PREPARING TO RENEW THE BATTLE.
The expedition of 1865, though not an immediate success, had the moral
effect of a victory, as it confirmed the most sanguine expectations of
all who embarked in it. The great experiment made during those four
weeks at sea, had demonstrated many points which were most important
elements in the problem of Ocean Telegraphy. These are summed up in the
following paper, which was signed by persons officially engaged on board
the Great Eastern:
1. It was proved by the expedition of 1858, that a Submarine
Telegraph Cable could be laid between Ireland and Newfoundland,
and messages transmitted through the same.
By the expedition of 1865 it has been fully demonstrated:
2. That the insulation of a cable improves very much after its
submersion in the cold deep water of the Atlantic, and that its
conducting power is considerably increased thereby.
3. That the steamship Great Eastern, from her size and constant
steadiness, and from the control over her afforded by the joint
use of paddles and screw, renders it safe to lay an Atlantic
Cable in any weather.
4. That in a depth of over two miles four attempts were made
to grapple the cable. In three of them the cable was caught by
the grapnel, and in the other the grapnel was fouled by the
chain attached to it.
5. That the paying-out machinery used on board the Great
Eastern worked perfectly, and can be confidently relied on for
laying cables across the Atlantic.
6. That with the improved telegraphic instruments for long
submarine lines, a speed of more than eight words per minute
can be obtained through such a cable as the present Atlantic
between Ireland and Newfoundland, as the amount of slack
actually paid out did not exceed fourteen per cent, which would
have made the total cable laid between Valentia and Heart's
Content nineteen hundred miles.
7. That the present Atlantic Cable, though capable of bearing a
strain of seven tons, did not experience more than fourteen
hundred-weight in being paid out into the deepest water of the
Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland.
8. That there is no difficulty in mooring buoys in the deep
water of the Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland, and
that two buoys even when moored by a piece of the Atlantic
Cable itself, which had been previously lifted from the bottom,
have ridden out a gale.
9. That more than four nautical miles of the Atlantic Cable
have been recovered from a depth of over two miles, and that
the insulation of the gutta-percha-covered wire was in no way
whatever impaired by the depth of water or the strains to which
it had been subjected by lifting and passing through the
hauling-in apparatus.
10. That the cable of 1865, owing to the improvements
introduced into the manufacture of the gutta-percha core, was
more than one hundred times better insulated than cables made
in 1858, then considered perfect and still working.
11. That the electrical testing can be conducted with such
unerring accuracy as to enable the electricians to discover the
existence of a fault immediately after its production or
development, and very quickly to ascertain its position in the
cable.
12. That with a steam-engine attached to the paying-out
machinery, should a fault be discovered on board whilst laying
the cable, it is possible that it might be recovered before it
had reached the bottom of the Atlantic, and repaired at once.
S. Canning, Engineer-in-Chief,
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance
Company.
James Anderson, Commander of the Great
Eastern.
Henry A. Moriarty, Staff Commander, R.
N.
Daniel Gooch, M.P., Chairman of "Great
Ship Co."
Henry Clifford, Engineer.
William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S., Prof.
of Natural Philosophy in the
University of Glasgow.
Cromwell F. Varley, Consulting
Electrician Electric and International
Telegraph Co.
Willoughby Smith.
Jules Despecher.
This was a grand result to be attained in one short month; and if not
quite so gratifying as to have the cable laid at once, and the wire in
full operation, yet as it settled the chief elements of success, the
moral effect was next to that of an immediate triumph. All who were on
that voyage felt a confidence such as they had never felt before. They
came back, not desponding and discouraged, but buoyant with hope, and
ready at once to renew the attempt.
This confidence appeared at the first meeting of directors. The feeling
was very different from that after the return of the first expedition of
1858. So animated were they with hope, and so sure of success the next
time, that all felt that one cable was not enough, they must have two,
and so it was decided to take measures not only to raise the broken end
of the cable and to complete it to Newfoundland, but also to construct
and lay an entirely new one, so as to have a double line in operation
the following summer.
The contractors, partaking the general confidence, came forward promptly
with a new offer even more liberal than that made before. They proposed
to construct a new line, and to lay it across the Atlantic for half a
million sterling, which was estimated to be the actual cost to them,
reserving all compensation to themselves to depend on success. If
successful, they were to receive twenty per cent. on the cost, or one
hundred thousand pounds, to be paid in shares of the Company. They would
engage, also, to go to sea fully prepared to raise the broken end of the
cable now in mid-ocean, and with a sufficient length, including that on
board the Great Eastern, to complete the line to Newfoundland. Thus the
company would have two cables instead of one.
In this offer the contractors assumed a very large risk. They now went a
step further, and in the contingency of the capital not being raised
otherwise, they offered _to take it all themselves_--to lay the line at
their own risk, and to be paid only in the stock of the Company, which,
of course, must depend for its value on the success of the next
expedition. It was finally resolved to raise six hundred thousand pounds
of new capital by the issue of a hundred and twenty thousand shares of
five pounds each, which should be preferential shares, entitled to a
dividend of twelve per cent. before the eight per cent. dividend to be
paid on the former preference shares, and the four per cent. on the
ordinary stock. This was offering a substantial inducement to the public
to take part in the enterprise, and it was thought with reason that this
fresh issue of stock, though it increased the capital of the Company,
yet as it was all to be employed in forwarding the great work, would not
only create new property, but give value to the old. The proposal of the
manufacturers was therefore at once accepted by the Directors, and the
work was instantly begun. Thus hopeful was the state of affairs when Mr.
Field returned to America in September.
But he was never easy to be long out of sight of his beloved cable, and
so three months after he went back to England, reaching London on the
twenty-fourth of December. He came at just the right moment, for the
Atlantic Telegraph was once more in extremity. Only two days before the
Attorney-General of England had given a written opinion that the Company
_had no legal right_ to issue new twelve per cent. preference shares,
and that such issue could only be authorized by an express act of
Parliament. This was a fatal decree to the Company. It was the more
unexpected, as, before offering the twelve per cent. capital, they had
been fortified by the opinions of several eminent lawyers and solicitors
in favor of the legality of their proceedings. It invalidated not only
what they were going to do, but what they had done already. Hence, as
the effect of this decision, all the works were stopped, and the money
which had been paid in was returned to the subscribers.
This was a new dilemma, out of which it was not easy to find a way of
relief. Parliament was not in session, Lords and Commons being away in
the country keeping the Christmas holidays. Even if it had been, the
time for applying to it had passed, as a notice of any private bill to
be introduced must be given before the thirtieth of November, which was
gone a month ago. To wait for an act of Parliament, therefore, would
inevitably postpone the laying of the cable for another year. So
disheartening was the prospect at the close of 1865.
But they had seen dark days before, and were not to give it up without
a new effort. Happily, the cause had strong friends to stand by it even
in this crisis of suspended animation.
One of these to whom Mr. Field now went for counsel, was Mr. (afterward
Sir) Daniel Gooch, M.P., a gentleman well known in London, as one of the
class of engineers formed in the school of Stephenson and Brunel, who
had risen to the position of great capitalists, and who, by their
enterprise and wealth, had done so much to develop the resources of
England. He was Chairman of the Great Western Railway, and had more
faith in enterprises on the land than on the sea. It was a long time
before he could believe in the possibility of an Atlantic Telegraph.
Though a man of large fortune, and a personal friend of Mr. Field, the
latter had never prevailed on him to subscribe a single pound. But he
went out on the expedition of '65, as chairman of the company that owned
the Great Eastern; and what he then saw convinced him. He came back
fully satisfied; he knew it could be done, and was ready to prove his
faith by his works. Consulting on the present difficulty, he suggested
that the only relief was to organize a new Company, which should assume
the work, and which could issue its own shares and raise its own
capital. This opinion was confirmed by the eminent legal authority of
Mr. John Horatio Lloyd. To such a Company Mr. Gooch said he would
subscribe L20,000; Mr. Field put down L10,000.
Next, he betook himself to that prince of English capitalists, Mr.
Thomas Brassey, who heard from his lips for the first time, that the
affairs of the Atlantic Telegraph Company had suddenly come to a
standstill. At this he was much surprised, but instantly cheered his
informer by saying: "Don't be discouraged; go down to the Company, and
tell them to go ahead, and whatever the cost, I will bear one tenth of
the whole." Who _could_ be discouraged with such a Richard the
Lion-hearted to cheer him on?
Meetings were called of the Directors of both the Atlantic Company and
the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company; and frequent
conferences were held between them. The result was the formation of a
new company called the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, with a capital
of L600,000, which contracted with the Atlantic Company to manufacture
and lay down a cable in the summer of 1866, for doing which it was to be
entitled to what virtually amounted to a preference dividend of
twenty-five per cent: as a first claim was secured to them by the latter
company upon the revenue of the cable or cables (after the working
expenses had been provided for) to the extent of L125,000 per annum; and
the New-York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company undertook to
contribute from its revenue a further annual sum of L25,000, on
condition that a cable should be at work during 1866; an agreement to
this effect having been signed by Mr. Field, subject to ratification by
the Company in New York, which was obtained as soon as the steamer could
cross the ocean and bring back the reply.
The terms being settled, it remained only to raise the capital. The
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company led off with a
subscription of L100,000. This was followed by the names of ten
gentlemen, who put down L10,000 apiece. Of these Mr. Gooch declared his
willingness to increase his subscription of L10,000 to L20,000, while
Mr. Brassey would put down L60,000, if it were needed. Mr. Henry Bewley,
of Dublin also, who was already a large owner of the Atlantic stock,
declared his readiness to add L20,000 more. But this was not necessary:
and so they all stood at L10,000. The names of these ten subscribers
deserve to be given, as showing who stood forward to save the cause in
this crisis of its fate. They were: Henry Ford Barclay, Henry Bewley,
Thomas Brassey, A. H. Campbell, M.P., George Elliot, Cyrus W. Field,
Richard Atwood Glass, Daniel Gooch, M.P., John Pender, M.P., and John
Smith. There were four subscriptions of L5,000: by Thomas Bolton and
Sons, James Horsfall, A Friend of Mr. Daniel Gooch, M.P., and John and
Edwin Wright; one of L2,500 by John Wilkes and Sons; three of L2,000 by
C. M. Lampson, J. Morison, and Ebenezer Pike; and two of L1,000 by
Edward Cropper, and Joseph Robinson,--making in all L230,500.
These were all private subscriptions made before even the prospectus was
issued, or the books opened to the public. After such a manifestation of
confidence, the whole capital was secured within fourteen days. This was
a great triumph, especially at a time of general depression in
commercial affairs in England.
And now once more the work began. No time was to be lost. It was already
the first of March, and but four months remained to manufacture sixteen
hundred and sixty nautical miles of cable, and to prepare for sea. But
the obstacles once cleared away, all sprang to their work with new hope
and vigor.
In the cable to be made for the new line, there was but little change
from that of the last year, which had proved nearly perfect. Experience,
however, was constantly suggesting some improvement; and while the
general form and size were retained, a slight change in the outer
covering was found to make the cable both lighter and stronger. The iron
wires were _galvanized_, which secured them perfectly from rust or
corrosion by salt water. Thus protected, they could dispense with the
preservative mixture of the former year. This left the cable much
cleaner and whiter. Instead of its black coat, it had the fresh, bright
appearance of new rope. It had another advantage. As the tarry coating
was sticky, slight fragments of wire might adhere to it, and do injury,
a danger to which the new cable was not exposed. At the same time,
galvanizing the wires gave them greater ductility, so that in the case
of a heavy strain the cable would stretch longer without breaking. By
this alteration it was rendered more than four hundred-weight lighter
per mile, and would bear a strain of nearly half a ton more than the one
laid the year before.
The machinery also was perfected in every part, to withstand the great
strain which might be brought upon it in grappling and lifting the cable
from the great depths of the Atlantic. This necessitated almost a
reconstruction of the machinery, together with engines of greater power,
applied both to the gear for hauling in forward and that for paying out
aft. Thus, in case of a fault, the motion of the ship could be easily
reversed, and the cable hauled back by the paying-out machinery, without
waiting for the long and tedious process of bringing the cable round
from the stern to the bow of the ship.
But the most marvellous improvement had been in the method of testing
the cable for the discovery of faults. In the last expedition, a grave
omission had been in the long intervals during which the cable was left
without a test of its insulation. Thus, from thirty to thirty-five
minutes in each hour it was occupied with tests of minor importance,
which would not indicate the existence of a fault, so that, if a fault
occurred on ship-board, it might pass over the stern, and be miles away
before it was discovered. But now a new and ingenious method was devised
by Mr. Willoughby Smith, by which the cable will be tested _every
instant_. The current will not cease to flow any more than the blood
ceases to flow in human veins. The cord is vital in every part, and if
touched at any point it reveals the wound as instinctively as the nerves
of a living man flash to the brain a wound in any part of the human
frame.
The process of detecting faults is too scientific to be detailed in
these pages. We can only stand in silent wonder at the result, when we
hear it stated by Mr. Varley, that the system of testing is brought to
such a degree of perfection, that skilful electricians can point out
minute faults with an unerring accuracy "even when they are so small
that they would not weaken the signals through the Atlantic cable one
millionth part!"
Another marvellous result of science was the exact report obtained of
the state of that portion of the cable now lying in the sea. The
electricians at Valentia were daily experimenting on the line which lay
stretched twelve hundred and thirteen miles on the bottom of the deep,
and pronounced it intact. Not a fault could be found from one end to the
other. As when a master of the organ runs his hands over the keys, and
tells in an instant if it be in perfect tune, so did these skilful
manipulators, fingering at the end of this mightier instrument, declare
it to be in perfect tone, ready to whisper its harmonies through the
seas. At the same time, the ten hundred and seventy miles of cable left
on board the Great Eastern were pronounced as faultless as the day they
had been shipped on board.
With such conclusions of science to animate and inspire them, the great
task of manufacturing nearly seventeen hundred miles of cable once more
began. And while this work went on, the Great Eastern, that had done her
part so well before, again opened her sides, and the mysterious cord was
drawn into her vast, dark, silent womb, from which it was to issue only
into the darker and more silent bosom of the deep.