{176}
CHAPTER XIV
THE 1865 CABLE AND EXPEDITION
Fresh Efforts and Funds—The Contractors’ Share—Design and Construction—Provisions for Laying—S.S. Great Eastern—Sailing Staff—Landing the Irish End—Another Bad Start.
Fresh Efforts and Funds.—Though their cable had ceased to work, the Atlantic Telegraph Company was kept alive by the promoters.
In 1862 the Government was prevailed on to despatch H.M.S. Porcupine to further examine the ocean floor 300 miles out from the coasts of Ireland and Newfoundland, respectively.
It took a considerable time to raise the full amount of capital required for another Atlantic cable, for this could only be done gradually. The great civil war in America stimulated capitalists to renew the undertaking. One of the main advantages adduced was, on this occasion as before, the avoidance of misunderstandings between the two countries. Another—intended by Mr. Cyrus Field as a special inducement to his fellow countrymen—was the improvement of the agricultural position of the United States, by extending to it the facilities already enjoyed by France of commanding the foreign grain-markets.[57] On this{178} account the project was warmly supported by John Bright and other eminent free-traders.
Mr. Field, however, met with as little success in obtaining pecuniary support in the States as he had in connection with the previous line. His brother, Mr. H. M. Field, writes:
The summer of this year (1862) Mr. Field spent in America, where he applied himself vigorously to raising capital for the new enterprise. To this end he visited Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Albany, and Buffalo, to address meetings of merchants and others. He used to amuse us with the account of his visit to the first city, where he was honored with the attendance of a large array of “the solid men of Boston,” who listened with an attention that was most flattering to the pride of the speaker addressing such an assemblage in the capital of his native State. There was no mistaking the interest they felt in the subject. They went still further; they passed a series of resolutions, in which they applauded the projected telegraph across the ocean as one of the grandest enterprises ever undertaken by man, which they proudly commended to the confidence and support of the American public. After this they went home feeling that they had done the generous thing in bestowing upon it such a mark of their approbation. But not a man subscribed a dollar.
In point of fact, as before, the cable of 1865—as well as that of 1866—was provided for out of English pockets. Let us now substantiate this statement by a glance at events. The late Mr. Thomas Brassey was the first to be appealed to in England, and he supported the venture nobly. Then Mr. Pender[58] was applied to, and here also substantial aid was forthcoming. Both{179} these gentlemen had joined the board of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, which had just been formed (in April, 1864) as the result of an amalgamation of the Gutta-Percha Company and Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co. Mr. Pender, who had been largely instrumental in effecting this combination, became the first chairman.
The Contractors’ Share.—Shortly after the first Atlantic cable was laid, Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co. availed themselves of the services of Mr. Canning and Mr. Clifford, whose engagements on Sir Charles Bright’s staff for the “Atlantic” Company had terminated. Thus, with an additional staff of electricians, they had placed themselves in a position to undertake direct contracts for laying, as well as manufacturing, submarine telegraphs. They had, indeed, carried out work of this character in the Mediterranean during the year 1860; and on the amalgamation of the two businesses above mentioned into a limited liability company, their position was still further strengthened.
The capital raised for the new cable by the Atlantic Telegraph Company was £600,000; and, by agreeing to take a considerable proportion of their payment in “Atlantic” shares, the contractors practically found more than half of this amount. In the result, the undertaking became a contractors’ affair from first to last.
Design and Construction.—It will be seen that the new cable was to be an expensive one as compared with that of 1857-’58. It was the outcome of six years’ further experience, during which several important lines, referred to in the last chapter, had been laid. It also followed upon the{180} exhaustive Government inquiry to which allusion has been made.
The actual type adopted (Fig. 34), on the recommendation of Sir Charles Bright and other engineers who were additionally consulted, was much the same in respect to the conductor and insulator—300 pounds copper to 400 pounds gutta-percha per nautical mile—as that which the former had suggested for the previous Atlantic line. This combination for the length involved was based on Professor Thomson’s law for the working speed of a cable, as depending inversely on the resistance of the conductor as well as on the electrostatic capacity of the core. The armor consisted of a combination of iron and hemp, each wire being enveloped in manila yarns. The object of incasing the separate wires in hemp was (1) to protect them from rust due to exposure to air and water, and (2) to reduce the specific gravity of the cable, with a view to rendering it more capable of supporting its own weight in{181} water. This form of cable, bearing a stress of about eight tons,[59] and suspending eleven miles of itself, was considered by most of the authorities at that period to perfectly fulfil the conditions required for deep-sea lines.[60] The claims of light hempen cables, without any iron, had been urged for meeting the difficulty of lay and recovery in deep water; and this type formed a sort of compromise, its total diameter being 1.1 inch, weighing 1 ton 16 hundredweight in air, and only 14 hundredweight in water. The shore end was to have a further outer sheathing of twelve strands, each strand containing three stout galvanized-iron wires of No. 2 B.W.G., bringing the weight up to 20 tons per mile. This was to be joined on to the main deep-sea type by a gradually tapering length of twenty-five fathoms.
Arrangements for Laying.—It was determined that this time the cable must be laid in one length, with the exception of the shore ends, by a single vessel. There was but one ship that could carry such a cargo. This ship was the Great Eastern, the conception of that distinguished engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel. She was in course of construction by the late Mr. Scott Russell at the time of the first cable, and it was a subject for regret that she was not then available. An enormous craft of 22,500 tons, she did not prove suitable at that time as a cargo-boat; and the laying of{182} the second Atlantic cable was the first piece of useful work she did, after lying more or less idle for nearly ten years.[61] It is sad to think of the way this poor old ship was metaphorically passed from hand to hand. Even at this period three separate companies had already been formed one after another to work her. As promoter and chairman of one of these, Mr. (afterward Sir Daniel) Gooch took an active part in arranging for her charter on this undertaking, and it was in this way that he became a prominent party in the enterprise.
All the cable machinery was fitted to the Great Eastern, on behalf of the Telegraph Construction Company, by Mr. Henry Clifford to the designs of Mr. Canning and himself. It was constructed and set up by the famous firm of engineers, Messrs. John Penn & Son, of Greenwich. In the main principles the apparatus employed was similar to that previously adopted in 1858 on the Agamemnon and Niagara. There were, however, several modifications introduced, as the result of the extra experience gained during the seven years’ interval. The main point of difference was the further application of jockeys to the paying-out gear in a more complete form.
As it was not practicable to moor so enormous a vessel off the works at East Greenwich, the cable had to be cut into lengths and coiled on two pontoons, and thence transferred to the big ship.
Fig. 35.—The Great Eastern at Sea.
Fig. 35.—The Great Eastern at Sea.
Landing the Irish End.—At length all the{183} cable having been manufactured and shipped from the Greenwich works, the Great Eastern, under the command of Captain (later Sir James) Anderson,[62] left the Thames on July 23, 1865, with a total dead weight of 21,000 tons, and proceeded to Foilhommerun Bay, Valentia. Here she joined up her cable to the shore end, which had been laid a day earlier by S.S. Caroline, a small vessel chartered and fitted up for the purpose. The great ship then started paying out as she steamed away on her journey to America, escorted by two British men-of-war, the Terrible and the Sphinx.
The Sailing Staff.—On behalf of the contractors, Mr. (afterward Sir Samuel) Canning was the engineer in charge of the expedition, with Mr. Henry Clifford as his chief assistant. As we have seen, both these gentlemen had been engaged with Sir Charles Bright on the first line, besides having much experience in mechanical engineering as well as in cable work. On the contractors’ engineering staff there were also Mr. John Temple and Mr. Robert London. Mr. C. V. de Sauty served as chief electrician, assisted by Mr. H. A. C. Saunders and several others. By arrangement with the Admiralty, Staff-Commander H. A. Moriarty, R.N., acted as the navigator of the expedition. Captain Moriarty was possessed of great skill in this direction, a fact which had been made clear in the previous undertaking.
Fig. 36.—Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern.
Fig. 36.—Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern.
The Atlantic Telegraph Company was represented on board by Professor Thomson and Mr. C. F. Varley as electricians, the former acting{185} mainly as scientific expert in a consultative sense. Mr. Willoughby Smith, the electrician to the Gutta-Percha Works, was also on board at the request of the contractors, though holding no exact official position. Both Mr. Field and Mr. Gooch accompanied the expedition, the former as the initial promoter of the enterprise, and the latter on behalf of the Great Eastern Company. Representing the press there were also on board Dr. (afterward Sir W. H.) Russell, the well-known correspondent of The Times, as the historian of the enterprise, and Mr. Robert Dudley, an artist of repute, who produced several excellent sketches of the work in its different stages for the Illustrated London News.
A Bad Start.—Unfortunately trouble soon arose. The first fault declared itself the day after starting, when eighty-four miles had been paid out. It was decided to pick up back to the fault, which was discovered after ten and a half miles had been brought on board. A piece of iron wire was found to have pierced the cable diametrically, so as to make contact between the sea and the conductor. The faulty portion was cut out, and the paying out resumed as soon as the cable was spliced up again. On July 29th, when 716 miles had been laid, another and more serious fault appeared. The arduous operation of picking up again commenced. After nine hours’ work the fault was safe inboard, and the necessary repair effected. On stripping the cable another piece of iron wire was discovered sticking right through the core. Anxiety and misgivings were now felt by all on board, for it seemed that such reverses could only be attributed to malevolence. On{187} August 2d yet a further fault was reported; they were now two-thirds of the way across, 1,186 miles of cable being already laid. Again they had to pick up, and this time in a depth of 2,000 fathoms. One mile only had been recovered, when an accident of some kind happened to the machinery. The great ship, having stopped, was at the mercy of the wind and swell, and heavy strains were brought on the cable, which consequently suffered badly in two places. Before the two injured portions could be secured on board the cable parted and sank. Mr. Canning at once decided to endeavor to recover the cable, notwithstanding the fact that it lay in 2,000 fathoms. After maneuvering in this way for about fifteen hours, 700 fathoms of rope had been hove in, when one of the connecting links gave way, and all beyond it sank to the bottom. The work was recommenced with hempen ropes, two miles farther west, in a depth of 2,300 fathoms, and on August 8th the cable was again hooked; but when raised to within 1,500 fathoms of the surface, yet another connecting link parted, the strain being about nine tons. Two more attempts were made, but both were doomed to end in failure. The store of rope being now quite exhausted, the work had to be abandoned, and on August 11, 1865, the fleet of ships parted company to return home—shattered in hopes as well as in ropes!{188}
CHAPTER XV
SECOND AND SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
Further Funds—Fresh Provisions—New Picking-up Machine—Staff—Cable-Laying again—Success.
THE results of the last expedition, disastrous as they were from a financial point of view, in no wise abated the courage of the promoters of the enterprise. During the heaviest weather the Great Eastern had shown exceptional “stiffness,” while her great size and her maneuvering power (afforded by the screw and paddles combined) seemed to show her to be the very type of vessel for this kind of work. The picking-up gear, it was true, had proved insufficient, but with the paying-out machinery no serious fault was to be found. The feasibility of grappling in mid-Atlantic had been demonstrated, and they had gone far toward proving the possibility of recovering the cable from similar depths.
Further Funds.—To overcome financial difficulties, the Atlantic Telegraph Company was amalgamated with a new concern, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, which was formed, mainly by those interested in the older business, with the object of raising fresh capital for the new and double ventures of 1866. The ultimate capital of this company amounted (as before) to £600,000. In raising this, Mr. Field first secured the support of the late Sir Daniel{189} Gooch, M.P., then chairman, and previously locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway Company, who, after what he had seen on the previous expedition, promised, if necessary, to subscribe as much as £20,000. On the same conditions, Mr. Brassey expressed his willingness to bear one-tenth of the total cost of the undertaking. Ultimately, the Telegraph Construction Company led off with £100,000, this amount being followed by the signatures of ten directors interested in the contract (as guarantors) at £10,000 apiece. Then there were four subscriptions of £5,000, and some of £2,500 to £1,000, principally from firms participating in the subcontracts. These sums were all subscribed before even the prospectus was issued or the books opened to the public. The remaining capital then quickly followed.
The Telegraph Construction Company, in undertaking the entire work, were to receive £500,000 for the new cable in any case; and, if it succeeded, an extra £100,000. If both cables came into successful operation, the total amount payable to them was to be £737,140. In fact, it was, if possible, even more of a contractor’s enterprise than that of 1865.
It was now proposed not only to lay a new cable between Ireland and Newfoundland, but also to repair and complete the one lying at the bottom of the sea. A length of 1,600 miles of cable was ordered from the contractors. Thus, with the unexpended cable from the last expedition, the total length available when the expedition started would be 2,730 miles, of which 1,960 miles were allotted to the new cable, and 697 to complete the old one, leaving 113 miles as a reserve.{190}
Fresh Provisions.—The new main cable was similar to that of the year before, but the shore-end cable determined on in this case was of a different description. It had only one sheathing, consisting of twelve contiguous iron wires of great individual surface and weight; and outside all a covering of tarred hemp and compound. That part of the line which was intended for shallow depths was composed of three different types. Starting from the coast of Ireland, eight miles of the heaviest was to be laid, then eight miles of an intermediate type, and lastly fourteen miles of a lighter type, making thirty miles of shoal-water cable on the Irish side. Five miles of shallow-water cable, of the different types named, were considered sufficient on the Newfoundland coast.
The previous paying-out machinery on board the Great Eastern was altered to some extent by Messrs. Penn to the instructions of Messrs. Canning & Clifford. Though different in detail, the main improvement over the 1865 gear consisted in the fact that a 70-horse-power steam-engine was fitted to drive the two large drums in such a way that the paying-out machinery, as in 1858, could be used to pick up cable during the laying, if necessary, thereby avoiding the risk incurred by changing the cable from the stern to the bows. This addition of Penn trunk-engines, as well as the general strengthening of the entire machinery, was made in accordance with the designs of Mr. Henry Clifford.
Fig. 37.—The Picking-up Machine, 1866.
Fig. 37.—The Picking-up Machine, 1866.
The picking-up machinery forward (Fig. 37) after the previous expedition was considerably strengthened and improved with spur-wheels and pinion-gearing. It had two drums worked by a{191} similar pair of 70-horse-power engines. This formed an exceedingly powerful machine, and reflected great credit on those who devised and constructed it.
Similar gear was fitted up on board the two vessels—S.S. Medway and S.S. Albany—chartered to assist the Great Eastern.
For the purpose of grappling the 1865 cable, twenty miles of rope were manufactured, which was constituted by forty-nine iron wires, separately covered with manila hemp. Six wires so served were laid up strandwise round a seventh, which formed the heart, or core, of the rope. This rope would stand a longitudinal stress of 30 tons before breaking.
In addition, five miles of buoy-rope were provided, besides buoys of different shapes and sizes, the largest of which (Fig. 38) would support a weight of twenty tons. As on the previous expedition, several kinds of grapnels were put on board, some of the ordinary sort, and some with springs to prevent the cable surging, and thus escaping while the grapnel was still dragging on the bottom; others, again, were fashioned like pincers, to hold (or jam) the cable when raised to a required height, or else to cut it only, and so take off a large proportion of the strain previous to picking up. Most of this apparatus was furnished by Messrs. Brown, Lenox & Co., the famous chain, cable, anchor, and buoy engineers, several of the grapnels being to their design, as well as the “connections.”
The propelling machinery of the Great Eastern had similarly received alteration and improvement in the intervals of the two expeditions. Moreover,{193} the screw propeller was surrounded with an iron cage, to keep the cable and ropes from fouling it, as had been provided for the Agamemnon and Niagara in 1857.
Fig. 38.—Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms—and Men.
Fig. 38.—Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms—and Men.
The testing arrangements had been perfected by Mr. Willoughby Smith in such a way that insulation readings could be continuously observed,{194} even while measuring the copper resistance, or while exchanging signals with Valentia. Thus there was no longer any danger of a fault being paid overboard without instant detection. On this occasion also condensers were applied to the receiving-end of the cable, having the effect of very materially increasing—indeed, sometimes almost doubling—the working speed.
On June 30, 1866, the Great Eastern, steaming from the Thames—followed by the Medway and Albany—arrived at Valentia, where H.M.S. Terrible and Racoon were found, under orders to accompany the expedition. The Medway had on board forty-five miles of deep-sea cable in addition to the American shore end.
The principal members of the staff acting on behalf of the contractors in this expedition were the same as in that of the previous year. Mr. Canning was again in charge, with Mr. Clifford and Mr. Temple as his chief assistants. In the electrical department, however, the Telegraph Construction Company had since secured the services of Mr. Willoughby Smith as their chief electrician, while he still acted in that capacity at the Wharf Road Gutta-Percha Works. Mr. Smith, therefore, accompanied the expedition as chief electrician to the contractors. Captain James Anderson and Staff-Commander H. A. Moriarty, R.N., were once more to be seen on board the great ship, the former as her captain, and the latter as navigating officer. Professor Thomson was aboard as consulting electrical adviser to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, while Mr. C. F. Varley was ashore at Valentia as their electrician. Sir Charles Bright (then M.P. for{195} Greenwich) was at this period serving on various committees of the House of Commons;[63] but his partner, Mr. Latimer Clark, took up quarters at Valentia to personally represent the firm as consulting engineers to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. Mr. J. C. Laws and Mr. Richard Collett[64] being respectively aboard and ashore at the Newfoundland end in the same interests. Mr. Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph Construction Company, was ashore at Valentia for the purpose of giving any instructions to his (the contractor’s) staff on board, while Mr. Gooch and Mr. Field were aboard the Great Eastern as onlookers and watchers of their individual interests.
Cable-Laying again.—On July 7th the William Cory—commonly known as the Dirty Billy—landed the shore end in Foilhommerum Bay, and afterward laid twenty-seven miles of the intermediate cable. On the 13th, the Great Eastern took the end on board, and having spliced on to her cable on board, started paying out. The track followed was parallel to that taken the year before, but about twenty-seven miles farther north. There were two instances of fouls in the tank, due to broken wires catching neighboring turns and flakes, and thus drawing up a whole bundle of cable in an apparently inextricable mass of kinks and twists quite close to the brake-drum. In{196} each case the ship was promptly got to a standstill and all hands set to unraveling the tangle. With a certain amount of luck, coupled with much care, neither accident ended fatally; and, after straightening out the wire as far as possible, paying out was resumed.
Fig. 39.—“Foul in Tank” while Paying out.
Fig. 39.—“Foul in Tank” while Paying out.
Successful Completion.—Fourteen days after starting the Great Eastern arrived off Heart’s Content,[65] Trinity Bay, where the Medway joined on and landed the shore end partly by boats, thus bringing to a successful conclusion this part of the expedition. The total length of cable laid was 1,852 nautical miles; average depth, 1,400 fathoms. Rejoicings then took place during the{197} coaling of the Great Eastern—to provide for which as many as six coal-laden steamers had left Cardiff some weeks before. The rejoicings were somewhat damped by the fact that the cable between Newfoundland and Cape Breton (Nova Scotia) still remained interrupted, and that consequently the entire telegraphic system was not even now completed. However, in the course of a few days this line was repaired, and New York and the east of the United States and Canada were once more put into telegraphic communication with Europe.
The telegraphic fleet put to sea again on August 9th.
CHAPTER XVI
RECOVERY AND COMPLETION OF THE 1865 CABLE
Prospects and Plans—Setting to Work—Repeated Failures—Ultimate Triumph—Electricians Ashore—“Spot-watching”—“Putting-through”—Pioneering—Working the Lines.
Prospects and Plans.—It now remained to find the end of the cable lost on August 2, 1865, situated about 604 miles from Newfoundland, to pick it up, splice on to the cable remaining on board, and finish the work so unfortunately interrupted the year before. The difficulties to be overcome can be readily imagined, the cable lying 2,000 fathoms without mark of any kind to indicate its position. The buoys put down after the accident{198} had long since disappeared, either their moorings having dragged during various gales of wind, or the wire ropes which held them having chafed through, owing to incessant rise and fall at the bottom. The position of the lost end had to be determined by astronomical observations. These necessitate clear weather, and can then only give approximate results on account of the variable ocean currents, which sometimes flow at the rate of three knots. Moreover, for grappling and raising the cable to the bows, the sea must be tolerably smooth; and in that part where the work lay a succession of fine days is rare, even in the month of August. However, they still had on board Captain Moriarty, one of the ablest navigators in the world. Added to this, the greater portion of the cable in deep water had been paid out with about 15 per cent slack.
The chiefs of the expedition, fully confident of success, hastened their preparations, and on August 9, 1866, the Great Eastern again put to sea, accompanied by S.S. Medway. On the 12th the vessels arrived on the scene of action, and joined company with H.M.S. Terrible and S.S. Albany, these vessels having left Heart’s Content Bay a week in advance to buoy the line of the 1865 cable and commence grappling.
The plan decided on was to drag for the cable near the end with all three ships at once. The cable when raised to a certain height, was to be cut by the Medway stationed to the westward of the Great Eastern, so as to enable the latter vessel to lift the Valentia end on board. This was, of course, before the days of cutting and holding grapnels as we now have them, which render it{199} possible for a single ship to effect repairs—even where it is out of the question to recover the cable in one bight.
Fig. 40.—S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second Atlantic Cable.
Fig. 40.—S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second Atlantic Cable.
Setting to Work: Repeated Failures.—When the Great Eastern arrived on the grappling ground, the Albany (with Mr. Temple in engineering charge) had already hooked and buoyed the cable, but the buoy-chain having been carried away, they not only lost the cable, but 2,000 fathoms of wire rope besides. On August 13th the Great Eastern made her first drag, about fifteen miles from the end, and, after several vain attempts, the cable was finally hooked and lifted about 1,300 fathoms. During the operation of buoying the grappling rope, a mistake occurred which resulted in the rope slipping overboard and going to the bottom.
The Great Eastern now proceeded six miles to the eastward, and commenced a new drag, for raking the ocean bed with 2,400 fathoms of wire rope. About eleven o’clock at night the grapnel came to the surface with the cable caught on two of the prongs. Boats were quickly in position alongside the grapnel. Shortly afterward they were endeavoring to secure the cable to the strong wire rope, by means of a nipper, when the grapnel canted, allowing the line to slip away from the prongs—like a great eel—and disappear into the sea. On the 19th the cable was once more hooked, and raised about a mile from the bottom, but the sea was too rough for buoying it. During the following week all three vessels dragged for the cable at different points, according to the plan previously arranged, but the weather was unfavorable, and the cable was not hooked—or, if{201} hooked, had managed to slip away from the grapnels. The ship’s company about this time became discouraged—in fact, more and more convinced of the futility of their efforts.
On the 27th the Albany signaled that they had got the cable on board with a strain of only three tons, and had buoyed the end, but it was soon discovered that her buoy was thirteen miles from the track of the cable, and that she had recovered a length of three miles which had been purposely paid overboard a few days before. Shifting ground to the eastward about fifteen miles, the vessels were now working in a depth of 2,500 fathoms. As the store of grappling rope was diminishing day by day, and the fine season rapidly coming to an end, it was decided to proceed at once eighty miles farther east, where the depth was not expected to exceed 1,900 fathoms, and there try a last chance.
Ultimate Triumph.—After the above repeated failures, the cable was hooked on August 31st by the Great Eastern (when the grapnel had been lowered for the thirtieth time), and picking up commenced in very calm weather. The monster vessel did her work admirably. To quote the words of an eye-witness: “So delicately did she answer her helm, and coil in the film of thread-like cable, that she put one in mind of an elephant taking up a straw in its proboscis.” When the bight of cable was about 900 fathoms from the surface, the grappling-rope was buoyed. The big ship then proceeded to grapple three miles west of the buoy (Fig. 41), and the Medway (with Mr. London on board) another two miles or so west of her again. The cable was soon once{202} more hooked by both ships, and when the Medway had raised her bight to within 300 fathoms of the surface she was ordered to break it. The Great Eastern having stopped picking up when the bight was 800 fathoms from the surface, proceeded to resume the operation as soon as the intentional rupture of the cable had eased the strain, which, with a loose end of about two nautical miles, at once fell from 10 or 11 tons to 5 tons. Slowly, but surely, and amid breathless silence, the long-lost cable made its appearance at last (see opposite), for the third time above water, a little before one o’clock (early morn) of September 2d.[66]
Two hours afterward the precious end was on board, and signals were immediately exchanged with Valentia. This was at once led into the testing-room, where Mr. Willoughby Smith, in the presence of all the leaders on board, applied the tests which were to determine the important question regarding the condition of the cable, and whether it was entirely continuous to each end. In a few minutes all suspense was relieved, the tests showed the cable to be healthy and complete, and immediately afterward (in response to the ship’s call) the answering signals were received from the Valentia end, which were received with loud cheers that echoed and reechoed throughout the great ship.
Electricians Ashore: “Spot-watching.”—Let us now look at those patiently watching day after day, night after night, in the wooden telegraph cabin on shore, the experience of whom may be taken as a fair sample of that of the electrician{203} ashore during repairing operations in the present day.
Fig. 41.—Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics Adopted for Picking up the 1865 Cable. A—Point where cable was buoyed by the Great Eastern. B—Point where cable was broken by the Medway. C—Bight of cable ultimately brought to surface by Great Eastern.
Fig. 41.—Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics Adopted for Picking up the 1865 Cable.
A—Point where cable was buoyed by the Great Eastern.
B—Point where cable was broken by the Medway.
C—Bight of cable ultimately brought to surface by Great Eastern.
Such a length of time had elapsed since the expedition left Newfoundland that the staff at Foilhommerum, under the superintendence of Mr. James Graves, felt they were almost hoping against hope. Suddenly, on a Sunday morning at a quarter to six, while the tiny ray of light from the reflecting instrument was being watched, the operator observed it moving to and fro upon the scale. A few minutes later the unsteady flickering was changed to coherency. The long-speechless cable began to talk, and the welcome assurance arrived, “Ship to shore; I have much pleasure in speaking to you through the 1865 cable. Just going to make splice.” Glad tidings were also sent from the ship via Valentia to London, and, by means of the 1866 cable, to Newfoundland and New York. Thus it happened that those being tossed about in a stormy sea held conversation{204} with Europe and America at one and the same time.[67]
“Putting Through.”—The recovered end was spliced on without delay to the cable on board, and the same morning at seven o’clock the Great Eastern started paying out about 680 nautical miles of cable toward Newfoundland. On September 8th, when only thirteen miles from the Bay of Heart’s Content, just after receiving a summary of the news in The Times of that morning, the tests showed a fault in the cable. The mischief was soon found to be on board the ship, and caused by the end of a broken wire, which, bending at right angles under the weight of the men employed in the tanks, had been forced into the core. This occurrence explained the probable cause of the faults (of same character) which had shown themselves during paying out the year before, tending to remove all suspicion of malicious intent. The faulty portion having been cut out, and the splice made without delay, paying out again proceeded, finishing the same day at eleven o’clock in the forenoon. The Medway immediately set to work laying the shore end, and that evening a second line of communication across the Atlantic was completed. The total length of this cable, commenced in 1865, was 1,896 miles; average depth, 1,900 fathoms.
Fig. 42.—S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows; Depth, 2 Miles.
Fig. 42.—S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows; Depth, 2 Miles.
Pioneering.—The main feature and accomplishment in connection with the second and third Atlantic cables of 1865 and 1866 was, without doubt, the recovery of the former in deeper water{205} than had ever been before effected, and in the open ocean; just as in the first 1858 line it was the demonstration of the fact that a cable could be successfully laid in such a depth and worked through electrically. In the interval between the two undertakings cable repairs had certainly been carried out in the Mediterranean in 1,400 fathoms. Moreover, the recovery and repair of a cable from the depths of the open ocean are now matters of ordinary every-day occurrence, forming part and parcel of cable operations generally. These facts should not, however, in any way detract from the greatness of the achievement at that time in so vast and boisterous an ocean.
Working the Two Lines.—Professor Thomson’s reflecting-apparatus for testing and signaling had been considerably improved since the first cable. In illustration of the degree of sensibility and perfection attained at this period in the appliances for working the line, the following experiment is of striking interest: Mr. Latimer Clark, who went to Valentia to test the cable for the “Atlantic” Company, had the conductor of the two lines joined together at the Newfoundland end, thus forming an unbroken length of 3,700 miles in circuit. He then placed some pure sulfuric acid in a silver thimble,[68] with a fragment of zinc weighing a grain or two. By this primitive agency he succeeded in conveying signals twice through the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean in little more than a second of time after making contact. The deflections were not of a dubious character,{207} but full and strong, the spot of light traversing freely over a space of twelve inches or more, from which it was manifest that an even smaller battery would suffice to produce somewhat similar effects. Again, in testing these cables it was found that if either was disconnected from the earth and charged with electricity, it required more than an hour for half of the charge to escape through the insulating material to the earth. This speaks well for the electrical components assigned to the two lines, and for the arrangements adopted in working them. It also shows the benefit derived from seven years’ extra experience in manufacture, backed up by the previously mentioned exhaustive Government inquiry thereon.
Notwithstanding the dimensions of the core, these cables were worked slowly at first, and at a rate of about eight words per minute. This, however, soon improved as the staff became more accustomed to the apparatus, and steadily increased up to fifteen—and even seventeen—words per minute on each line, with the application of condensers.
Unfortunately both these cables broke down a few months later, and one of them again during the following year. The faults were localized with great accuracy from Heart’s Content by Mr. F. Lambert on behalf of Messrs. Bright & Clark, engineers to the “Anglo-American” Company.
Unlike the 1858 line, however, these last cables had not been killed electrically, and, being worthy of repairs, they were maintained for a considerable time.{208}
CHAPTER XVII
JUBILATIONS
ON the return of the 1866 Expedition a banquet was given to the cable-layers by the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, as soon as the Great Eastern was safely moored in the Mersey.
The following from The Times will be of some interest here:
The chair was occupied by the Rt. Hon. Sir Stafford Northcote, Bart.,[69] President of the Board of Trade. The following were among the invited guests: the Rt. Hon. Lord Stanley, M.P., Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; the Rt. Hon. Lord Carnarvon; the Rt. Rev. the Lord Bishop of Chester; the Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P.; Sir Charles Bright, M.P., original projector of the Atlantic cable, and Engineer to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company; Prof. W. Thomson, electrical adviser to the Atlantic Telegraph Company; Mr. Latimer Clark, coengineer with Sir Charles Bright; Mr. R. A. Glass, managing director to the Telegraph Construction Company (contractors); Mr. Samuel Canning, engineer to the contractors; Mr. Henry Clifford, assistant engineer to the contractors; Mr. Willoughby Smith, electrician to the contractors; Captain James Anderson, commander of the Great Eastern; Mr. William Barber, chairman of the Great Ship Company; Mr. John Chatterton, manager of the Gutta-Percha Works; Mr. E. B. Bright, Magnetic{209} Telegraph Company; Mr. T. B. Horsfall, M.P.; and Mr. John Laird, M.P.
After proposing toasts to Her Majesty the Queen, to the President of the United States, and to the Prince of Wales, the chairman (Sir S. Northcote) again rose amid applause, and said it was a maxim of a great Roman poet that a great work should be begun by plunging into the middle of the subject. He would therefore do so by proposing a toast to the projectors of the Atlantic Telegraph—Sir Charles Bright and Mr. Cyrus Field, Mr. J. W. Brett having since unfortunately died. When they came in after years to relate the history of this cable, they would find many who had contributed to it, but it would be as impossible to say who were the originators of the great invention as it was to say who were the first inventors of steam. He begged to couple with the toast the name of Sir Charles Bright, as, perhaps, the foremost representative from all points of view up to the present time (applause). The greatest honor is due to the indomitable perseverance and energy of Sir Charles Bright that the original cable was successfully laid, though, through no fault of his, it had but a short useful existence (great cheering).
Sir Charles Bright, M.P., after acknowledging the compliment paid to the “original projectors” and to himself personally, said that the idea of laying a cable across the Atlantic was the natural outcome of the success which was attained in carrying short lines under the English and Irish Channels, and was a common subject of discussion among those concerned in telegraph extension prior to the formation of the Atlantic Telegraph Company.
About ten years ago the science had sufficiently advanced to permit of the notion assuming a practical form. Soundings taken in the Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland proved that the bottom was soft, and that no serious currents or abrading agencies existed, for the minute and fragile shells brought up by the sounding-line were perfect and uninjured.
There only remained the proof that electricity could{210} be employed through so vast a length of conductor. Upon this point and the best mode of working such a line, he had been experimenting for several years. He had carried on a series of investigations which resulted in establishing the fact that messages could be practically passed through an unbroken circuit of more than 2,000 miles of insulated wire, a notion derided at that time by many distinguished authorities. Mr. Wildman Whitehouse, who subsequently became electrician to the company, had been likewise engaged. On comparing notes later, it was discovered that we had arrived at similar results, though holding somewhat different views, for his (Sir C. Bright’s) calculations, using other instruments, led him to believe that a conductor nearly four times the size of that adopted would be desirable with a slightly thicker insulator. It was this type which the new cables just laid had been furnished with.
In 1856, Mr. Cyrus Field—to whom the world was as much indebted for the establishment of the line as to any man—came over to England upon the completion of the telegraph between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. He then joined with the late Mr. Brett and himself (Sir C. Bright) with the view of extending this system to Europe, and they mutually agreed, as also did Mr. Whitehouse later, to carry out the undertaking. A meeting was first held in Liverpool, and in the course of a few days their friends had subscribed the necessary capital. So that in greeting those who had just returned from the last expedition—Mr. Canning, Mr. Clifford, Captain Anderson, and other guests of the evening—Liverpool was fitly welcoming those who had accomplished the crowning success of an enterprise to which at the outset she had so largely contributed (applause).
The circumstances connected with the first cable would be in the recollection of every one, and, although the loss was considerable, the experience gained was of no small moment. A few months after the old line had ceased to work, their chairman (Sir S. Northcote) consulted him on behalf of the Government as to the best form of cable for connecting us telegraphically with{211} Gibraltar, and he (Sir C. Bright) did not hesitate to recommend the same type of conductor and insulator which he had himself before suggested for the Atlantic line—a higher speed being desirable. This class of conductor in the newly laid Atlantic cable appeared likely to give every satisfaction, he was happy to say, and the mechanical construction of the cable, also the same as that he had previously specified for the Gibraltar line, appeared to have admirably met some of the difficulties experienced in cable operations.
The credit attached to these second and third Atlantic cables must mainly rest with the Telegraph Construction Company (formerly Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co.) and their staff, inasmuch as in this case the responsibility rested with them throughout. The directors—including Mr. Glass, Mr Elliot, Mr. Gooch, Mr. Pender, Mr. Barclay, and Mr. Brassey—deserved the reward which they and the shareholders would no doubt reap. To Mr. Glass, upon whom the principal responsibility of the manufacture devolved, the greatest praise was due for his indomitable perseverance in the enterprise. Then the art of insulating the conducting-wire had been so wonderfully improved by Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Willoughby Smith, that, nowadays, a very feeble electrical current was sufficient to work the longest circuits, an enormous advance on the state of affairs nine years previously. Again, they must not forget how much of the success now attained was due to Professor Thomson and his delicate signaling-apparatus, the advantages of which have since 1858 been more firmly established. Mr. Varley had also done most useful work since becoming electrician to the “Atlantic” Company. Moreover, he (Sir C. Bright) hoped the active personal services of his partner, Mr. Latimer Clark, would not be forgotten.
It was satisfactory to find that the cables were already being worked at a very large profit. This system would doubtless be quadrupled within a short period, when the land-lines on the American side were improved (hear, hear, and applause). With this commercial success—combined with the improvements introduced into submarine{212} cables, and the power of picking up and repairing them from vast depths—there was a future for submarine telegraphy to which scarcely any bounds could be imagined. A certain amount had already been done, but China and Japan, Australia and New Zealand, South America and the West India Islands, must all be placed within speaking-distance of England. When this last has been accomplished, but not till then, telegraphic engineers might take a short rest from their labors and ask with some little pride:
Quoe regio in terris nostri non plena laboris? (loud applause).
Then followed speeches from Lord Stanley, the American Consul (on behalf of Mr. Cyrus Field), and others.
Honors were subsequently bestowed on some of the various gentlemen most immediately concerned in these—at last—wholly successful undertakings of 1865 and 1866, which left their results behind in complete and lasting form.
CHAPTER XVIII
SUBSEQUENT ATLANTIC LINES
As a natural sequence other Atlantic cables followed in course of time.
Thus in 1869 France was put into direct telegraphic communication with America by means of a cable from Brest to the island of St. Pierre,{213} and another from St. Pierre to Sydney, U.S.A.[70] The former length was manufactured by the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, and the latter by Mr. W. T. Henley. The Telegraph Construction Company were the contractors for laying the whole cable on behalf of the French Atlantic Cable Company (SociÉtÉ du CÂble Trans-Atlantique FranÇais).[71]
This work was successfully accomplished from the Great Eastern (Captain Robert Halpin) by the same staff as had laid the 1866 cable. Owing to the route, this line was materially longer than the previous Atlantic cables, its length (from Brest to St. Pierre) being as much as 2,685 nautical miles. The working-speed attained on the French Atlantic cable was ten and a half words per minute. The conductor of the Brest-St. Pierre section was composed of seven copper wires stranded together, weighing 400 pounds per nautical mile, covered with a gutta-percha insulator of the same weight. The core of the St. Pierre-Sydney section was made up as follows: Copper = 107 pounds per nautical mile; gutta-percha = 150 pounds per nautical mile. Like the previous lines, this cable has been “down,” electrically speaking, for some years. It proved a very costly one in repairs, one expedition alone having run into as much as £95,000.
In 1873 the Direct United States Cable Company{214} was formed, being the first competitor—from this country—with the “Anglo-American” Company.[72] Messrs. Siemens Brothers, who had taken an active part in the promotion of the scheme, were the contractors, both for manufacture and for submersion. It was, indeed, the first really important length with which this firm had been concerned as manufacturers. The laying was attended with complete success, and the line opened to the public in 1875. Later on, in 1877, the “Direct United States” Company was reconstructed, their system entering into the “pool” or “joint purse.” The latter was established shortly after the 1869 Atlantic cable had been laid, constituting one great financial combination.
In 1879 another French company was formed to establish independent communication between France and the rest of the European Continent on the one hand, and the United States of America on the other. The, to English ears and lips, somewhat cumbersome title of this concern was La Compagnie FranÇaise du TÉlÉgraphe de Paris À{215} New York, but it soon became styled in England the “P. Q. Company,” after M. Pouyer-Quertier, its presiding genius. The cable was made and laid in the same year by Messrs. Siemens Brothers, though the scheme had taken three years to reach contract point. The “P. Q.” Company in 1894 amalgamated with La SociÉtÉ FranÇaise des TÉlÉgraphes Sous-marins, under the title of La Compagnie FranÇaise des CÂbles TÉlÉgraphiques.
In 1881 an American company was formed, under the guidance of the late Mr. Jay Gould, entitled The American Telegraph and Cable Company, with a view to partaking in the profits of transatlantic telegraphy by establishing another line of communication between the United States and Great Britain, and thence to the rest of Europe. This cable was also constructed and laid (in the course of that year) by Messrs. Siemens Brothers, who were part promoters of the enterprise, as well as another cable for the same system in the following year, 1882. This company’s cables are leased by the Western Union Telegraph Company, which was practically Jay Gould’s property, and remained so up to close on the time of his death, a few years ago. In 1883 the above system entered the “Pool”—the happy destination for which, maybe, it was originally launched into existence.
A fresh competitor arrived in 1884 in the person of the Commercial Cable Company. Two cables were laid across the Atlantic for this company in the same year, its promoters wisely foreseeing that, in view of the continual chance of a breakdown, this was the only way in which they could safely attempt to compete with their more{216} firmly established rivals. The “Commercial” Company was mainly promoted by two American millionaires, Mr. J. W. Mackay, the celebrated New York financier, and Mr. Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the New York Herald; with them were associated Messrs. Siemens Brothers, who afterward became the contractors for the enterprise. These cables, like the Jay Gould lines, stretch from the extreme southwest point of Ireland (which is connected by special cable with England) to Nova Scotia, and thence to the United States, one of them direct to New York. The system is directly connected with that of the Canadian Pacific Railroad Company, thus affording ready communication with the Dominion.
Neither the “Commercial” Company’s system nor that of the Compagnie FranÇaise des CÂbles TÉlÉgraphiques is at present in the “Atlantic Pool.”
In 1894 yet two more additions were made to the list of Atlantic cables—one on behalf of the Commercial Cable Company, and the other for the “Anglo-American” Company. The new “Commercial” line was constructed and laid by Messrs. Siemens Brothers, and the “Anglo” cable by the Telegraph Construction Company. Fig. 43 shows the type adopted for the deepest water of the latter, and Fig. 44 that for the shore ends. Here the wires, besides being of a very large gauge, are applied with an extremely short lay (hence the elliptic appearance, though circular in reality), in order to increase the weight of iron, and thereby avoid shifting and abrasion. This type is now in constant use where rocks, ice-floes, strong currents, or rough weather are experienced. Special{217} arrangements were made in the design of both these cables to meet the requirements of increased speed. Since the successful application to submarine cables of various modifications of Wheatstone’s automatic transmitter, the limit to the speed attainable only depends, practically speaking, upon the type of cable employed. On these principles the core of the new “Commercial” cable was composed of a copper conductor weighing 500 pounds per nautical mile, covered with a gutta-percha insulating-sheath weighing 320 pounds per nautical mile, while the new “Anglo” has a core with conductor weighing 650 pounds per nautical mile, and gutta-percha insulator 400 pounds per nautical mile, involving a completed cable (main type) nearly double the weight of previous corresponding lines.
Fig. 43.—Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea type.
Fig. 43.—Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea type.
Fig. 44.—Shore-end of the 1894 “Anglo” Cable. Reduced size.
Fig. 44.—Shore-end of the 1894 “Anglo” Cable. Reduced size.
The actual speed obtained by automatic transmission with the latter cable is as high as forty-seven (or even up to fifty) five-letter words per minute. On the previous, lighter, Atlantic cores twenty-five to twenty-eight words per minute was the usual maximum speed attainable; the former,{218} say, by average transmission and average receiving, and the latter by automatic transmission—other circumstances corresponding. Practically all submarine cables between important points—and certainly all those across the Atlantic—are now “duplexed”—a system of electrical working (instituted by Messrs. Muirhead in 1875) which enables messages to be sent in both directions at the same time. The result of this is nowadays to practically double the carrying capacity and earning power of the line, the effective speed in either direction remaining virtually the same as in “simplex” working, provided the cable is in good condition.[73] The armor of this cable (Fig. 43) is also a good example of present-day practise, each wire (usually covered with compounded tape) butting against the next; this is found to be the most durable form for a deep-sea cable.
In 1898 another French Atlantic line of a similar type to the above was laid. This involved the longest Atlantic cable-section in existence, i.e., 3,174 nautical miles, from Brest to Cape Cod, and was the first Atlantic line made and laid by Frenchmen, with the active assistance, as regards laying, of the Silvertown Company.
Recently, too, a German Atlantic cable has been laid by the Telegraph Construction Company from Emden to the Azores, and hence to New York.
The various proprietary companies here named have had duplicating lines laid for them from{219} time to time, but these it is not necessary to further allude to.
Neither has it been thought necessary to give particulars regarding the methods of construction, laying, testing or working of any of these later lines following on the pioneer undertakings, except where special novelties were introduced. For similar reasons—and seeing that the responsibility of these later lines rested with contractors—the names of their permanent staff acting for them have not been introduced.
CHAPTER XIX
ATLANTIC CABLE SYSTEMS OF TO-DAY
Connecting Links—Tariff—Revenue
