THE MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE AND COMMERCIAL REVIEW. JULY, 1865. THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. THE present attempt to lay a telegraph line from Europe to America is the fourth one. The first Atlantic cable was laid in August, 1857. It had been determined to splice the cable in mid-ocean, and then to proceed simultaneously to both shores. At the eleventh hour this arrangement was altered. The directors of the company resolved that one half of it should first be laid from Valentia to mid-ocean, and then connected with the other half, which was to be carried to Trinity Bay. Accordingly, the Telegraph Squadron, consisting of eight vessels, sailed August 4, 1857, from Queenstown Harbor for Valentine Bay. AN ILL OMEN. Just before they sailed the London Times startled its readers by the announcement that the enterprise must necessarily prove a failure. "It will scarcely be credited," said that journal, "but it is nevertheless true, that the twist of the spiral wires of the Birkenhead half of the Cable is in exactly the opposite direction to the twist of the wires made at Greenwich. Thus, when joined in the centre of the Atlantic, they will form a right and left hand screw, and the tendency of each will be to assist each other to untwist and expose the core. By attaching a solid weight to the centre joining, it is hoped this difficulty and danger may be overcome; but none attempt to conceal that the mistake is much to be regretted. We are informed that Messrs. GLASS and ELLIOTT had nearly one hundred miles of their portion completed before Messrs. NEWALL commenced theirs, and that, therefore, the fault rests with those who began theirs last." This attack called forth a reply from Messrs. NEWALL, who denied the conclusions at which the writer of the article in question had arrived, holding that the so-called "blunder" was literally of no importance. At the same time they exculpated themselves from blame on the ground that they were acting throughout under the direct instructions and supervision of the engineer of the company, and that the fault, if there was any, was his. Nevertheless the Squadron sailed with the two cables as originally made, the U. S. steam frigate Niagara having one, and H. M. steamer Agamemnon having the other on board. FAILURE NUMBER ONE. On the evening of Friday, the 7th of August, 1857, the Telegraphic Squadron bore away from the coast of Ireland, delivering the cable into the sea at a slow and steady rate. The Company having decided upon the attempt to lay the Cable by commencing at the Irish shore, and effecting a splice in mid-ocean, the work of paying-out was begun by the Niagara alone. Unfortunately the commencement of the expedition was inauspie ious. When about four miles of the thick shore-end of the Cable had been paid out, it became entangled with the machinery, owing to a momentary want of watchfulness, and parted. An attempt was immediately made to recover the lost portion. The Niagara came to anchor for the night. On the following day the cable was recovered, a splice was made, and the work was resumed without further accident to the shore-end. FAILURE NUMBER TWO. At noon on Sunday, August 9, ninety-five miles of Cable had been expended, the continuity of the electric current remaining perfect, and sig nals passing between the Niagara and the station at Valentia. On Monday, August 10th, at 8.45 P.M., and for two hours afterwards, the electricians failed to receive signals, the continuity being now, for the first time, interrupted. Towards midnight the current was re-established, but the hopes which this circumstance revived were of short duration. On Tuesday, August 11th, at 3.45 A.M., the machinery stopped, and with the strain the Cable parted. Three hundred and forty-four miles of the cable was lost, the depth of water in which it was submerged being about two miles. The first Expedition having thus come to an untimely end, nothing remained but to return to Ireland. The Niagara accordingly put about, and headed for Valentia. SECOND EXPEDITION. It being resolved to continue the enterprise, preparations were made to resume it in 1858. It was determined to join the two cables in mid-ocean, and to select an earlier season of the year for the work. On Saturday, May 29, 1858, the Niagara and the Agamemnon sailed from Plymouth for Queenstown, having the cable on board which, during the intervening winter had been discharged at Keyham Docks. On the same day they put to sea, to undertake an experimental trip, for the purpose of testing the Cable. FAILURES NUMBER THREE, FOUR AND FIVE. On the 31st of May, when in latitude 47° 12' north, longitude 9° 32′ west, the depth of water being 2,530 fathoms, a series of deep-sea experiments was commenced. The Niagara and Agamemnon were connected by hawsers, stern to stern, distance from each other some twelve hundred feet. The Cable was paid out and spliced on board the Agamemnon, and the first experiment began. parted. On the following day (Tuesday, June 1,) the Cable was re-spliced, and three miles were paid out; but in the attempt to haul in, the wire again parted. Two miles of Cable were paid out, when the wire On Wednesday, June 2, the Cable was again spliced, but in a few minutes parted on board the Agamemnon. These experiments having been continued during three days and one night, ceased with this last attempt, and after various trials of the operations of splicing, lowering and heavingin the wire, the squadron set sail for Plymouth, whence reports of the results were forwarded to the Directors of the Company. FAILURE NUMBER SIX. But a single week elapsed, from the return of the fleet from this trip, when the expedition set sail from Plymouth for the second great ocean trial. The appearance of the two principal vessels engaged in laying the Cable was thus described by a correspondent of the London Times, from which it appears that the 1,500 miles of Cable which was stowed aboard each of these great ships was enough to sink at least one of them down to her bearings: "Both the Agamemnon and Niagara are astonishingly deep. The lower deck ports of the former are very near the water, and they are being fastened and caulked before starting. But in spite of this, the Agamemnon carries her share infinitely better than her long black-looking rival of the United States, which is immersed very deeply indeed by her load. The Agamemnon only draws 26 feet, or actually one foot less than her draught at starting last year; but even at this depth she bears herself well, and looks a noble ship, and one that should be seaworthy in any weather. The Niagara, however, draws no less than 27 feet 2 inches aft, and this great draught effects a marvellous and most unpleasant change in her appearance, since it leaves her spar deck scarcely 8 feet above the water's edge. In fact, the main deck is actually below the water's level, and if her lofty bulwarks, some nine or ten feet high, were taken away, she would appear to be almost the last vessel in the world in which it was desirable to venture across the great Atlantic." Yet, in the great gale which the fleet encountered a few days after sailing, while the Agamemnon was tossed about until her safety was seriously endangered, and one of the large coils of the Cable had broken loose, and occasioned alarm for the success of the entire expedition, the Niagara rode it out with no more damage than the loss of a piece of carving from her figure head. The squadron, now consisting of four vessels, having safely arrived at the appointed rendezvous, latitude 52° 2′, longitude 33° 18', the Cable was spliced on the 26th of June, 1858. After having paid out two and a half miles from each vessel, owing to an accident on board the Niagara, the Cable parted. FAILURE NUMBER SEVEN. The ships having again met, the splice was made good, and they commenced to pay out the Cable a second time; but after they had each paid out forty miles, it was reported that the current was broken, and no communication could be made between the ships. Unfortunately, in this in stance, the breakage must have occurred at the bottom, as the electricians, from the fine calculations which their sensitive instruments allowed them to make, were able to declare such to have been the fact, even before the vessels came together again. Having cast off this loss, they met for the third time, and recovered the connection of the Cable on the 28th. They then started afresh, and the Niagara, having paid out over one hundred and fifty miles of Cable, all on board entertained the most sanguine anticipstions of success, when the fatal announcement was made upon Tuesday, the 29th, at 9 P.M., that the electric current had ceased to flow. As the neces sity of abandoning the project for the present was now only too manifest, it was considered that the opportunity might as well be availed of to test the strength of the Cable. Accordingly, the Niagara, with all her stores, was allowed to swing to the Cable, and, in addition, a strain of four tons was placed upon the brakes, yet, although it was blowing fresh at the time, the Cable held her as if she was at anchor, for over an hour, when a heavy pitch of the sea snapped the Cable, and the Niagara bore away for Ireland. Before starting, an arrangement was made that should any accident occur in giving out the Cable before the ships had gone one hundred miles, they were to return to their starting-place in mid-ocean; but that, in case that distance should have been exceeded, before any casualty happened, they should make for Queenstown. In accordance, with this understand. ing, the Niagara, having made one hundred and nine miles before this mishap, returned to Queenstown, arriving July 5th. The Agamemnon arrived on the 12th. On the 6th of July the £1,000 shares of the Company receded from £600 to £200. Nothing daunted, however, the entire fleet was again under way on the 17th, bound to the mid-ocean rendezvous. THIRD EXPEDITION, AND ITS FAILURE. On the 28th they met, and on the 29th, at 1 P.M., the splice was made, and the vessels started for their respective destinations. On the 4th of August THE CABLE WAS LAID, and the Old World and the New were in telegraphic communication with one another. But the communication was not continuous, nor had it been. On the 29th July, at 7.45 P.M., the sig nals along the wire ceased. At 9.10 they again resumed. Upon the landing of the cable, the continuity was again found to be disturbed. The wires were at first worked with the RUHMKORFF induction-coils and SMEE's battery, and afterward with a DANIELL battery; but the current was for the most part so weak as scarcely to work the most delicate relay, susceptible to an impulse that can hardly be perceived on the tongue. The effect was indicated at the Newfoundland station by the reflection of a delicate galvanometer, and at Valentia, in Ireland, by that of the reflecting galvanometer of Professor WILLIAM THOMPSON, the effect of which is to multiply the movement in a ray of light reflected from a mirror attached to a very delicate magnetic needle. This ray being thrown upon a surface at some distance, a movement of the needle, which is otherwise imperceptible, may be even measured upon a graduated scale. The transmitted current was so weak during much of the time that the cable continued in action, that every expedient of this kind was necessary to render the signals perceptible. From the first there appears to have been a de fect in the part of the cable laid by the Niagara, which defect was noticed on the day after starting; and it is generally believed that the very im perfect signals which followed the landing of the cable, and lasted until the 20th of October following, were attributable to this original defect. Between those two dates 129 messages were sent from Valentia to Newfoundland, and 271 in the other direction. The number of words in the former direction were 1,474, and in the latter 2,885. The first message was from Queen VICTORIA to President BUCHANAN; and the last intelligible signal was: "Two hundred and forty t--k- -Daniells now in circuit." It afterwards appeared that the complete message was: "Two hundred and forty trays and seventy-two liquid Daniells now in circuit." This indicated the enormous electrical power which was used to force through the now dislocated wire the last dying throbs it was destined to transmit. The power thus employed was over a thousand times what would have been acquired, even at that time, in an ordinarily well insulated conductor to give perfect signals to the mirror-galvanometer. The hopelessness of endeavoring to work the line was but too plain; and it was accordingly abandoned after as much of the shore ends were recovered as possible. THE COST. The cost of the Atlantic cable was as follows: for 2,500 miles, at $485 per mile, $1,212,500; for 10 miles, at $1,250 per mile, $12,500; and for 25 miles of shore ends, at same price, $31,250; making altogether $1,256,250. Up to December 1, 1858, the expenditures of the company had amounted to $1,834,500. THE PRESENT EXPEDITION-THE FOUrth. The company having resolved not to give up the enterprise, at once took steps to carry it to a successful termination. New capital was raised, a new cable made, new privileges were obtained, and the Great Eastern chartered to lay the cable. But they now embark upon their great mission under very altered circumstances. Since 1858, submarine telegraphy has taken great strides. Previous to that period but 945 miles of insulated wire had been laid, as follows: But since then over 6000 miles of submarine telegraph have been suc cessfully laid down and worked, as follows: 1858. England to Holland...... 1858. England to Hanover. 1858. Norway, across Fiords. 1859. Alexandria Miles. 560 ⚫ 560 16 8 1,050 64 144 50 |