The Story of the Atlantic Cable

Sir Charles Bright

PART I INTRODUCTORY

PART II THE PIONEER LINE

PART III INTERMEDIATE KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCE

PART IV COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

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H.M.S. Agamemnon entering Valentia Bay with first Atlantic Cable. Frontispiece.
H.M.S. Agamemnon entering Valentia Bay with first Atlantic Cable. Frontispiece.

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THE STORY OF THE
ATLANTIC CABLE

BY
CHARLES BRIGHT
F. R. S. E., A. M. Inst. C. E., M. I. E. E.
AUTHOR OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHS, SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA, THE EVOLUTION OF THE
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, 1837-1897, THE LIFE STORY
OF SIR CHARLES TILSTON BRIGHT

WITH FIFTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1903

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PREFATORY NOTE

THE jubilee of Submarine Telegraphy having lately been achieved, and that connected with the Atlantic cable being somewhat close at hand, it has been thought a suitable moment for the appearance of this little volume.

In these days when the substitution of submarine cables by wireless telegraphy systems is a subject of common talk, it may be well to pause for a moment and contemplate the period of time covered by the gradual evolution of old and existing methods which at length achieved the result we now enjoy—a practical commercial telegraphic system between all the nations of the world, and notably between the United Kingdom and America.

By a somewhat curious coincidence the engineer of the first Atlantic cable accomplished his achievement at practically the same youthful age (twenty-six) as Mr. Marconi when first transmitting signals across the Atlantic without any intervening wires.

C. B.

21 Old Queen Street, Westminster, S. W.,
October, 1903.

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PART I
PAGE
	Introductory	13
PART II The Pioneer Line
CHAP.
I.	Evolution of Atlantic Telegraphy in America and England	27
II.	The Manufacture of the Line	46
III.	The First Start	61
IV.	Preparations for Another Attempt	74
V.	The Trial Trip	84
VI.	The Storm	89
VII.	The Renewed Effort	105
VIII.	“Finis Coronat Opus”	115
IX.	The Celebration	137
X.	Working the Line	144
XI.	The Inquest	155
PART III Intermediate Knowledge and Advance
XII.	Other Proposed Routes	161
XIII.	Experience, Investigation, and Progress	169
PART IV Commercial Success
XIV.	The 1865 Cable and Expedition	177
XV.	Second and Successful Attempt	188
XVI.	Recovery and Completion of the 1865 Cable	197
XVII.	Jubilations	208
XVIII.	Subsequent Atlantic Lines	212
XIX.	Atlantic Cable Systems of To-day	219

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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

	H.M.S. Agamemnon entering Valentia Bay with first Atlantic Cable Frontispiece
FIG.		PAGE
1.	Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1855	29
2.	The Brooke “Sounder”	32
3.	Specimen of the Ocean Bed	34
4.	John Watkins Brett, Charles Tilston Bright, Cyrus West Field—Projectors	38
5.	Manufacture of the Core	49
6.	Serving the Core with Hemp-Yarn	50
7.	Applying the Iron Sheathing	51
8.	The Deep-Sea Cable	52
9.	The Shore-End Cable	52
10.	Coiling the Finished Cable into the Factory Tanks	54
11.	U.S.N.S. Niagara	55
12.	The Paying-out Machine, 1857	57
13.	Coiling the Cable on Board	58
14.	Landing the Irish End of the Cable	63
15.	Reshipment of the Cable aboard H.M.S. Agamemnon and U.S.N.S. Niagara in Keyham Basin	75
16.	The Self-Releasing Brake	77
17.	The Principle of the Brake	78
18.	Bright’s Paying-out Gear, 1858	80
19.	The Reflecting Magnet	82
20.	Reflecting Galvanometer and Speaker	83
21.	Principle of the Reflecting Instrument	83
22.	Deck of H.M.S. Agamemnon with Paying-out Apparatus	84
23.	Stowage of the Cable Coil on the Niagara	85
24.	The Loading of the Agamemnon	85
25.	Experimental Maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay	88
26.	H.M.S. Agamemnon in a Storm	96
27.	The Agamemnon Storm: Coals Adrift	103
28.	In Collision with a Whale while Cable-Laying	123
29.	Landing the American End	133
30.	Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1858{10}	135
31.	Facsimile of the First Public News Message Received through the Atlantic Cable	150
32.	The North Atlantic Telegraph Project, 1860	162
33.	The North Atlantic Exploring Expedition, 1860	167
34.	The Main Cable, 1865-’66	180
35.	The Great Eastern at Sea	183
36.	Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern	185
37.	The Picking-up Machine, 1866	191
38.	Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms—and Men	193
39.	“Foul in Tank” while Paying-out	196
40.	S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second Atlantic Cable	199
41.	Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics Adopted for Picking up the 1865 Cable	203
42.	S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows	205
43.	Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea type	217
44.	Shore-End of the 1894 “Anglo” Cable	217
45.	Atlantic Cable Systems, 1903	221

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THE STORY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE

PREFATORY NOTE

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE STORY OF THE
ATLANTIC CABLE