THE ATLANTIC CABLES

West Coast Times, Issue 334, 18 October 1866, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE ATLANTIC CABLES

(prom the daily news, aug. 3.) Now that the cable of 1866 is an established success, the prospects of picking up the one of 1865 are being eager[y canvassed. With the morning's news from New York published, as it has been, in London at three o'clock in the afternoon of the- same day, the question of supply, and demand assumes a tangible shape, and men already ask each' other how far the single coil is likely to meet the custom for it. That the needs of Eui-ope and America — the old world and the new — will keep two or more lines of cable continuously employed, there is little doubt, and the second act of the expedition upon which Her Majesty's ships Terrible and the Medway started from Newfoundland yesterday, is, in a commercial sense, quite as important as the first. It will be useful, therefore, to briefly recapitulate the position of the broken end, the eiforts made to retrieve it, aud the causes leading up to the disappointment of last year, as well as the sanguine hopes which followed. Upon the 2nd of August, 1865, when the Great Eastern was in 2000 fathoms water and 1062 miles from Valentia, the cable parted. The distance from Heart's Content was 606 miles, lat. 51 dog. 26 mm., 10ng.,39 deg. 6 mm. For this point the Terrible and Albany sailed yesterday, and assuming thege vessels l to steam eight knots an hour, they would avrive there some time during Saturday. It matters little whether the ocean buoys left by the Great Eastern to mark the spot have survived ' the Atlantic storms of the winter. Until waves are found to wash away the sun, the leaders of this expedition can afford to smile at the half-hearted doubts of those who make the discovery of the broken cable dc-

pend upon the substantiality of a red flag, a black ball, and a mushroom anchor. It is well known that Captain Anderson and Staff Commander Mbriarty, R.N. -took independent obsei% A r ations daily, and never varied so much as a quarter of a mile in the bearings giA r en. There is no res sonable doubt, therefore, that the ships despatched yesterday Avill arrive at and be marking the spot for Jgrappling before the Great Eastern comes up. The latter has to take in a supply of coals before leaving Newfoundland Avith the Medway, and it may be that the honor of picking up the cable's end will be gained by the Albany. For, in order

that no time shall be lost, the latter has bden amply supplied Avith picking-np and recovering gear, and Avhen once the spot has been ascertained, the pr6gress of grappling will commence. The time this will occupy, and the

)eriod to elapse before those watchers

in the telegraph house at Foilhummerhum are gladdened by a communication through the cable of 1865, will depend greatly upon the weather. It is unnecessary to say that a portion of the large telegraphic staff at Valentia are now told off to Avatch the old cable day and night, and that the instant its end is recovered, the glad news will be telegraphed through. Calculations as to time must, as we have already hinted, be received Avith some reserve, but the

proceedings of last year afford fair data npon which to base an hypothesis. Referring to the published record Aye find that grappling commenced and the hauling in of the cable, set in the very day after its fracture; then came the disheartening failure of material. The rope used for the grapnel Avas diA'ided into lengths of 100 fathoms, each having a shackle at the end, Avith a heavy iron s\vivel. Cne of these swivels gave Avay, the drum flew 'round rapidly, and the, tail of the picking-up

rope flourished inj the gii; Avhile the' cable sank back into its cozy bed. This Avas on the 3rd August. Then came fog and drifting, at the end of which the great ship Avas fortysix miles from the spot where the cable 'parted. Tt Avas then resolved to place a buoy o mark the latter place as soon as it was regained, Avhich was accordingly done. The 4th, sth, and 6th of August were spent in dense fog and drizzling rain, and it Avas only on the 7th that attempts at picking up could be renewed. On this latter day the grapnel, Avith 2500 fathoms of rope, Avas for the second time cast out to seek its fortune. The cable Avas caught again. A moonlight night, a smooth sea, and a ftiA-oring breeze facilitated operations, the signal " Going on hopefully," was passed to the Terrible — then, as now, the GoA'ernment consort of the expedition — when the head of a swivel-pin gave Avay, and the tackle leaped into the sea to join the buried cable. The unswerving instrument showed that the latter had been raised one mile from its resting place, and it was when the anxious hopes of the operators were at

their highest that the machinery yielded to the strain upon it. A second buoy was lowered, about ten miles west of the gfirst, and where this lost swivel broke, and both Great Eastern and Terrible lay-to until midnight, when the wind rose, and they parted company. The 9th of August was occupied in preparing for the third and last attempt at picking up. A summer gale set in, and the great ship moved gently to the' wares. This tnade it impossible to keep close to the buoy, and thirty-five miles from it were run. On the 1 Oth the giapnel was lowered, and after seeking- for some hours, it became plain that the ship had passed over the place without finding the cable. The grapnel rope was hauled in, when it Avas found that the chain attached to the shank had taken half a hitch round one of the flukes, and that the instrument could not possibly catch anything at the bottom. The now damaged rope was examined and repaired, a shorter grapnel substituted, and the cable Avas eventually caught for the third time. Seven hundred and sixty-five fathoms, more than a fourth of the entire distance, Avere hauled Jn, Avhen a shackle on the hemp hawser passed through the machinery, and the rope parted near the capstan, and flcAv over the boAv Avith a whistling sound like that of round shot. So ended the attempts of 1865. They ;were frustrated in every instance by inadequate machinery, and the Albany commences her 'work to-morrow or Sunday, Avith cA r ery advantage over the Great Eastern of last year. Ropes,^ shackles, swivel, and gear, are, humanly speaking, the perfection of strength and adaptability ; and it may be fairly hoped that a message from ship to shore through the cable of 1865 will be received next Aveek. The spot Avill of course be as easy to find from NeAVfoundland as when the Great Eastern drifted forty-six and thirty-five miles from it. The ooze forming the Atlantic's bed is, it may be repeated, of almost the same specific gravity as the iron wire, and the latter Avill not sink beyond i£s pwn depth. The constaut tests show its electrical condition to have steadily improved since it was broken, and it only needs aA r erage good^ fortune to place in a feAv days a second working cable betAveen Europe and America at the disposal of the spirited Anglo-American Company, Avhich now has first ownership in both .

So long as electric communication across the Atlantic was only believed in by a few enthusiastic supporters, the prices to be charged for messages, and the revenue to be drawn, passed without comment. Whether five or fifty, ten or 100 per cent, will be derived from a given contingency, is profoundly uninteresting as long as the contingency itscli is scoffed at ; but it is curious to note the rapidity with which the outer world seined upon the tariff 1 and pronounced it, enormously high after the line was fairly open. L2O for 100 letters, ■or say twenty words, and an average spewed of sevea. words per minute, give such astounding results that customers aylio feel their transactions must be frequent are already counting the cost and canvassing the probability of a reduced rate. On this head the annexed letter from Mr Cromwell Yarley, written last September, is of interest now :—: —