‘While exquisitely fine,Feels at each thread and moves along the line.’”
‘While exquisitely fine,Feels at each thread and moves along the line.’”
If anything could overcome the tendency of men to vaticinate, it surely would be the sad history of the last few years in the United States. The condition of affairs in that lamentable period is illustrated by another passage of his lordship’s speech, which also points out the inestimable value of the telegraph as a conservator of peace. “We may as we take our stand here on the extremest rocky side of our beloved Ireland, leave, as it were, behind us the wars, the strifes, and the bloodshed of the older Europe, and pledge ourselves, weak as our agency may be, imperfect as our powers may be, inadequate in strict diplomatic form as our credentials may be; yet, in the face of the unparalleled circumstances of the place and the hour, in the immediate neighbourhood of the mighty vessels whose appearance may be beautiful upon the waters, even as are the feet upon mountains of those who preach the Gospel of peace—as a homage due to that serene science which often affords higher and holier lessons of harmony and goodwill than the wayward passions of man are always apt to learn—in the face and in the strength of such circumstances, let us pledge ourselves to eternal peace between the Old World and the New. Why, gentlemen, what excuse would there be for misunderstanding? What justification could there be for war, when the disarming message, when the full explanation, when the genial and healing counsel may be wafted even across the mighty Atlantic, quicker than the sunbeam’s path and the lightning’s flash?” At that moment Great Britain was just disengaged from a war with Russia and a war with Persia, and was actively engaged in a war with China, and with mutinies in India. France was preparing to deal Austria a deadly blow; America looked pityingly across the Atlantic, and wondered at our folly and our crimes.
On August the 5th, 1857, the shore end of the Cable was secured in the little cove selected for the purpose in Valentia, on the cliffs above which a telegraphic station had been erected, and was hauled up amidst the greatest enthusiasm, Lord Carlisle participating in the joy and the labour.
On the evening of Friday, August 7th, the squadron sailed, and the Niagaracommenced paying out the Cable very slowly. About four miles of the shore Cable had been payed out, when it became entangled with the machinery, by the carelessness of one of the men in charge, and broke; all hands were engaged in trying to underrun and join the Cable, but it was too rough, and the Niagara came to anchor for the night. Next day a splice was mode, the ship resumed her course, and at noon on Sunday, August 9th, 95 miles had been payed out. The paying-out gear proved to be defective in the course of the 10th. On the evening of Tuesday, the 11th, all signals suddenly ceased. The Cable had broken in 2000 fathoms of water, when about 330 nautical miles were laid, at a distance of 280 miles from Valentia. At the time the ship was going from three to four knots, and was able to pay out 5 to 5¾ miles per hour, the pressure shown by the indicator being 3000lb., but the strain being no doubt much greater.
This loss proved fatal to the first attempt to lay the Atlantic Cable, as on consultation among the officers and engineers it appeared to be unwise to renew the attempt with only 1,847 miles on board the ships, or an excess of 12 per cent. on the quantity required by the whole distance.
Nothing daunted by the failure, Mr. Field started off at once in H.M.S. Cyclops for England, and, on his arrival, urged the immediate renewal of the enterprise; but it was resolved by the directors in London to postpone it to the following year. An addition to the capital of the Company was proposed and agreed to. The greater part of the autumn was devoted to preparations for the renewed efforts of the Company. The part of the Cable which was left was landed at Keyham, 53 miles of the shore-end were recovered, and the Company again applied to the British and American Governments for the services of the same vessels which had been previously lent to them. Messrs. Glass, Elliot, & Co., were entrusted by the directors of The Atlantic Telegraph Company to manufacture a further length of 900 miles, to replace that which was lost or damaged, thus making a total of 3,012 miles of Cable, so as to guard against accidents by giving an allowance of 40 per cent. of slack. The paying-out apparatus was also improved, so that the engineer in charge alone should control the egress of the Cable, instead of using the hand-wheel, which, upon the former occasion, had caused much danger in rough weather.
The manufacturers of the machinery were Messrs. Easton & Amos, of Southwark, under the superintendence of Mr. Penn, Mr. Field, Mr. Lloyd, Mr. Everett, and Mr. Bright.
The important part of the apparatus consisted of Appold’s self-regulating brake, so adjusted and constructed as always to exert a certain amount of resistance, regulated by the revolution of the wheels to which it was applied. Morethan this fixed amount of resistance, whatever it might be, it could not produce, no matter whether the machine was hot or dry, or covered with sand; neither could it be worked at less than this amount. It was made of bars of wood laid lengthwise across the edge of the wheel, over which it lapped down firmly, and to which it was held with massive weights fixed to the ends of levers, which regulated the degree of resistance to the revolutions of the wheel, and which, of course, enabled those in charge of the machine to fix the pressure of the brake. In the new apparatus the brake was attached over two drums connected with the two main grooved wheels, round which the actual Cable passed in running out. The latter were simply broad, solid, iron wheels, each cut with four very deep grooves in which the Cable rested, to prevent it flying up or “overriding.” It passed over these two main wheels, not in a double figure of eight, as in the old ponderous machine of four wheels, but simply wound over one, to and round the other, and so on four times, till it was finally payed down into the water. Thus, the wire was wound up from the hold of the vessel, passed four times over the double main wheels, connected with the brake or friction drums, past the register which indicated the rate of paying out and the strain upon the Cable, and then ran at once into the deep. The strain at which the Cable would break was 62 cwt., and to guard against any chance of mishap, not more than half this strain was put upon it. The brakes, as a rule, were fixed to give a strain of about 16 cwt., and the force required to keep the machine going, or about 8 cwt. more, was the utmost that was allowed to come upon the wire.
The brake of the paying-out machine used on the occasion of the first attempt was capable, by a movement of the hand, of exerting prodigious resistance. In the new machine any one could in a moment ease it, until there was no resistance at all beyond the 8 cwt. strain on the wire.
At a few feet from the paying-out machine, the Cable passed over a wheel, which registered precisely the strain in pounds at which the coil was running out. Facing this register was a steering wheel, similar to that of an ordinary vessel, and connected in the same way with compound levers, which acted upon the brake. The officer in charge of the apparatus stood by this wheel, and watched the register of strain or pitch of the vessel, opening the brakes by the slightest movement of his hand, and letting the Cable run freely as the stern rose. The same officer, however, could not by any possible method increase the actual strain on the Cable, which remained always according to the friction at which the brake was at first adjusted by the engineer.
All was ready for the expedition before the time indicated, and the directors and the public looked with confidence to the result. Instead of landing a shore-endat Valentia, and making a junction of the Cable, it was decided that the ships should proceed together to a point midway between Trinity Bay and Valentia, there splice the Cable, and then turn their bows east and west, and proceed to their destinations.
On Thursday, the 10th of June, 1858, H.M.S. Agamemnon and U.S.N.S. Niagara, accompanied by H.M.S. Valorous and H.M.S. Gorgon, left Plymouth, the two former having previously made an experimental cruise in the Channel with the Cables, which were very satisfactory, in all respects.
Experienced mariners gazed with apprehension at their depth in water as they left the shore. It was, however, such glorious weather as to cause some anxiety lest there should be no wind, and that the stock of coals might be exhausted before their mission was accomplished. Before midnight, however, a gradually increasing gale gathered to a storm, while the barometer marked 29°. For seven consecutive days the tempest, so eloquently described by Mr. Woods in theTimes, continued, the Agamemnon under close-reefed topsails striving to reach the rendezvous, Lat. 52° 2´, Long. 33° 18´, rolling 45 degrees, and labouring fearfully.
On the 19th and 20th the gale reached its height. The position of the ship, carrying 2,840 tons of dead-weight, badly stowed, had become most critical, from her violent lurching as she sunk into the troughs of the sea, and struggled violently to right herself—the coal bunkers gave way, and caused alarm and confusion. Were the masts to yield, the ship would rock still more violently, the Cable would shift, and carry every one with it to destruction. Captain Preedy had but two courses open in order to save the ship without sacrificing the Cable—either was fraught with peril—to wear the ship, or to run before the gale and risk the chances of being pooped by the monster seas in pursuit.
On the 21st the Agamemnon was enabled to bear up for the rendezvous in mid-ocean, which she reached on the 25th, after sixteen days of danger and apprehension, her companion, the Niagara, having passed through the dreadful ordeal with less danger and difficulty.
At half-past two o’clock on the 26th, the Agamemnon and Niagara first spliced the Cable; it however became foul of the scraper on the latter ship, and broke. A second splice was immediately made, and the vessels started. The Agamemnon had paid out 37½ miles, when suddenly the continuity of the electric current ceased, and the electricians declared that the Cable had broken at the bottom. As the Niagara was hauling in the Cable, of which she had payed out 43 miles, it snapped close to the ship.
On the 28th, the third and final splice was effected. The Niagara started N.W. ¾ N. At 4 p.m. on the 29th, when 111 miles had been paid out, the electricians on board reported that continuity had ceased. The cause was soon known. The Agamemnon had run 118 miles, and paid out 146 miles of Cable, when the upper deck coil became exhausted. Speed was slackened, in order to shift the Cable to the lower deck, when suddenly it snapped, without any perceptible cause, under a strain of only 2200 pounds. The weather was calm; the speed moderate—about five knots; the strain one-third less than breaking strain; everything favourable; and yet the Cable parted, silently and suddenly. The Niagara had to cut the Cable, as she had no means of recovering the portion payed out, and lost 144 miles of it.
On the 12th July, the Agamemnon, after an eventful cruise of thirty-three days, reached Queenstown, having left the rendezvous on the 6th, whither she had gone in the hope of meeting the Niagara. A special meeting of the Company was called, and the expedition was ordered to go to sea. There was still quite sufficient Cable remaining, and it was determined to make another attempt immediately. The way in which the Cable parted on the third occasion was the only thing calculated to create doubt and apprehension. The two other breakages might be accounted for, and guarded against for the future, but there was something in the latter not so easy of explanation, and which seemed to point to some mysterious agency existing in the depths of the ocean, beyond the perception of science or man’s control.
At midnight on the 28th of July, 1858, the Agamemnon and Niagara once more met in mid-ocean, and on the following morning spliced the Cable, which was this time destined to tend so much towards solving the great problem. On the 30th, 265 miles had been paid out. On the 31st, 540 miles. On the 1st August, 884 miles. On the 2nd, 1256 miles. On the 4th, 1854 miles; and on the 5th, 2022 miles. The Agamemnon now anchored in Dowlas Bay, Valentia, and preparations were made to join the ocean and shore ends. On the same day, at 1·45 a.m., the Niagara anchored in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and in an hour after she received a signal across the Atlantic that the Cable had been landed from the Agamemnon.
Mr. Field at once telegraphed the news to the New York press, and the intelligence flew all over the Union, where it was received with the most extraordinary manifestations of delight. The information was received more equably in England.
On the 7th of August, many an anxious heart was lightened by reading in theTimesthe following telegram:—
“Valentia,August 6th.“End of Cable safely landed, close by pier, at Knightstown, being carried on the paddle-boxes of the Valorous—expect to be open to public in three weeks.”
“Valentia,August 6th.
“End of Cable safely landed, close by pier, at Knightstown, being carried on the paddle-boxes of the Valorous—expect to be open to public in three weeks.”
Mr. Field’s dispatch to the Associated Press of New York was followed by two to the President, to which Mr. Buchanan sent a suitable reply. A message was sent to the Mayor of New York also, to which an answer was returned next day.
On August the 9th the telegraphic wires reported that “Newfoundland still answered, but only voltaic currents.”
On the 10th it was stated “Coil currents had been received—40 per minute easily”—followed by the modest words, “Please send slower for the present.”
On the 14th a message of 14 words was transmitted, and on the 18th the Directors in England thus spoke to their brethren in the other hemisphere: “Europe and America are united by telegraphic communication. ‘Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, goodwill towards men.’” This message occupied 35 minutes in transmission. It was rapidly followed by a message from the Queen of England to the President of America, which occupied 67 minutes in transmission, and was repeated. The text was as follows:—
“To the President of the United States, Washington:“The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon the successful completion of this great international work, in which the Queen has taken the deepest interest.“The Queen is convinced that the President will join with her in fervently hoping that the Electric Cable which now connects Great Britain with the United States will prove an additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem.“The Queen has much pleasure in communicating with the President, and renewing to him her wishes for the prosperity of the United States.”
“To the President of the United States, Washington:
“The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon the successful completion of this great international work, in which the Queen has taken the deepest interest.
“The Queen is convinced that the President will join with her in fervently hoping that the Electric Cable which now connects Great Britain with the United States will prove an additional link between the nations whose friendship is founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem.
“The Queen has much pleasure in communicating with the President, and renewing to him her wishes for the prosperity of the United States.”
R.M. Bryson, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. TRINITY BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND. EXTERIOR VIEW OF TELEGRAPH HOUSE IN 1857-1858.[larger view]R.M. Bryson, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.TRINITY BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND. EXTERIOR VIEW OF TELEGRAPH HOUSE IN1857-1858.
G. McCulloch, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. TELEGRAPH HOUSE TRINITY BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND. INTERIOR OF “MESS ROOM” 1858[larger view]G. McCulloch, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.TELEGRAPH HOUSE TRINITY BAY, NEWFOUNDLAND. INTERIOR OF “MESS ROOM”1858
THE REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.“Washington City, August 16, 1856.“To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain:“The President cordially reciprocates the congratulations of Her Majesty the Queen on the success of the great international enterprise accomplished by the science, skill, and indomitable energy of the two countries. It is a triumphmore glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle.“May the Atlantic Telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilisation, liberty, and law throughout the world. In this view will not all nations of Christendom spontaneously unite in the declaration that it shall be for ever neutral, and that its communications shall be held sacred in passing to their places of destination, even in the midst of hostilities?(Signed) “JAMES BUCHANAN.”
THE REPLY OF THE PRESIDENT.
“Washington City, August 16, 1856.
“To Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain:
“The President cordially reciprocates the congratulations of Her Majesty the Queen on the success of the great international enterprise accomplished by the science, skill, and indomitable energy of the two countries. It is a triumphmore glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle.
“May the Atlantic Telegraph, under the blessing of Heaven, prove to be a bond of perpetual peace and friendship between the kindred nations, and an instrument destined by Divine Providence to diffuse religion, civilisation, liberty, and law throughout the world. In this view will not all nations of Christendom spontaneously unite in the declaration that it shall be for ever neutral, and that its communications shall be held sacred in passing to their places of destination, even in the midst of hostilities?
(Signed) “JAMES BUCHANAN.”
On the same day a message was received from Mr. C. Field, consisting of 38 words, which occupied 22 minutes in transmission.
The mighty agency which had been made subservient to the dictates of man, had touched the hearts of two nations by expressing mutual esteem and respect, but had not yet exercised its higher prerogatives. On the 21st of August it flashed tidings of great joy, and brought relief to those who, but for it, would have languished in very weariness and pining. The Europa and Arabia, each thickly freighted with human lives, had come into collision in mid-ocean. So much was known, but there was nothing to appease the anxiety of those whose friends and relatives were on board. Fourteen days must elapse before the arrival of the next steamer. Within fourteen hours, however, the Atlantic telegraph wires allayed intense dread and anxious fears: “Newfoundland.—Europa and Arabia have been in collision—one has put into St. John’s—no lives are lost—all well.”
On the 25th of August it was announced that “the Cable works splendidly,” and shortly after the New York journals recorded how the entire continent had gone mad for very joy, how feasting was the order of the day, and how American intellect had achieved the greatest scientific triumph of the age.
On the 7th of September, 1858, the following letter appeared in theTimes, addressed to the editor:—
“September 6th, 1858.“SIR,—I am instructed by the Directors to inform you that, owing to some cause not at present ascertained, but believed to arise from a fault existing in the Cable at a point hitherto undiscovered, there have been no intelligible signals from Newfoundland since one o’clock on Friday the 3rd inst. The Directors are now in Valentia, and, aided by various scientific and practical electricians, areinvestigating the cause of the stoppage, with a view to remedying the existing difficulty. Under these circumstances no time can be named at present for opening the wire to the public.“GEO. SAWARD.”
“September 6th, 1858.
“SIR,—I am instructed by the Directors to inform you that, owing to some cause not at present ascertained, but believed to arise from a fault existing in the Cable at a point hitherto undiscovered, there have been no intelligible signals from Newfoundland since one o’clock on Friday the 3rd inst. The Directors are now in Valentia, and, aided by various scientific and practical electricians, areinvestigating the cause of the stoppage, with a view to remedying the existing difficulty. Under these circumstances no time can be named at present for opening the wire to the public.
“GEO. SAWARD.”
Such was the foreshadowing of the great calamity that was so soon to follow. Public excitement became intense. The market value of the Atlantic Telegraph Stock assumed a downward tendency, and fell rapidly. But the projectors had not been idle. A rigid inquiry had been immediately instituted by Professor Thomson, Mr. Varley, and Sir Charles Bright, which enabled them to arrive at a conclusion that the fault must lie on the Irish coast. Consequently the Cable was underrun for three miles, cut and tested; but no defect being found, it was again spliced. During all this period its electrical condition had become so much deteriorated that such messages as passed required to be constantly repeated.
So matters went, hope and fear alternating, until the insulation of the wire became suddenly worse, and at last the signals ceased to be intelligible at Newfoundland altogether. Scientific inquiry tended to show that the fault lay about 270 miles from Valentia, at the mountain range which divides the depths of the Atlantic from the shallow water on the Irish shore. This steep range, or sloping bank, which, on being sounded, showed a difference of 7,200 feet in elevation in a distance of eight miles, had been crossed by the Agamemnon an hour before the expected time, and it was said a sufficient quantity of slack had not been thrown out, so that the Cable was suffered to hang suspended in the water. But this was of course mere conjecture, and the failure most probably was precipitated by injudicious attempts to overcome defective insulation by increased battery power.
The conclusions finally arrived at by the Scientific Committee appointed to report as to the causes of the failure of the Cable were, first, that it had been manufactured too hastily; secondly, that a great and unequal strain was brought on it by the machinery; and thirdly, that the repeated coilings and uncoilings it underwent served to injure it. To such causes was the failure to be attributed, not to any original defect in the gutta percha.
Mr. Varley stated his opinion that there must have been a fault in the Cable while on board the Agamemnon, and before it was submerged; but none of the theories accounted for the destruction of a Cable on which half a million of money had been expended, and which (if successful) two governments had contracted to subsidise to the gross amount of 28,000l. yearly. Thus were annihilated, silentlyand mysteriously, all those hopes which had survived so many disappointments, and which for a moment had been so abundantly realised.
But in England, as no ebullitions of joy had been indulged in when success seemed certain, neither was there now any yielding to despair.
In the month of April, 1860, the Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company sent out Captain Kell and Mr. Varley to Newfoundland to endeavour to recover some portion of the Cable; their efforts showed that the survey which had been taken must have been very insufficient, and the ground was much worse than was expected. They recovered five miles of the Cable, and ascertained two facts, namely, that the gutta percha was in no degree deteriorated, and that the electrical condition of the core had been improved by three years’ submersion. In 1862 several attempts were also made to recover some of the Cable from the Irish side, but with no practical advantage; and in consequence of violent storms the attempt was abandoned.
The great Civil War in America stimulated capitalists to renew the attempt; the public mind became alive to the importance of the project, and to the increased facilities which promised a successful issue. Mr. Field, who compassed land and sea incessantly, pressed his friends on both sides of the Atlantic for aid, and agitated the question in London and New York.
On the 20th of December, 1862, the Atlantic Company issued its prospectus, setting forth the valuable privileges it had acquired—amongst others, the exclusive right to land telegraph wires on the Atlantic coast of Labrador, Newfoundland, Prince Edward’s Island, and the State of Maine—and invited public subscriptions. The firm of Glass, Elliot, & Co., sent in tenders to provide a Cable at a cost of £700,000; a sum of £137,000, being 20 per cent. upon the capital of the Company, to be paid to them in old unguaranteed shares of the Company, provided they were successful.
On the 4th of March, 1863, a large number of the leading merchants in New York assembled in the Chamber of Commerce in that city, for the purpose of hearing some new and interesting facts relative to the Atlantic Telegraph enterprise. The many advantages which would arise to America were apparent, and, among others, was the improvement of the agricultural position of the country by extending to it the facilities, already enjoyed by England and France, of commanding the foreign grain markets; as well as the avoidance of misunderstandings between America and other countries.[2]
Since 1858, what was a mere experiment had become a practical reality. The Gutta Percha Company had prepared no less than forty-four submarine Cables, enclosing 9000 miles of conducting wire, which were in daily use, and not one of which had required to be repaired, except at the shore end, where they were exposed to ships’ anchors. At the meeting in New York, Mr. Field read a letter from Glass, Elliot, & Co., in which they offered to undertake to lay the Cable between Ireland and Newfoundland on the most liberal conditions. The terms which they proposed were,—First, that all actual disbursements for work and material should be recouped each week: secondly, that when the Cable was in full working order, 20 per cent. on the actual profits of the Company should be paid in shares to be delivered monthly, while at the same time they offered to subscribe £25,000 towards the ordinary capital of the Company. The English Government also agreed to guarantee interest on the capital at 8 per cent., during the operation and working of the Cable, and to grant a yearly subsidy of £14,000. Mr. Field further directed the attention of the meeting to the line to San Francisco (a single State), as evidence of what business might be expected. The estimated power of the Cable was a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 18 words per minute. If it were to be worked for sixteen hours per day for 300 days in each year, at a charge of 2s.6d.per word, the income would amount to £413,000 a year, which would be a return of 40 per cent. upon a single Cable. After the failure of the last Cable a Commission of Inquiry, consisting of nine members, had sat for two years, and, by their report, afforded valuable information. The British Government had also dispatched surveying expeditions, which reported most favourably as to Newfoundland. In reference to the objection, that in case of war the Cable would be under the sole control of the English Government, it was to be remembered that it would be laid under treaty stipulations.
After a lengthened discussion on various matters connected with the project, it was proposed by Mr. A. Low, and unanimously resolved, “That, in the opinion of this meeting, a Cable can, in the present state of telegraphic science, be laid between Newfoundland and Ireland with almost absolute certainty of success, and will when laid prove the greatest benefit to the people of the two hemispheres, and also profitable to the shareholders. It is, therefore, recommended to the public to aid the undertaking.”
R. M. Bryson, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. H.M.S. “AGAMEMNON” LAYING THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE IN 1858. A WHALE CROSSES THE LINE.[larger view]R. M. Bryson, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.H.M.S. “AGAMEMNON” LAYING THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE IN 1858. A WHALECROSSES THE LINE.
R. M. Bryson, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. COILING THE CABLE IN THE LARGE TANKS AT THE WORKS AT GREENWICH.[larger view]R. M. Bryson, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.COILING THE CABLE IN THE LARGE TANKS AT THE WORKS AT GREENWICH.
Messrs. Glass, Elliot, & Co. had long successfully manufactured Cables in accordance with all the improvements that had taken place in machinery, as well as in the manufacture of gutta percha, since the laying of the Cable of 1858. Their experience as contractors in laying lines might be estimated bythe report of the Jurors of the Exhibition of 1862. They had been identified with the history of submarine telegraphy from its earliest existence, and now, having previously incorporated the Gutta Percha Company, they accepted the offer made by capitalists of influence and became absorbed in “The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company,” of which Mr. Pender, M.P., was chairman, and Mr. Glass managing director.
The British Government were willing to assist by subsidy and guarantee, and there lay the Great Eastern, the only vessel in the world suited for the undertaking, seeking for a purchaser. The huge ship, which cost £640,000, was chartered by the Directors of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, who seemed bent upon solving the problem of its existence, and on showing what great things it was destined to accomplish. Captain James Anderson, an accomplished officer of the Cunard line, was asked to take the command, and received leave to do so, and it was with satisfaction the Directors learned his willingness to undertake the task.
In May, 1864, a contract previously entered into was ratified, providing that all profit should be contingent on success, and that all payments were to be made in unissued shares of the Atlantic Telegraph Company. A resolution was also passed, authorising the raising of additional capital by the issue of 8 per cent. guaranteed shares, of which Glass, Elliot, & Co., were to receive 250,000l., and also 100,000l.in debentures. The form of the Cable selected was similar in its component parts to that of 1858, but widely different in the construction and quality of the materials. It had been reported on most favourably by the Committee of Selection, and was at once accepted by the contractors; the Directors of the Company recognising the assiduity and skill of Mr. Glass in the investigations as to the best description of Cable.
The following official account[3]states so minutely every particular connected with the Cable during the process of formation, down to its shipment on board the Great Eastern, that no better description can be given:—
It differed from the Cable of 1857-8, as to its size, as to the weight and method of application of the materials of which it was composed, as to its specific gravity, and as to the mode adopted for its external protection.
For the same reason as before, the copper conductor employed in the Cable was not a solid rod, but a strand, composed of seven wires, each of which gauged ·048 parts of an inch. It was found practically that this form of conductor, in which six of the wires were laid in a spiral direction around the seventh, was amost effectual protection against the sudden or complete severance of the copper wire.
The severance, or “breach of continuity,” as it is usually called, is one of the most serious accidents that can happen to a submerged Cable, when unaccompanied by loss of insulation—owing to the great difficulty in discovering the locality of such a fault. Even the best description of copper wire can seldom be relied upon for equality of strength throughout, and in some instances an inch or even a less portion of the wire will prove to be slightly crystallised, and consequently incapable of resisting the effects of coiling or paying out if brought to bear upon the part, though no external difference be at all apparent between the weak portion and the remainder of the sample. By proceeding, however, as in the present case, the conductor was divided into seven sections, and the risk of seven weak places occurring in the same spot being exceedingly remote, the probability of a breach of continuity in a strand conductor was almostnil.
The weight of the new conductor was nearly three times that of the former one—being 300 pounds to the nautical mile against 107 pounds per knot to the conductor of 1857. The adoption of this increased weight had reference to the increase of commercial speed in the working of the new Cable expected to accrue therefrom, and was founded upon the principles of conduction and induction, now well understood, which consist in the law that the conductivity of the conductor is as its sectional area, while its inductive capacity (whereby speed of transmission is retarded) is as its circumference only; and, as the maximum speed at which the original Cable was ever worked did not exceed two and a-half words per minute, it would follow by calculation, taking into account the thickness of the dielectric surrounding the present conductor, that, using the same instruments as in 1858, a speed of three and a-half to four words per minute might be expected from the new Cable; but it was stated by the electricians that owing to the improved modes of working long Cables that have been discovered since 1858, an increase of speed up to six or even more words per minute might be secured by the adoption of suitable apparatus.
The purity of the copper employed, a very important item, affecting the rate of transmission, had been carefully provided for. Every portion of the conductor was submitted to a searching test, and all copper of a lower conductivity than 85 per cent. of that of pure copper was carefully rejected.
The covering of the conductor with its dielectric or insulating sheath was effected as follows:—The centre wire of the copper strand was first covered with a coating of gutta percha, reduced to a viscid state with Stockholm tar, this being the preparation known as “Chatterton’s Compound.” This coating must be sothick that, when the other six wires forming the strand were laid spirally and tightly round it, every interstice was completely filled up and all air excluded. The object of this process was two-fold; first, to prevent any space for air between the conductor and insulator, and thus exclude the increase of inductive action attendant upon the absence of a perfect union of those two agents, and, second, to secure mechanical solidity to the entire core; the conductors of some earlier Cables having been found to be to some extent loose within the gutta percha tube surrounding them, and thereby much more liable to permanent extension, mechanical injury, and imperfect centricity than those in which the preliminary precaution just described had been made use of. The whole conductor next received a coating of Chatterton’s Compound outside of it; this, when the core was completed, quickly solidified, and became almost as hard as the remainder of the subsequent insulation. It was then surrounded with a first coating of the purest gutta percha, which being pressed around it while in a plastic state by means of a very accurate die, formed a first continuous tube along the whole conductor. Over this tube was laid by the same process a thin covering of Chatterton’s Compound, for the purpose of effectually closing up any possible pores or minute flaws that might have escaped detection in the first gutta percha tube. To this covering of Chatterton’s Compound succeeded a second tube of pure gutta percha, then another coating of the compound, and so on alternately until the conductor had received in all four coatings of compound and four of gutta percha. The total weight of insulating material thus applied was 400 pounds to the nautical mile, against 261 pounds in the Cable of 1857-8.
The core, completed as described, and which had previously and repeatedly been under electrical examination, was at length submerged in water of a temperature of 75 deg. Fah., and so remained during twenty-four hours. This was done that the subsequent electrical tests for conductivity and insulation might be made under circumstances the most unfavourable to the manufacture, from the well-known fact, that the insulating power of gutta percha is sensibly decreased by heat. It also ensures uniformity of condition to the core under test, and, the temperature in which it was tested being higher by 20 deg. than that of the water of the North Atlantic, there was plenty of margin against any disappointment from the effects of temperature after submersion. At the expiration of the term of soaking, the coils of core submitted to that process were expected to show an insulation of not less than 5,700,000 of Varley’s standard units, or of 150,000,000 of those of Siemens’s standard. This of itself was a very severe test, but no portion of the core showed a less perfection than that of double of either of the above high standards.
Having passed this ordeal, and having been tested on separate instrumentsand by a different electrical process by the officers of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, in order to verify the observations of the contractors, the core was tested for insulation under hydraulic pressure, after which it was carefully unwound from the reels on which it had been wound for that purpose, and every portion was carefully examined by hand as it was rewound on to the large drums on which it was sent forward to the covering works at East Greenwich, to receive its external protecting sheath. It was then again submerged in water, and required once more to pass the full electrical tests above referred to. Finally, each reel of core was very carefully secured and protected from injury, and in this state was sent to East Greenwich, where it was immediately placed in tanks provided for it. In these it was covered with water, and the lids of the tanks being fastened down and locked, it remained until demanded for completion.
The manufacture and testing of the “core” of the Atlantic Cable having been completed at the Gutta Percha works as described, a telegraphic line was thereby produced which, without further addition of material or substance, beyond that of copper and gutta percha, proportionable to any required increase in its length, would be perfect as an electrical communicator through the longest distances and in the deepest water, in which element moreover it appears to be chemically indestructible, if the experience of some fourteen years may be taken as evidence. At this point, however, the final form to be assumed by the deep-sea Cable was subject to important mechanical considerations, which came into play across the path of those purely electrical; and upon the manner in which these considerations are met and dealt with, depend, not merely the primarily successful submersion, but the ultimate durability and commercial value of deep-sea Cables.
The problem in the case of the Atlantic Telegraph enterprise may be thus stated. Given a submarine telegraph core like that already described, constructed on the best known principles and perfect as to its electrical conductivity and insulation—it is required to lower the same through the sea to a maximum depth of two and a-half miles, so as not merely not to allow the insulating medium to be torn or strained, but so as not even to bring its normal elasticity into play against the more tensile but perfectly inelastic material of the conductor. For if the core were lowered into very deep water like that referred to without further protection, even supposing it to escape actual fracture by the adoption of extraordinary precaution and by the aid of fine weather, it is evident that whenever, as would be highly probable, either in the act of paying out, during the lifting or manœuvring of the ship, or even from the effects of its own weight, the gutta percha sheath became extended to the limit of its elasticity, the copper in thecentre would be stretched to a corresponding extent, and, the tension being removed, the gutta percha in returning to its original length would pull back the now elongated copper, which thenceforward would in every such case “buckle up,” and exert a constant lateral thrust against the gutta percha; ending, probably, in its ultimate escape to the outside, and the consequent destruction of the core as an electrical agent. Moreover, in the event of an electrical fault being discovered in any submerged portion of the Cable during the process of “paying-out” in deep water, it is of paramount importance towards its recovery and repair, that the engineer should have such an assurance in the quality and strength of his materials as will enable him confidently to exert a known force in hauling back the injured part, without apprehension of damage to the vital portion of the Cable.
The solution of this question must therefore be found in adding mechanical strength externally to the core, by surrounding it with such materials and in such a manner as to relieve it from all that strain which it will unavoidably meet in depositing it in its required position. In the case of the original Atlantic Cable this was attempted by first surrounding the core with tarred hemp, which in its turn was enveloped spirally by eighteen strands of iron wire; each strand consisting of seven No. 22½ gauge wires. The entire weight of the Cable so formed was, in air 20 cwt. per knot, and in water 13·3 per knot. Being capable of bearing its own weight in about five miles perpendicular depth of water, and the greatest depth on the route being two-and a half miles, its strength was calculated at about as much again as was absolutely requisite for the work. This was thought at the time to be a sufficient margin, and certainly in 1858, owing to the greatly improved machinery employed, this Cable was payed-out with great facility and without undue strain, although portions of it had been lost by breaking during several previous attempts in the same summer. Subsequent investigation and experience, however, led to the conclusion, that in respect, not only to its mechanical properties, but especially with regard to its relative specific gravity, and to other points in its construction, the Cable of 1858 was very imperfect; and, with a view to ensure every practicable improvement in the structure of their new line, the promoters of the undertaking, so soon as they found themselves in funds, during 1863, issued advertisements with a view to stimulate inquiry into the subject, inviting tenders for Cables suitable for the proposed work. The specimens that were sent in, as the result of this public appeal, were submitted to the scientific advisers of the Company, who, after careful experiments with all the specimens, unanimously recommended the Atlantic Company to adopt the principle of the Cable proposed by Glass,Elliot, & Co., whose experience and success in this description of work are well known. The Committee, however, stipulated that they should settle the actual material of which the Cable was to be ultimately composed, and that these should be carefully and separately experimented on before finally deciding upon it; and in consequence of this stipulation upwards of one hundred and twenty different specimens, being chiefly variations of the principle adopted by the Committee, were manufactured and subjected to very severe experiment, as were also the various descriptions and quantities of iron, hemp, and Manilla proposed as components of these respective Cables. The result of it all was that the Committee recommended the Cable that was adopted as being, in their opinion, “the one most calculated to insure success in the present state of our experimental knowledge respecting deep-sea Cables,” taking care at the same time, by enforcing a stringent specification and constant supervision, to guard against any possible laxity in the details of its construction. The Cable so decided on weighed 35¾ cwt. per knot in air, but in water it did not exceed 14 cwt., being only a fraction heavier in that medium than the old Cable, though bearing more than twice the strain—the breaking strain of the new Cable being 7 tons 15 cwt. In water it was capable of bearing eleven miles of its own length perpendicularly suspended, and consequently had a margin of strength of more than four and a-half times that which was absolutely requisite for the deepest water. The core having been received from the gutta percha works, and carefully tested to note its electrical condition, was first taken to receive its padding of jute yarn, whereby the gutta percha would be protected against any pressure from the external iron sheath, which latter succeeded the jute. On former occasions this padding of jute had been saturated in a mixture of tar before being applied to the gutta percha; but experience had shown that this proceeding might lead to serious fallacies as to the electrical state of the core, cases having been repeatedly found where faults existed in the core itself—amounting to an almost total loss of insulation—which, however, were only discovered after being submerged and worked through, owing to the partial insulation conferred for a time upon the bad place by means of the tarred wrapping. The Atlantic core, therefore, was wrapped with jute which had been simply tanned in a solution of catechu, in order to preserve it from decay, and as fast as the wrapping proceeded the wrapped core was coiled into water, in which, not only at this stage, but ever afterwards until finally deposited in the sea, the Cable, complete or incomplete, was stored, and the water being able to freely pass through the tarred jute to the core, the least loss of insulation was at once apparent by the facility offered by the water to conduct away to earth the whole or a portion of the testing current.
The iron wire with which the jute cover was surrounded was specially prepared for this purpose, and is termed by the makers (Messrs. Webster & Horsfall) “Homogeneous Iron.” It was manufactured and rolled into rods at their works at Killamarsh, near Sheffield, and drawn at their wire factory at Hay mills, near Birmingham. This wire approaches to steel in regard to strength, but by some peculiarity in the mode of preparing it, is deprived entirely of that springiness which prohibits altogether the use of steel as a covering for the outsides of submarine cables. Ten wires were laid spirally round the core, and each of these wires was of No. 13 gauge, and was under contract to bear a strain of 850 to 1,100 lb., with an elongation of half an inch in every fifty inches within those breaking limits. The Cable, as completed and surrounded by these wires, had not the slightest tendency to spring, as would be the case if the metal were hard steel, and could be handled with great facility.
Before, however, these ten wires surrounded the core, each separate wire had to be itself covered with a jacket of tarred Manilla yarn, the object of which is at once to protect the iron from rust and to lighten the specific gravity of the mass, while adding also in some degree to the strength of the external portion of the Cable. The wire was drawn horizontally forward over a drum through a hollow cylinder, on the outside of which bobbins filled with Manilla yarn revolved vertically, and the yarns from these bobbins, being made to converge around the wire as it issued from the end of the cylinder, were thus spun tightly round the former. These Manilla-covered wires being wound upon large drums ready for use, the core, which we left some time back surrounded with jute, was passed round several sheaves, which conducted it below the floor of the factory, from whence it was drawn up again through a hole in the centre of a circular table, around the circumference of which were ten receptacles for ten drums, containing the Manilla-covered wire. Between these drums massive iron rods, fastened to the circumference of the table, rose, and converged around a small hollow cone of iron through the upper flooring of the factory, at a height of 12 or 14 feet above the table. The jute-covered core was pulled up vertically, and passed on straight through the hollow interior of the cone already mentioned, which latter formed the apex of the converging rods. This done, the ten wires from the ten drums were drawn up over the outside of the same cone, and as they rose beyond it converged around the core, which latter, being free from the revolving part of the machinery, was simply drawn out; while the circular table being now set revolving by steam power, the ten wires from the drums were spun in a spiral around the core, thus completing the Cable, which was hauled out of the factory by the hands of men, who at the same time coiled it into large iron tanks, where it was covered with water,and was daily subjected to the most careful electrical tests, both by the very experienced staff of the contractors and by the agents of the Atlantic Telegraph Company.
The distance from the western coast of Ireland to the spot in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, selected as the landing-place for the Cable, was a little over 1,600 nautical miles, and the length of Cable contracted for, to cover this distance, including the “slack,” was 2,300 knots, which left a margin of 700 knots, to cover the inequalities of the sea-bed, and to allow for contingencies. On the first occasion 2,500 statute miles were taken to sea, the distance to the Newfoundland terminus on that occasion being 1,640 nautical miles; and, after losing 385 miles in 1857, and setting apart a further quantity for experiments upon paying-out machinery, sufficient new Cable was manufactured to enable the Niagara and Agamemnon to sail in 1858 with an aggregate of 2,963 statute miles on board the two ships, of which about 450 statute miles were lost in the two first attempts of that year, and 2,110 miles were finally laid and worked through.
The greatly increased weight and size of the Cable would have made the question of stowage a very embarrassing one had it not been for the existence of the Great Eastern steamship, there being no two ordinary ships afloat that would be capable of containing, in a form convenient for paying-out, the great bulk presented by 2,300 miles of a Cable of such dimensions. This bulk, and the now acknowledged necessity for keeping Cables continuously in water, made their influence to be felt in a very expensive manner to the Company and to the contractors throughout the progress of the work, even at this early stage. The works at Morden Wharf had to be to a very large extent remodelled to meet these contingencies. Eight enormous tanks, made of five-eighths and half-inch plate iron, perfectly watertight, and very fine specimens of this description of work, were erected on those premises, and these tanks then received an aggregate of 80 miles of Cable per week. Four of the tanks were circular in shape, and each contained 153 miles of cable, being 34 ft. in diameter and 12 ft. deep. The other four were slightly elliptical, being 36 ft. long by 27 ft. wide, and 12 ft. deep, and contained each 140 miles. The contents of all these, as they became full, were transferred to the Great Eastern at Sheerness, for which service the Lords of the Admiralty granted the loan of two sailing-ships, laid up in ordinary at Chatham, namely—the Amethyst and the Iris.[4]These ships had to undergo very considerable alteration torender them suitable for the work, portions of the main deck having to be removed—fore and aft—to make room for watertight tanks, which here, as elsewhere, were to be the medium for holding the Cable. The dimensions of the two tanks on board the Amethyst were 29 ft. diameter by 14 ft. 6 in. in depth, and each held 153 miles of Cable; of those on the Iris, one was 29 ft. diameter and 14 ft. 6 in. deep, and held 153 miles, and the other held 110 miles, and was 24 ft. wide, and 17 ft. deep.
F. Jones, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. THE CABLE PASSED FROM THE WORKS INTO THE HULK LYING IN THE THAMES AT GREENWICH.[larger view]F. Jones, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.THE CABLE PASSED FROM THE WORKS INTO THE HULK LYING IN THE THAMES ATGREENWICH.
T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. THE OLD FRIGATE WITH HER FREIGHT OF CABLE ALONGSIDE THE “GREAT EASTERN” AT SHEERNESS.[larger view]T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.THE OLD FRIGATE WITH HER FREIGHT OF CABLE ALONGSIDE THE “GREAT EASTERN”AT SHEERNESS.
The Great Eastern steamship was fitted up with three tanks to receive the Cable, one situated in the forehold, one in the afterhold, and the third nearly amidships. The bottoms and the first tier of plates were of five-eighths iron, and each tank, when completed to this height, and tested as to its tightness by filling it with water, and found or made to be perfectly watertight, was let down from its temporary supports on to a bed of Portland cement, three inches in thickness, and the building up and riveting of the remaining tiers was continued. The beams beneath each tank were shored up from the floor beneath it down to the kelson with nine inches Baltic baulk timber, and it will give some idea of the magnitude of the work to state that upwards of 300 loads of this material were required for this purpose alone. The dimensions of the fore tank were 51 ft. 6 in. diameter by 20 ft. 6 in. in depth, and its capacity was for 693 miles of Cable. The middle tank was 58 ft. 6 in. broad, and 20 ft. 6 in. deep, and held 899 miles of Cable, and the after tank was 58 ft. wide and 20 ft. 6 in. deep, and contained 898 miles. The three tanks were therefore capable of containing in all 2,490 miles of the new Cable.
The experience gained on board the Agamemnon and Niagara, and the practical knowledge obtained by the telegraphic engineers, were turned to good account in erecting the new machinery on the deck of the Great Eastern for paying-out the Cable.
Over the hold was a light wrought-iron V wheel, the speed of which was regulated by a friction wheel on the same shaft. This was connected with the paying-out machinery by a wrought-iron trough, in which, at intervals, were smaller wrought-iron V wheels, and at the angles vertical guide wheels. The paying-out machinery consisted of a series of V wheels and jockey or riding wheels (six in number); upon the shafts of the V wheels were friction wheels, with brake straps weighted by levers and running in tanks filled with water: and upon the shafts of the jockey wheels were also friction straps and levers, with weights to hold the Cable and keep it taut round the drum. Immediately before the drum was a small guide wheel, placed under an apparatus called the knife, for keeping the first turn of the Cable on the drum from riding or getting over another turn. The knives, of which there were two, could be removed and adjusted with the greatest ease by slides similar toa slide-rest of an ordinary turning-lathe. One knife only was used, the other being kept ready to replace it if necessary. The drum, round which the Cable passed, was 6 feet diameter and 1 foot broad, and upon the same shaft were fixed two Appold’s brakes, running in tanks filled with water. There was also a duplicate drum and pair of Appold’s brakes fitted in position and ready for use in case of accident. Upon the overhanging ends of the shafts of the drums driving pulleys were fitted, which could be connected by a leather belt for the purpose of bringing into use the duplicate brakes, if the working brakes should be out of order. Between the duplicate drum and the stern wheel were placed the dynamometer and intermediate wheels for indicating the strain upon the Cable. The dynamometer wheel was placed midway between the two intermediate wheels, and the strain was indicated by the rising or falling of the dynamometer wheel on a graduated scale of cwts. attached to the guide rods of the dynamometer slide. The stern wheel, over which the Cable passed when leaving the ship, was a strong V wheel, supported on wrought-iron girders overhanging the stern, and the Cable was protected from injury by the flanges of this wheel by a bell-mouthed cast-iron shield surrounding half its circumference.
Close to the dynamometer was placed an apparatus similar to a double-purchase crab, or winch, fitted with two steering wheels, for lifting the jockey or riding wheels with their weights and the weights on the main brakes of the drum, as indications were shown upon the dynamometer scale.
All the brake wheels ran in tanks supplied with water by pipes from the paddle-box tanks of the ship.
The Cable passed over the wrought-iron V wheel over the tank along the trough, between the V wheels and jockey wheels in a straight line; four turns round the drum where the knife comes into action over the first intermediate wheel, under the dynamometer wheel, and over the other intermediate and stern wheels into the sea.
From a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. PAYING-OUT MACHINERY.[larger view]From a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited,Lith.PAYING-OUT MACHINERY.
T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. COILING THE CABLE IN THE AFTER TANK ON BOARD THE GREAT EASTERN AT SHEERNESS. VISIT OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES ON MAY 24th.[larger view]T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day &Sons, Limited, Lith.COILING THE CABLE IN THE AFTER TANK ON BOARD THE GREAT EASTERN ATSHEERNESS. VISIT OF H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES ON MAY 24th.
This dynamometer was only a heavy wheel resting on the rope, but fixed in an upright frame, which allowed it to slide freely up and down, and on this frame were marked the figures which showed exactly the strain in pounds on the Cable. Thus, when the strain was low the Cable slackened, and the dynamometer sunk low with it; when, on the contrary, the strain was great, the Cable was drawn “taut,” and on it the dynamometer rose to its full height. When it sunk too low, the Cable was generally running away too fast, and the brakes had to be applied to check it; when, on the contrary, it rose rapidly the tension was dangerous, and the brakes had to be almost opened to relieve it. The simplicity of the apparatus for opening and shutting the brakes was most beautiful. Opposite thedynamometer was placed a tiller-wheel, and the man in charge of it never let it go or slackened in his attention for an instant, but watched the rise and fall of the dynamometer as a sailor at the wheel watches his compass. A single movement of this wheel to the right put the brakes on, a turn to the left opened them. A good and experienced brakeman would generally contrive to avoid either extreme of a high or low strain, though there were few duties connected with the laying of submarine cables which were more anxious and more responsible while they last, than those connected with the management of the brakes. The whole machine worked beautifully, and with so little friction that when the brakes were removed, a weight of 200 lb. was sufficient to draw the Cable through it.
In order to guard against any possible sources of accident, every preparation was made in case of the worst, and, in the event of very bad weather, for cutting the Cable adrift and buoying it. For this purpose a wire rope of great strength, and no less than five miles long, having a distinctive mark at every 100 fathoms, was taken in the Great Eastern. This, of course, was only carried in case of desperate eventualities arising, and in the earnest hope that not an inch of it would ever be required. If, as unfortunately happened, its services were wanted, the Cable could be firmly made fast to its extremity, and so many hundred fathoms of the wire rope, according to the depth of water the Cable was in, measured out. To the other end of the rope an immense buoy was attached, and the whole would then be cut adrift and left to itself till better weather.
On the 24th of May, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, accompanied by many distinguished personages, paid a long visit to the Great Eastern, for the purpose of inspecting the arrangements made for laying the Cable. His Royal Highness was received by Mr. Pender, the Chairman of the Telegraph Construction Company; Mr. Glass, Managing Director; and a large number of the electricians and officers connected with the undertaking. After partaking of breakfast, the Prince visited each portion of the ship, and witnessed the transmission of a message sent through the coils, which then represented in length 1,395 nautical miles. The signals transmitted were seven words,“I WISH SUCCESS TO THE ATLANTIC CABLE,”and were received at the other end of the coils in the course of a few seconds—a rate of speed which spoke hopefully of success.
On Monday, the 29th of May, the last mile of this gigantic Cable was completed at Glass, Elliot, & Co.’s works; an event celebrated in the presence of all the eminent scientific men who had laboured so zealously in the promotion of theundertaking at Greenwich. When the tinkling of the bell gave notice that the machine was empty, and the last coil of the Cable stowed away, the mighty work, the accomplishment of which was their dream by night and their study by day, stood completed. For eight long months the huge machines had been in a constant whirl, manufacturing those twenty-three hundred nautical miles of Cable destined to perform a mission so important, and yet it would be difficult to point to a single hour during which they did not yield something to cause care and anxiety.
On Wednesday, the 14th of June, the Amethyst completed her final visit, and commenced to deliver the last instalment of the Cable to the Great Eastern.
On the 24th the Great Eastern left the Medway for the Nore, carrying 7000 tons of Cable, 2000 tons of iron tanks, and 7000 tons of coal. At the Nore she took in 1,500 additional tons of coal, which brought her total dead-weight to 21,000 tons.
Mr. Gooch, M.P., Chairman of the Great Eastern Company and Director of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company; Mr. Barber (Great Eastern), Mr. Cyrus Field, Captain Hamilton, Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company; M. Jules Despescher; Mr. H. O’Neil, A.R.A.; Mr. Brassey, Mr. Fairbairn, Mr. Dudley, the representatives of some of the principal journals, and several visitors, went round in the vessel from the Nore to Ireland.
The whole of the arrangements for paying-out and landing the Cable were in charge of Mr. Canning, principal Engineer to the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, Mr. Clifford being in charge of the machinery. These gentlemen were assisted by Mr. Temple, Mr. London, and eight experienced engineers and mechanists. A corps of Cable layers was furnished by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company.
Mr. Varley, chief electrician to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, was appointed to report on the laying of the Cable, and to see that the conditions of the contract were complied with. Associated with him was Professor W. Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S., of Glasgow. His staff was composed of Mr. Deacon, Mr. Medley, Mr. Trippe, and Mr. Perry.
Several young gentlemen interested in engineering and science were accommodated with a passage on board.
At noon on July 15th the Great Eastern, in charge of Mr. Moore, Trinity pilot, drawing 34 ft. 4 in. forward, and 28 ft. 6 in. aft, got up her anchor, and at midnight on July 16th was off the Lizard. On Monday, 17th, she came up with the screw steamer Caroline, freighted with 27 miles of the Irish shore end of the Cable, weighing 540 tons, and took her in tow. Then a gale set in, which gave occasion to the Great Eastern to show her fine qualities as a sea-boat when properly handled. Even those who were most prejudiced or most diffident, admitted that on that score no vessel could behave better. This trial gave every one, from Captain Anderson down, additional reason to be satisfied with the fitness of the great ship for the task on which she was engaged. Next day, Tuesday, July 18th, she encountered off the Irish coast a strong gale with high westerly sea, through which she ran at the rate of six knots an hour. The Caroline, which rolled so heavily and pitched so vigorously as to excite serious apprehensions, broke the tow rope in the course of the day, and ran for Valentia harbour, where she arrived safely, piloted by the Great Eastern; and the Great Eastern, passing inside the Skelligs, stood in close to Valentia Lighthouse, and sent a boat ashore to communicate. H.M.S. Terrible, Captain Napier, and H.M.S. Sphinx, Captain V. Hamilton, were visible in the offing, having sailed at the end of the previous week from Queenstown for the rendezvous, outside Valentia. Captain Anderson having fired a gun to announce his arrival, steamed for Berehaven, in Bantry Bay, and anchored inside the island on Wednesday morning, July 19th, in 17 fathoms. Here the Great Eastern lay, preparing for her greaterrand—perhaps, as it may prove, her exclusive “mission,”—on Thursday, 20th, Friday, 21st, and Saturday, 22nd July, whilst the Caroline was landing the shore end of the Cable in Foilhummerum Bay in Valentia. During her stay in Bantry Bay, many visitors, high and low, came on board the Great Ship, but it was believed all over the country that she was going to Foilhummerum. The greater portion of those anxious to see her made the best of their way to that secluded spot, to which there was once more attached an interest of a civilised character; for, if country legends be true, there must have been some regard paid to Foilhummerum Bay by no less a person than Oliver Cromwell, testified yet by the grey walls of a ruined fort, and traces of a moat and outer wall, on the greensward above the point which forms the northern entrance to the lonely bay. This crisp greensward, glistening with salt, lies in a thin crust over the cliffs, which rise sheerly from the sea some three or four hundred feet; and for what Oliver Cromwell or any one else could have erected a fortalice thereon, may well baffle conjecture, unless the builder, having a far-reaching mind, saw the importance of watching the most westerly portion of Europe, or anticipated the day when Valentia would be recognised as one of the landmarks created by the necessities of commercial and social existence. Taking advantage of the shelter afforded by a gradual descent inland of the soil, a few cabins have been placed by the natives—half-fishermen, half-husbandmen—Archytas-like, spanning land and sea, and making but poor subsistence from their efforts on both. The little bay, which is not much above a mile in length, contracts from a breadth of half so much, into a waterycul-de-sac, terminated by steep banks of shale, earth, and high cliff, furrowed by watercourses; and on the southernmost side it is locked in by the projecting ledges of rock forming the northern entrance to the Port Magee channel. It is so guarded from wind and sea, that on one side only is it open to their united action, but as the entrance looks nearly west, the full roll of the Atlantic may break in upon it when the wind is from that point; and indeed there is not wanting evidence that the wild ocean swell must tumble in there with frightful violence. Jagged fragments of masts and spars are wedged into the rocks immovably by the waves, and the cliffs are gnawed out by the restless teeth of the hungry water into deep caves. But then a sea from that point would run parallel with the line of the Cable, and would sweep along with and not athwart its course, so that the strands would not be driven to and fro and ground out against the bottom. Except for a couple of hundred feet near the shore at the top of this cove, indeed, the bottom is sandy, and the rocks inside the sand line were calculated to form a protection to the Cable, once deposited, as the greater part of its course lay through a channel which had been clearedof the boulders with the intention of rolling them back again at low water, to cover in the shore end. Lieutenant White, and the hardy and hard-working sailors of the Coastguard Station at Valentia, had been indefatigable in sounding and buoying out a channel from the beach clear out to sea, within which the Caroline was to drop the Cable. A few yards back from the cliff, at the head of the cove, the temporary Telegraph Station reared its proportions in imitation of a dwarf Brompton boiler—a building of wood much beslavered with tar and pitch, of exceeding plainness, and let us hope of corresponding utility. Inside were many of the adjuncts of comfort, not to speak of telegraphic luxury, galvanometers, wires, batteries, magnets, Siemens’s and B. A. unit cases, and the like, as well as properties which gave the place a false air of campaigning. A passage led from end to end, with rooms for living and sleeping in to the right and left, and an instrument room at the far extremity. Here, on a narrow platform, were the signal and speaking apparatus connected with the wires from the end of the Cable, which was secured inside the house. Outside the wires were carried by posts in the ordinary way to the station at Valentia, whence they were conveyed to Killarney, and placed in communication with the general Telegraphic system over the world. The Telegraphic staff and operators were lodged in primitive apartments like the sections of a Crimean hut, and did not possess any large personal facility for enjoying social intercourse with the outer world, although so much intelligence passed through their fingers. But Foilhummerum may in time become a place with something more real than a future. If vessels from the westward do not like to make their number outside, there is nothing to prevent their running into Valentia for the purpose, at all events. On the plateau between the station and the cliff, day after day hundreds of the country people assembled, and remained watching with exemplary patience for the Big Ship. They came from the mainland across Port Magee, or flocked in all kinds of boats from points along the coast, dressed in their best, and inclined to make the most of their holiday, and a few yachts came round from Cork and Bantry with less rustic visitors. Tents were soon improvised by the aid of sails, some cloths of canvas, and oars and boathooks, inside which bucolic refreshment could be obtained. Mighty pots of potatoes seethed over peat fires outside, and the reek from within came forth strongly suggestive of whisky and bacon. Flags fluttered—the Irish green, with harp, crown surmounted; Fitzgerald, green with its blazon of knight on horse rampant, and motto of “Malahar aboo”—faint suspicion of Stars and Stripes and Union Jack, and one temperance banner, audaciously mendacious, as it flaunted over John Barleycorn. Nor was music wanting. The fiddler and the piper had found out the island and the festive spot, and seated on a bank, played planxty and jig to acouple or two in the very limited circle formed in the soft earth by plastic feet or ponderous shoemasonry, around which, sitting and standing, was a dense crowd of spell-bound, delighted spectators. In the bay below danced the light canvas-covered canoe or coracle in which the native fishermen will face the mountain billows of the Atlantic when no other boat will venture forth; and large yawls filled with country people passed to and fro, and the bright groupings of colour formed on the cliffs and on the waters by the red, scarlet, and green shawls of the women and girls, lighted up the scene wonderfully.
T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. FOILHUMMERUM BAY, VALENCIA, LOOKING SEAWARDS FROM THE POINT AT WHICH THE CABLE REACHES THE SHORE.[larger view]T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. DudleyLondon, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.FOILHUMMERUM BAY, VALENCIA, LOOKING SEAWARDS FROM THE POINT AT WHICH THECABLE REACHES THE SHORE.
T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. THE CLIFFS FOILHUMMERUM BAY, POINT OF THE LANDING OF THE SHORE END OF CABLE JULY 22ND.[larger view]T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day &Sons, Limited, Lith.THE CLIFFS FOILHUMMERUM BAY, POINT OF THE LANDING OF THE SHORE END OFCABLE JULY 22ND.
It would be gratifying if in such a primitive spot one could shut his eyes to the painful evidence that the vices of civilisation—if they be so—had crept in and lapt the souls of the people in dangerous pleasures. But it could not be denied that the spirit of gambling and gourmandise were there. Seated in a ditch, with a board on their knees, four men were playing “Spoil Five” with cards, for discrimination of which a special gift must have been required; but they were as silent, eager, and grave, as though they had been Union or Portland champions contesting last trick and rub. Near them was one who summoned mankind to tempt capricious Fortune by means of an iron skewer, rotating an axis above a piece of tarpaulin stretched on a rude table, which was enlivened by rays of vivid colour. At the end of each ray was an object of art—the guerdon of success—an old penknife, brass tobacco-box, tooth-comb, thimble, wooden nutmeg, or the like. A very scarecrow professor of legerdemain and knavery hid his pea, and challenged detection, and divided public attention with a wizard who presided over a wooden circle with a spinning needle in the centre to point to radii, at end of which were copper moneys deposited by the adventurers, who generally saw them whisked off into the magician’s grimy pocket. An ancient woman, spinning, and guarding a basket of most atrabilious confectionery, and a stall garnished with buttons and gingerbread, completed the attractions of Foilhummerum during this festive time.