THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 2, Issue 59, 6 November 1858, Page 3

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

This great enterprise lias at length succeeded, an J messages are now being regularly transmitted. A correspondent of the "Daily News," who aoeompanied the Agamemnon, furnishes a graphic and interesting description of the expedition, as far as that ship was concerned. He says : — The rendezvous \vas reached on the evening of ' Wednesday, the' 28Ui of July, just 11 days after ■our departure from Q.ueenstown. The rest of the squadron were in sight at nightfall, but at such a considerable distance that it was past 10 o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 29th, before the Agamemnon joined them. We were, as usual, greeted by a perfect storm of questions as to what kept us so much behind our time, and learned that all had come to the conclusion that the ship must have got ashore on leaving Q.ueenstown Hai'bour. The Niagara, it appeared, had arrived at the rendezvous on Friday night, the 23rd ; the Valorous on Sunday, the 25th ; and the Gorgon on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 27th. The day ■was beautifully calm, so no time was to be lost be- '■ fore mating the splice ; boats were soon lowered from. attendant snips, the two vessels made fast " by a hawser, and the Niagara end of the cable conveyed on board the Agamemnon. About half past 12 o'clock the splice was effectually made, but with materials very indifferent. Instead of carefully rounded semicircular hoards which had beea used to inclose the junctions on previous occasions, it consisted, merely of two straight boards nailed over the joining, with the iron rod and leaden plummet attached to the centre. In hoisting it out from Ihe side of the ship, however, the leaden sinker broke short off, and fell overhoard, and there bjing no mor3 convenient weight at hand, a 321 b. shot was fastened to the splice instead, and the whole apparatus was quickly dropped into the sea without any formality, and, indeed, almost without a spectator, for those on board the ship had witnessed so many beginnings to the telegraphic line that it was evident they dispairsd of there ever being an end of it. The stipulated 200 fathoms of cable having been paid out, to allow the splice to sink well below the sur- . face, the signal to start was hoisted, the hawser cast loose, and the Niagara and Agamemnon startr ed for the last time for their opposite destinations. For tHe first three hours the ships proceeded very slowly, paying out a great quantity * .of slack, but after the expiration of this time the speed of the Agamemnon wasincreased to about five knots per hour, the cable going at about six, ■without indicating more than a lew hundred lbs. of strain, upon the dynamometer. Shortly after - six o'clock a very large whale was seen approach- . . ing the starboard bow at a great speed, rolling and tossing the sea into foam all around ; and for the .first time we- felt the possibility of the supposition s- that our-'second-mysterious" breakage of the cable might have been caused^ after all, by one of these , animals getting- foul of it- under ;water. It ap-;-peared as if it; were making direct for the :<-. andrgreat Was ; the relief of ; all when 7 the pohdlrous rjivingimassr was seen* slowly^o'pasa?. astern^' just 'i^ria^<;he 3 cail6:Xvh6re^ v entered the>wa|ery but, ;: r-.fdrti^ately^-* without ' doing' any/ : mischief." A 1--1..-' iseeined fego well^up to about 8 b'cloek-i the cable, , jaayed. out; from .'■ the ; hold; with, an ■ evenness; and v ij^iiiariry : wWch : , i showed -•: howXcarefi^ly; and; jier-^ :-^t!y?"it^h>d^ - ■ ■ i^flgainst'accidents^ which TOi^irt^irissJ in(coiis^uen6ei

bear. ThuS "fir everything lacked promising of success. But in such a hazardous work no ons knows what a .ffcw' minutes may" bring forth, for soon aftereighV itVl injured portion.Vot',, -the cable : : was discovered abdut'a'uiUe or two froui the ipor» - tion paying out. 'Wot s'rraoment was loat by -Mr. Canning; the .engineer oh duly, iii setting men J t6 work to cobble up the injury "as well as time wouid permit, for the cable was going out at such a rate •that the damaged portion would be paid ovex-board in less than twenty minutes, and former experience had shown us that to checkeither the speed of the ship or the cable would in all probability be attended by the most fatal results. Just before the lapping was finished, Professor Thomp* son reported that the electrical continuity of the wire had ceased, but that the insulation was still perfect. 1 Attention was naturally directed to the injured piece as the urobable source of the stoppage, and not a moment was lost in cutting the cable at that point, with the intention of making a perfect splice ; but to the consternation of all, . tae electrical tests applied showed the fault to be overboard, and in all probability some fifty miles from the ship. Not a second was to. be lost, for it was evident that the cut portion must be paid overboard. in a few minutes, and in the meantime, the tedious and difficult operation of making. a, splice had to.be performed. The ship was mime-" diately stopped, and no more cablepayed out than was absolutely necessary to prevent it breaking. As the stern of the ship was lifted by the waves a scene of the most intense excitement followed. It seemed impossible, even by using the greatest possible speed and paying out the least possible amount of cable that the junction could be finished before the part was taken out of the hands of the workmen. The main hold presented an extraordinary scene. If early ail the officers of the ship, and those connected with the expedition, stood m groups about the coil, watching (with that intense anxiety which is seldom seen, except round foreign gaming tables) the cable as it slowiy unwound itself nearer and nearer the joint, while the workmen, directed by Mr. Canning, under whose superintendence the cable was originally manufactured, worked at the eplice as only men could work who felt that the life and death of the expedition depended upon their rapidity. But all t.t.i" speed was to no purpose, as the cable was unwinding within a hundred fathoms, and, as a last and desperate resource, the cable was stopped altogether, and for a few minutes the ship hung on by the end. Fortunately, however, it was only for a few minutes, a3 the strain was continually rising above two tons, and it could not hold on much longer, when the splice was finished, the signal made to loose the stopper, and it passed overheard safely enough. When the excitement consequent upon having so narrowly caved the cable had passed away, wo woke to the conscious-nei-s that the case was still as hopeless as ever, for the electric continuity was still entirely wanting. Preparations ware consequently made to pay out as little rope as possible, and to hold on for six hour?, in the hope that the fault, whatever it might be, might mend itself before cutting the cable :md returning to the rendezvous to make another splice. The magnetic needles on the receiving instruments were watched closely for the returning signals, when in a few minutes the last hope was extinguished, by their suddenly indicating "dead earth," which tended to eliow that the cable had broken from the Niagara, or that the insulation had been completely destroyed. In three minutes, however, every one was agreeably surprised by the intelligence that the stoppage had disappeared, and that the signals had again appeared at regular intervals from the Niagara. It is needless to say what a load of anxiety this news removed from the minds of everyone, but the general confidence in the ultimate success of the operations was much shaken by the occurrence, for all felt that at any minute a similar accident might occur. On Saturday, the 31st of July, observations at noon showed us to be in latitude 30-23 N., and longitude 26-4-1 W., having made good 120 miles of distance from the starting point since noon of the previous day, with a loss of about 27 per cent of cable. The Niagara, as far as could be judged from the amount of cable she payed out, which, by a previous arrangement, was signalled at every ten miles, kept pace with us, within one or two miles, the whole distance across. During the afternoon of Saturday the wind again freshened up, and before nightfall it again blew nearly a gale, and a tremendous sea ran before it from the southwest, which made the Agamemnon pitch to such an extent that it was thought impossible that the cable could Jiolcl on throughout the night. Indeed, had it not been for the constant care and watchfulness exercised by. Mr. Bright, and the two enargetic engineers on board, Mr. Caninng and Mr. Clifford, who acted, with him, it could not have been done at aIL Men weie kept at the wheels of the machine to prevent them from stopping, as the stern of the ship rose and fell with -the sea, for had they done so, the cable must undoubtedly have parted. During Sunday the sea and wind increased, and ;bjfore the evening it blew a smart gale. Now,, indeed, were the energy and activity of all engaged.in the operations taxed to the utmost. Mr. Hoar and Mr. Moore, the two engineers who had charge of the releasing wheels of the dynamometer, had to keep watch and watch alternately every four hours, and while on duty not daring to let their attention be removed from their occupation for one moment ; for on their releasing the brakes every time the stern of the ship fell into the trough of the sea entirely depended - the safety of the cable, and the result shows how ably they have discharged their duty. Throughout the night there were tew who had the least exjwetation of the cable holding on till morning, and many, remained awake, listening for the sound that all most dreaded to hear, viz., > the gun which should the. failure s of all our hopes ; but still the^cable— which in comparison with the ship from "which'it was' paying out, and the gigantic; •wavers among, which' .it was delivered," .was but^a .mere thr(i;ad— continued, to hold en,onlyleavinga'silvery.phosphoric,;line upon the) stupendous : seas'a3'\thfy ,'roHel on .towards the 'snip. inorning came ,noVimprover| m<int. ;;itt ' 'yeaiher:- " : 'We*. haoV 'passed ?by. thef deepest ,BOunding,^f^Qo,fi&horas; and 3,ver -morel •th^^hatf o t f, thefdeejp'h^ the* amount; of/Cable still in' the fillip was more than

sufficient to cany us to the Irish coast, even supposing the continuance of the bad weather should oblige us to pay out the same amount of slack cable we had been hitherto wasting. Thus for things looked- very promising for bur ultimate auccssf. During the afternoon of Monday, an American three-masted barque, which afterwards proved to^bj the Chieftan, was seen. standing from, the eastwards towards us. No notice was taken of her at first, but when she was within about half-a-mile of tliß Agamemnon, she altered her course, and bore right down across our bows. A collision which might prove fatal to the cable now seemed inevitable, or could only be avoided by the equally hazardous expedient of altering the Agamemnon's course. The Valorous steamed a*head, and fired a gun for her to heave to, which, as she did not appear to take much notice of, was quickly followed by another from the bows of the Agamemnon, and a second and third from the Valorous, but still the vessel held on her course, and as the only resource left to avoid the collision, the course of the Agamemnon was alterI ed justin time to pass within a few yarda of her. It was evident that our pi-oceetlings were a source of the greatest possible astonishment to them, for all her crew, crowded upon the deck and rigging. At length they evidently discovered who we were and what we were doing; the crew manned the rigging, and dipping the ensign several times, they gave us three hearty cheers. About three o'clock on Tuesday morning, all on board were startled from their bed 3by the loud booming of a gun ; everyone, without waiting for the performance of the most particular tiolet, rushed on deck to ascertain the cause of the disturbance. Contra:-y to all expectation the cable was safe, but just in the grey light could be seen the Valorous, rounded in the most warlike attitude, firing gun after gun in quick succession, towards a large American barque who being quite unconscious of our proceedings, was standing right across our stern. Such remonstrances from a large steam-frigate were not to be despised, and evideutly without knowing the why or the wherefore, she quickly threw her sails aback and remained hove-to. Tuesday was a much finer day than we had experienced for nearly a week, but still there was a considerable sea running, and our dangers were far from past. Yet the hopes of our ultimate success ran high. About 5 o'clock in the evening the steep submarine mountain which divides the telegraphic platform from the Irish Coast was reached, aud the sudden shallowing of the water had a very marked effect upon the cable, causing the strain on and the speed of it to lessen every minute. A great deal of slack was paid out to allow for any greater inequalities which might exist, though not discovered, by the sounding line. About 10 o'clock the shoal water of 250 fathoms wa3 reached. The only remaining anxiety now was the changing from the lower main coil to that upon . the upper deck, and thi3 most difficult and dangerous operation was successfully performed between 3 ani 4 o'clock on Wednesday morning. Wednesday was a beautiful calm day ; indeed, it was the first on which any ens would have thought of making a splice- since the day we started from the rendezvous. We therefore congratulated each ether on having saved a week by eonimencing operations on the Thursday previous. At noon we were in latitude 52 deg. 11 mm., long. 12 deg. 40 in in. 2 sec. W. 89 miles distant from ths telegraph station at Valentia. The water was shallow, so that there was no difficulty in paying out.. We were almost without any loss by slack, and all looked upon the un;lei-taking as virtually accomplished. At about 1 o'clock in the inorning the second change from the upper deck to that upon the. orlop deck was safely effected, and shortly after, the vessels exchanged signals that they were in 200 fathoms water. As the night advanced the speed of the ship was reduced , as it was known that we were only a short distance from the land, and there would be no advantage in making it before daylight in the morning ; about twelve o'clock, however, the Skelleys light was seen in the distance and the Valorous steamed on ahead to lead us into the coast, firing rockets at intervals to direct us, which were answered from the Agamemnon ; though according to the directions of Mr. Moriarity, the master, the ship, disregarding the Valorous, kept her own course, which proved to be the right one in the end. By daylight in the morning of Thursday, the bold and rocky mountains which entirely surround the wild and picturesque neighbourhood of Valentia, rose right before us at a few miles [distance. Never, probably, was the sight of land more welcome to us, as j it brought our arduous duties to a successful termination, i