well

for the electrical components assigned to the two lines, and for the

arrangements adopted in working them. It also shows the benefit derived

from seven years' extra experience in manufacture, backed up by the

previously mentioned exhaustive Government inquiry thereon.

Notwithstanding the dimensions of the core, these cables were worked

slowly at first, and at a rate of about eight words per minute. This,

however, soon improved as the staff became more accustomed to the

apparatus, and steadily increased up to fifteen--and even

seventeen--words per minute on each line, with the application of

condensers.

Unfortunately both these cables broke down a few months later, and one

of them again during the following year. The faults were localized with

great accuracy from Heart's Content by Mr. F. Lambert on behalf of

Messrs. Bright & Clark, engineers to the "Anglo-American" Company.

Unlike the 1858 line, however, these last cables had not been killed

electrically, and, being worthy of repairs, they were maintained for a

considerable time.

CHAPTER XVII

JUBILATIONS

Banquets--Speeches--Honors

On the return of the 1866 Expedition a banquet was given to the

cable-layers by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, as soon as the Great

Eastern was safely moored in the Mersey.

The following from The Times will be of some interest here:

The chair was occupied by the Rt. Hon. Sir Stafford Northcote,

Bart.,[69] President of the Board of Trade. The following were

among the invited guests: the Rt. Hon. Lord Stanley, M.P.,

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; the Rt. Hon. Lord

Carnarvon; the Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester; the Rt. Hon. W.

E. Gladstone, M.P.; Sir Charles Bright, M.P., original projector of

the Atlantic cable, and Engineer to the Anglo-American Telegraph

Company; Prof. W. Thomson, electrical adviser to the Atlantic

Telegraph Company; Mr. Latimer Clark, coengineer with Sir Charles

Bright; Mr. R. A. Glass, managing director to the Telegraph

Construction Company (contractors); Mr. Samuel Canning, engineer to

the contractors; Mr. Henry Clifford, assistant engineer to the

contractors; Mr. Willoughby Smith, electrician to the contractors;

Captain James Anderson, commander of the Great Eastern; Mr. William

Barber, chairman of the Great Ship Company; Mr. John Chatterton,

manager of the Gutta-Percha Works; Mr. E. B. Bright, Magnetic

Telegraph Company; Mr. T. B. Horsfall, M.P.; and Mr. John Laird,

M.P.

After proposing toasts to Her Majesty the Queen, to the President

of the United States, and to the Prince of Wales, the chairman (Sir

S. Northcote) again rose amid applause, and said it was a maxim of

a great Roman poet that a great work should be begun by plunging

into the middle of the subject. He would therefore do so by

proposing a toast to the projectors of the Atlantic Telegraph--Sir

Charles Bright and Mr. Cyrus Field, Mr. J. W. Brett having since

unfortunately died. When they came in after years to relate the

history of this cable, they would find many who had contributed to

it, but it would be as impossible to say who were the originators

of the great invention as it was to say who were the first

inventors of steam. He begged to couple with the toast the name of

Sir Charles Bright, as, perhaps, the foremost representative from

all points of view up to the present time (applause). The greatest

honor is due to the indomitable perseverance and energy of Sir

Charles Bright that the original cable was successfully laid,

though, through no fault of his, it had but a short useful

existence (great cheering).

Sir Charles Bright, M.P., after acknowledging the compliment paid

to the "original projectors" and to himself personally, said that

the idea of laying a cable across the Atlantic was the natural

outcome of the success which was attained in carrying short lines

under the English and Irish Channels, and was a common subject of

discussion among those concerned in telegraph extension prior to

the formation of the Atlantic Telegraph Company.

About ten years ago the science had sufficiently advanced to permit

of the notion assuming a practical form. Soundings taken in the

Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland proved that the bottom

was soft, and that no serious currents or abrading agencies

existed, for the minute and fragile shells brought up by the

sounding-line were perfect and uninjured.

There only remained the proof that electricity could be employed

through so vast a length of conductor. Upon this point and the best

mode of working such a line, he had been experimenting for several

years. He had carried on a series of investigations which resulted

in establishing the fact that messages could be practically passed

through an unbroken circuit of more than 2,000 miles of insulated

wire, a notion derided at that time by many distinguished

authorities. Mr. Wildman Whitehouse, who subsequently became

electrician to the company, had been likewise engaged. On comparing

notes later, it was discovered that we had arrived at similar

results, though holding somewhat different views, for his (Sir C.

Bright's) calculations, using other instruments, led him to believe

that a conductor nearly four times the size of that adopted would

be desirable with a slightly thicker insulator. It was this type

which the new cables just laid had been furnished with.

In 1856, Mr. Cyrus Field--to whom the world was as much indebted

for the establishment of the line as to any man--came over to

England upon the completion of the telegraph between Nova Scotia

and Newfoundland. He then joined with the late Mr. Brett and

himself (Sir C. Bright) with the view of extending this system to

Europe, and they mutually agreed, as also did Mr. Whitehouse later,

to carry out the undertaking. A meeting was first held in

Liverpool, and in the course of a few days their friends had

subscribed the necessary capital. So that in greeting those who had

just returned from the last expedition--Mr. Canning, Mr. Clifford,

Captain Anderson, and other guests of the evening--Liverpool was

fitly welcoming those who had accomplished the crowning success of

an enterprise to which at the outset she had so largely contributed

(applause).

The circumstances connected with the first cable would be in the

recollection of every one, and, although the loss was considerable,

the experience gained was of no small moment. A few months after

the old line had ceased to work, their chairman (Sir S. Northcote)

consulted him on behalf of the Government as to the best form of

cable for connecting us telegraphically with Gibraltar, and he

(Sir C. Bright) did not hesitate to recommend the same type of

conductor and insulator which he had himself before suggested for

the Atlantic line--a higher speed being desirable. This class of

conductor in the newly laid Atlantic cable appeared likely to give

every satisfaction, he was happy to say, and the mechanical

construction of the cable, also the same as that he had previously

specified for the Gibraltar line, appeared to have admirably met

some of the difficulties experienced in cable operations.

The credit attached to these second and third Atlantic cables must

mainly rest with the Telegraph Construction Company (formerly

Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co.) and their staff, inasmuch as in this

case the responsibility rested with them throughout. The

directors--including Mr. Glass, Mr Elliot, Mr. Gooch, Mr. Pender,

Mr. Barclay, and Mr. Brassey--deserved the reward which they and

the shareholders would no doubt reap. To Mr. Glass, upon whom the

principal responsibility of the manufacture devolved, the greatest

praise was due for his indomitable perseverance in the enterprise.

Then the art of insulating the conducting-wire had been so

wonderfully improved by Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Willoughby Smith,

that, nowadays, a very feeble electrical current was sufficient to

work the longest circuits, an enormous advance on the state of

affairs nine years previously. Again, they must not forget how much

of the success now attained was due to Professor Thomson and his

delicate signaling-apparatus, the advantages of which have since

1858 been more firmly established. Mr. Varley had also done most

useful work since becoming electrician to the "Atlantic" Company.

Moreover, he (Sir C. Bright) hoped the active personal services of

his partner, Mr. Latimer Clark, would not be forgotten.

It was satisfactory to find that the cables were already being

worked at a very large profit. This system would doubtless be

quadrupled within a short period, when the land-lines on the

American side were improved (hear, hear, and applause). With this

commercial success--combined with the improvements introduced into

submarine cables, and the power of picking up and repairing them

from vast depths--there was a future for submarine telegraphy to

which scarcely any bounds could be imagined. A certain amount had

already been done, but China and Japan, Australia and New Zealand,

South America and the West India Islands, must all be placed within

speaking-distance of England. When this last has been accomplished,

but not till then, telegraphic engineers might take a short rest

from their labors and ask with some little pride:

Quoe regio in terris nostri non plena laboris? (loud applause).

Then followed speeches from Lord Stanley, the American Consul (on behalf

of Mr. Cyrus Field), and others.

Honors were subsequently bestowed on some of the various gentlemen most

immediately concerned in these--at last--wholly successful undertakings

of 1865 and 1866, which left their results behind in complete and

lasting form.

CHAPTER XVIII

SUBSEQUENT ATLANTIC LINES

As a natural sequence other Atlantic cables followed in course of time.

Thus in 1869 France was put into direct telegraphic communication with

America by means of a cable from Brest to the island of St. Pierre, and

another from St. Pierre to Sydney, U.S.A.[70] The former length was

manufactured by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, and

the latter by Mr. W. T. Henley. The Telegraph Construction Company were

the contractors for laying the whole cable on behalf of the French

Atlantic Cable Company (Société du Câble Trans-Atlantique Français).[71]

This work was successfully accomplished from the Great Eastern (Captain

Robert Halpin) by the same staff as had laid the 1866 cable. Owing to

the route, this line was materially longer than the previous Atlantic

cables, its length (from Brest to St. Pierre) being as much as 2,685

nautical miles. The working-speed attained on the French Atlantic cable

was ten and a half words per minute. The conductor of the Brest-St.

Pierre section was composed of seven copper wires stranded together,

weighing 400 pounds per nautical mile, covered with a gutta-percha

insulator of the same weight. The core of the St. Pierre-Sydney section

was made up as follows: Copper = 107 pounds per nautical mile;

gutta-percha = 150 pounds per nautical mile. Like the previous lines,

this cable has been "down," electrically speaking, for some years. It

proved a very costly one in repairs, one expedition alone having run

into as much as £95,000.

In 1873 the Direct United States Cable Company was formed, being the

first competitor--from this country--with the "Anglo-American"

Company.[72] Messrs. Siemens Brothers, who had taken an active part in

the promotion of the scheme, were the contractors, both for manufacture

and for submersion. It was, indeed, the first really important length

with which this firm had been concerned as manufacturers. The laying was

attended with complete success, and the line opened to the public in

1875. Later on, in 1877, the "Direct United States" Company was

reconstructed, their system entering into the "pool" or "joint purse."

The latter was established shortly after the 1869 Atlantic cable had

been laid, constituting one great financial combination.

In 1879 another French company was formed to establish independent

communication between France and the rest of the European Continent on

the one hand, and the United States of America on the other. The, to

English ears and lips, somewhat cumbersome title of this concern was La

Compagnie Française du Télégraphe de Paris à New York, but it soon

became styled in England the "P. Q. Company," after M. Pouyer-Quertier,

its presiding genius. The cable was made and laid in the same year by

Messrs. Siemens Brothers, though the scheme had taken three years to

reach contract point. The "P. Q." Company in 1894 amalgamated with La

Société Française des Télégraphes Sous-marins, under the title of La

Compagnie Française des Câbles Télégraphiques.

In 1881 an American company was formed, under the guidance of the late

Mr. Jay Gould, entitled The American Telegraph and Cable Company, with a

view to partaking in the profits of transatlantic telegraphy by

establishing another line of communication between the United States and

Great Britain, and thence to the rest of Europe. This cable was also

constructed and laid (in the course of that year) by Messrs. Siemens

Brothers, who were part promoters of the enterprise, as well as another

cable for the same system in the following year, 1882. This company's

cables are leased by the Western Union Telegraph Company, which was

practically Jay Gould's property, and remained so up to close on the

time of his death, a few years ago. In 1883 the above system entered the

"Pool"--the happy destination for which, maybe, it was originally

launched into existence.

A fresh competitor arrived in 1884 in the person of the Commercial Cable

Company. Two cables were laid across the Atlantic for this company in

the same year, its promoters wisely foreseeing that, in view of the

continual chance of a breakdown, this was the only way in which they

could safely attempt to compete with their more firmly established

rivals. The "Commercial" Company was mainly promoted by two American

millionaires, Mr. J. W. Mackay, the celebrated New York financier, and

Mr. Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the New York Herald; with them

were associated Messrs. Siemens Brothers, who afterward became the

contractors for the enterprise. These cables, like the Jay Gould lines,

stretch from the extreme southwest point of Ireland (which is connected

by special cable with England) to Nova Scotia, and thence to the United

States, one of them direct to New York. The system is directly connected

with that of the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, thus affording ready

communication with the Dominion.

Neither the "Commercial" Company's system nor that of the Compagnie

Française des Câbles Télégraphiques is at present in the "Atlantic

Pool."

In 1894 yet two more additions were made to the list of Atlantic

cables--one on behalf of the Commercial Cable Company, and the other for

the "Anglo-American" Company. The new "Commercial" line was constructed

and laid by Messrs. Siemens Brothers, and the "Anglo" cable by the

Telegraph Construction Company. Fig. 43 shows the type adopted for the

deepest water of the latter, and Fig. 44 that for the shore ends. Here

the wires, besides being of a very large gauge, are applied with an

extremely short lay (hence the elliptic appearance, though circular in

reality), in order to increase the weight of iron, and thereby avoid

shifting and abrasion. This type is now in constant use where rocks,

ice-floes, strong currents, or rough weather are experienced. Special

arrangements were made in the design of both these cables to meet the

requirements of increased speed. Since the successful application to

submarine cables of various modifications of Wheatstone's automatic

transmitter, the limit to the speed attainable only depends, practically

speaking, upon the type of cable employed. On these principles the core

of the new "Commercial" cable was composed of a copper conductor

weighing 500 pounds per nautical mile, covered with a gutta-percha

insulating-sheath weighing 320 pounds per nautical mile, while the new

"Anglo" has a core with conductor weighing 650 pounds per nautical mile,

and gutta-percha insulator 400 pounds per nautical mile, involving a

completed cable (main type) nearly double the weight of previous

corresponding lines.

[Illustration: FIG. 43.--Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea

type.]

[Illustration: FIG. 44.--Shore-end of the 1894 "Anglo" Cable. Reduced

size.]

The actual speed obtained by automatic transmission with the latter

cable is as high as forty-seven (or even up to fifty) five-letter words

per minute. On the previous, lighter, Atlantic cores twenty-five to

twenty-eight words per minute was the usual maximum speed attainable;

the former, say, by average transmission and average receiving, and the

latter by automatic transmission--other circumstances corresponding.

Practically all submarine cables between important points--and certainly

all those across the Atlantic--are now "duplexed"--a system of

electrical working (instituted by Messrs. Muirhead in 1875) which

enables messages to be sent in both directions at the same time. The

result of this is nowadays to practically double the carrying capacity

and earning power of the line, the effective speed in either direction

remaining virtually the same as in "simplex" working, provided the cable

is in good condition.[73] The armor of this cable (Fig. 43) is also a

good example of present-day practise, each wire (usually covered with

compounded tape) butting against the next; this is found to be the most

durable form for a deep-sea cable.

In 1898 another French Atlantic line of a similar type to the above was

laid. This involved the longest Atlantic cable-section in existence,

i.e., 3,174 nautical miles, from Brest to Cape Cod, and was the first

Atlantic line made and laid by Frenchmen, with the active assistance, as

regards laying, of the Silvertown Company.

Recently, too, a German Atlantic cable has been laid by the Telegraph

Construction Company from Emden to the Azores, and hence to New York.

* * * * *

The various proprietary companies here named have had duplicating lines

laid for them from time to time, but these it is not necessary to

further allude to.

Neither has it been thought necessary to give particulars regarding the

methods of construction, laying, testing or working of any of these

later lines following on the pioneer undertakings, except where special

novelties were introduced. For similar reasons--and seeing that the

responsibility of these later lines rested with contractors--the names

of their permanent staff acting for them have not been introduced.

CHAPTER XIX

ATLANTIC CABLE SYSTEMS OF TO-DAY

Connecting Links--Tariff--Revenue

As a part of the union between the old world and the new, there are

altogether fifteen cables now working across the North Atlantic Ocean

(see Fig. 45), such as are usually termed "Atlantic cables." Some of the

Atlantic companies have special cables of their own from the landing

place on the coast of Ireland to points on the Continental coasts. The

figure on page 221 suggests one of the difficulties any wireless system

would have to contend with in attempting at transatlantic telegraphy on

a commercial basis.[74] Some of these cables at each end of the

corresponding main section contain more than one insulated conductor.

_Tariff._--In the early pioneer days of ocean telegraphy the Atlantic

Telegraph Company started with a minimum tariff of £20 for twenty words,

and £1 for each additional word. This was first reduced to £10 for

twenty words, and was further altered later on to £5 for ten words.

After this it stood for a long time at a minimum of 30s. for ten words

of five letters each. Subsequently, in 1867, the Anglo-American Company

tried a word-rate of £1 for the 1865 and 1866 Atlantic cables; but it

was not until 1872 that Mr. Henry Weaver, their able manager, first

instituted a regular word-rate system (without any minimum) of 4s. per

word. At the present time (1903), thanks to competition, to technical

improvements in the plant, and increased traffic--bringing in its train

those economies in the working which are always possible in a larger

scale of operation--the rate stands at 1s. a word with all the Atlantic

companies. Some day we may, perhaps, see a sixpenny transatlantic tariff

in permanent force.

[Illustration: FIG. 45.--Atlantic Cable Systems, 1903.]

_Revenue._--The fifteen Atlantic cables now in use represent a total

capital of well over £20,000,000 sterling. A knowledge of the profits

derived from each system is not readily arrived at; but from a

comparison of the traffic receipts or "money returns" of the oldest

existing Atlantic company at different periods, we are bound to conclude

that the "takings" are, roughly speaking, very much the same now as they

were twenty-five years ago. This is explainable by the fact that,

although the number of messages now passing is much greater, the

reduction of the rate (with the ever-increasing competition of rival

lines) just about cancels the advantage, so far as receipts are

concerned. Roughly speaking, however, the annual gross traffic on

transatlantic telegraphy stands at about £1,200,000, divided among two

English companies, two American, one French, and one German company.

Both the two latter are materially subsidized by their respective

Governments, who now foresee the desirability of being independent of

cables under English control.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] For particulars regarding preelectrical telegraphy and previous

researches in electrotelegraphy, the reader is referred to A History

of Telegraphy to the year 1837, by J. J. Fahie, M.I.E.E. (E. and F. N.

Spon, 1884).

[2] A certain knowledge regarding electric and magnetic science has

to be assumed here; and, for further particulars on this subject, the

reader is referred to another volume of this series, The Story of

Electricity, by John Munro.

[3] Submarine Telegraphs: Their History, Construction, and Working, by

Charles Bright, F.R.S.E., A.M. Inst. C.E., M.I.E.E. (London: Crosby

Lockwood & Son, 1898.)

[4] B.W.G.--Birmingham Wire Gage.

[5] It was gravely suggested by a prominent naval officer to thread

the line through old cannonades lying idle, at Portsmouth harbor.

This notion was not taken up; but a light chain twined round the

insulated conductor throughout its length would certainly have served

the purpose better than the leaden weights, inasmuch as it would have

protected the line from chafing, besides being less liable to damage

the core.

[6] Some critics had actually supposed that the method of signaling

was that of _pulling_ the wire after the manner of mechanical

house-bells; and were at pains to point out that the bottom of the

channel was too rough for that.

[7] For further particulars, see the Life Story of Sir Charles Tilston

Bright. (London: Archibald Constable & Co., 1898.)

[8] It will be readily understood that without this weight, the line

would not for certain descend to the bottom--and certainly not in

a straight line--in any considerable depths. On the other hand, it

would be impossible to recover an effective weight without great risk

of breaking the line. For this reason the weight is abandoned, and a

considerable number may be found at the bottom of the sea in every

quarter of the globe.

[9] These live near the surface of the ocean in myriads upon myriads,

incessantly sinking to the bottom as their short life is ended. Thus,

in the course of ages, there grows constantly upward a formation

similar to the chalk cliffs of England, which contain the identical

shells, deposited when this country was submerged far below sea-level

thousands of years ago.

[10] In the present day, however, soundings are taken at intervals

of about ten miles along the proposed route, and even then submarine

hills and valleys are frequently encountered. This is effected by

means of the Thomson steam sounding-apparatus, the great feature of

which is a fine steel wire (the same as that in the treble notes of a

piano) in place of a hempen line of enormous bulk. Nowadays, taking a

sounding in the Atlantic occupies well under an hour of time, where by

the old method it took at least six hours.

[11] The full particulars of the agreement with the English Government

were embodied in a letter from the Treasury (see Life Story of Sir

Charles Bright) and form instructive reading even at the present time.

[12] Submarine Telegraphs.

[13] The Pirate, p. 2.

[14] Valentia is the Irish terminus of several of the present Atlantic

lines.

[15] N.M.--Nautical miles.

[16] Though such a core would have been a great novelty at the time,

it closely approximates to present-day practise.

[17] Mins. Proc. Inst. C. E., vol. xvi.

[18] An Atlantic cable of the present day runs into about half a

million sterling. Gutta-percha was, in those days, less scarce; on

the other hand, its manufacture was more of a novelty, and there was

comparatively little competition in cable-making.

[19] Professor Morse (who held a sort of watching brief for the United

States Government) also took passage, but had to retire to his berth

as soon as the elements asserted themselves, and was scarcely visible

again till all was over.

[20] The sheaves had several grooves which the cable fitted into in

its passage. Though possessing some merits, this plan was never again

adopted, owing partly to the above risk.

[21] This was owing to the two halves of the cable being made at

different factories, without any communication passing between them on

the subject.

[22] This apparatus first gained its name from the nature of the part

it plays in machinery, being similar to that of a human jockey.

[23] So called on account of the form of grooving adopted for taking

the under side of the table.

[24] Submarine Telegraphs.

[25] It is partly for this reason that so full an account is given

here.

[26] In those days all such instruments were spoken of as

galvanometers, no matter for what purpose they were employed.

Moreover, this instrument was also used sometimes for testing. That

which goes by the name of the marine galvanometer in the present day

was not invented by Lord Kelvin till some years later.

[27] This splice-frame was an ingenious arrangement for neutralizing

the untwisting tendency of two opposite lays when spliced together,

but is never required in present-day practise.

[28] This, of course, did not in any way come as a surprise, for the

length of cable employed for these experiments had long since been

condemned as imperfect.

[29] And so it is sometimes with telegraph-ships--as regards the dead

weight of cable--even in the present day, when compared with the risks

run by ordinary seagoing vessels.

[30] When these part to any extent a ship is always considered in a

dangerous condition.

[31] By subsequent tests it was clear that at any rate the cable

remaining on board was perfect. But after com paring notes with the

Niagara, a strong belief was held that the cable probably parted at

the bottom.

[32] This was from the last turn in the coil, and subsequently it was

discovered that owing to the disturbance in the flooring of the tank

during the storm, the cable had been damaged here.

[33] Life-Story of Sir Charles Bright.

[34] Though bearing this somewhat cumbersome and elaborate title, this

instrument was practically nothing more nor less than an ordinary

"detector," its capacity for actually measuring the electric current

being of an extremely limited character.

[35] This was some of the cable damaged during the storm, like that

which had been broken at the end of the previous attempt. The bottom

of the hold here was found afterward to be in a very disordered state.

[36] Later on it was made clear that this mysterious temporary want of

continuity, accompanied by an apparent variation in the insulation,

was due to a defect in the more or less inconstant sand-battery used

aboard the latter vessel.

[37] It subsequently transpired that the trouble had been due to a

fault in the Niagara's ward-room coil. As soon as the electricians

discovered this, and had it cut out, all went smoothly again.

[38] The amount of slack paid out had already been almost ruinous.

Luckily its continuance was not necessary, or it would have been

impossible to reach Ireland with the cable on board.

[39] The Times, Wednesday, August 11, 1858.

[40] This spot had been selected on account of its seclusion from

prevailing winds, and owing to the shelter it afforded from drifting

icebergs.

[41] Engineer's log, U.S.N.S. Niagara.

[42] The Times, second edition, August 5th, 1858.

[43] The Times, August 6, 1858.

[44] Daily News, August 20, 1858.

[45] "The Life-Story of Sir Charles Bright," _ibid._

[46] The Times, August 6, 1858.

[47] Submarine Telegraphs.

[48] In his work on the Electric Telegraph, the late Mr. Robert Sabine

said: "At the date of the first Atlantic cable, the engineering

department was far ahead of the electrical. The cable was successfully

laid--mechanically good, but electrically bad." Its electrical failure

was, of course, bound to spell commercial failure, no matter how great

its success as an engineering feat.

[49] In his presidential address to the Institution of Electrical

Engineers in 1889, Lord Kelvin (the Professor Thomson referred to in

these pages) said: "The first Atlantic cable gave me the happiness

and privilege of meeting and working with the late Sir Charles

Bright. He was the engineer of this great undertaking--full of

vigor, full of enthusiasm. We were shipmates on the Agamemnon on the

ever-memorable expedition of 1858, during which we were out of sight

of land for thirty-three days. To Sir C. Bright's vigor, earnestness,

and enthusiasm was due the successful laying of the cable. We must

always feel deeply indebted to our late colleague as a pioneer in that

great work, when other engineers would not look at it, and thought it

absolutely impracticable."

[50] Encyclopædia Britannica, 8th edition, 1860. Article on The

Electric Telegraph, by Prof. W. Thomson, F.R.S.

[51] Mr. Croskey also subsequently found the bulk of the capital for

the exploring expeditions.

[52] Later Admiral Sir Leopold M'Clintock, K.C.B., LL.D., F.R.S.

[53] Now Sir Allen Young, C. B.

[54] The reproduction given here is from a photograph kindly lent by

Sir Allen Young.

[55] In consolidating the texture of the gutta-percha, pressure

increases its electrical resistance, unless a flaw exists such as

would then be immediately brought to light.

[56] See Submarine Telegraphs.

[57] Mr. Field compassed land and sea incessantly for the purpose

of agitating the subject. He is said to have crossed the Atlantic

altogether sixty-four times--suffering from sea sickness on each

occasion--in connection with this great enterprise in which he formed

so prominent a figure.

[58] Afterward Sir John Pender, G.C.M.G., M.P.

[59] The increased breaking strain here afforded over that of the

first Atlantic line was partly due to the great improvement made in

the manufacture of iron wire during the interval.

[60] Experience has since taught us, however, that such a type lacks

durability, owing to the rapid decay of the hemp between the iron

wires and the sea.

[61] The Great Eastern, in point of size, was only a little before her

time. In the present day, with improved engines, she could be usefully

and profitably employed, had she not been broken up.

[62] Afterward the able manager of the Eastern Telegraph Company.

[63] Life-Story of Sir C. T. Bright.

[64] At a later period--after both the 1865 and 1866 cables were

in working order--Mr. Collett sent a message from Newfoundland to

Valentia with a battery composed of a copper percussion-cap and a

small strip of zinc, which were excited by a drop of acidulated

water--the bulk of a tear only.

[65] This is situated on the opposite side of Trinity Bay to Bull

Arm, where the 1858 cable had been landed, and not so far up. It was

supposed to be even more protected than Bull Arm, from which it is

some eighteen miles distant.

[66] Submarine Telegraphs.

[67] This is, of course, nowadays quite an ordinary occurrence, and

by means of wireless telegraphy likely to become still more so. Then,

however, it was a complete novelty.

[68] Mr. Clark borrowed the thimble--which was a very small one--from

Miss Fitzgerald, the daughter of the Knight of Kerry, living at

Valentia.

[69] Afterward the first Earl of Iddesleigh, G.C.B.

[70] This enterprise, although mainly on behalf of France and the rest

of the European continent, was principally advanced by financiers

in England; the working of the cable was also chiefly under British

direction and management.

[71] Afterward, in 1873, merged with its cable into the Anglo-American

Telegraph Company and its system.

[72] This company had just had two fresh cables laid for them (1873

and 1874) by the Telegraph Construction Company with some of their

usual staff. The laying of the 1874 Atlantic was the last piece of

telegraph work performed by the Great Eastern. She has since been

broken up, after being employed, among other things, as a sort of

variety show. New cables were first rendered necessary--according

to the joint-purse agreement previously referred to--by the final

breakdown, after several repairs, of the 1866 cable in 1872. Later

on (in 1877) the 1865 also succumbed, and another "Anglo" cable was

laid by the same contractors in 1880. The Telegraph Construction and

Maintenance Company laid this 1880 cable without any hitch or stoppage

within the surprisingly short space of twelve days, the record up to

date in Atlantic cable-laying.

[73] Thus the Atlantic cable of to-day may be credited with an

"output" of 100 words a minute as compared with a single word in the

same period, such as was at first obtained in the pioneer days of one

cable worked by one company.

[74] Wireless telegraphy is at present a comparatively slow working

affair; and if it is to successfully compete with our Atlantic

cables, this means a great multiplication of transatlantic circuits

all more or less close together, and, in consequence, all more or

less liable to interfere with each other under existing conditions.

Probably, however, any new company formed for the purposes of

telegraphic communication between different countries would not

confine itself--either in name or practise--to cables, but would also

cultivate the "wireless" system of telegraphy.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Story of The Atlantic Cable, by Charles Bright