The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-08-22 00:00:00

ARRIVAL or THE GREAT EASTERN.

FAILURE OF TEI ArtAartio TELEGRAPH
EXPEDITION.

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the ore.

The Great Eastern arrived off Crookhaven OD
Thnraday morning, and furnishes the following par-
beldam of the operations for laying the Atlantic
Telegraph cable,. which, it will be seen have failed.
The Great Eastern sailed from Valentia, after
making the splice with the shore mid, on the 23rd of
July, and continued on her Voyage! to lit. 51.25,
long. 392, being 1,063 miles from VaUntie and 1300
miles from Reacts Content, Trinity Bay, Newfound.
had. She had then paid not 1,212 miles of cable,
when it parted on the 2nd .t ugust at 12.35 p.m., in
soundings of 3,900 yards under the following cir-
cumstances I—A partial less of insulation having
been discovered, the Great Eastern was stopped to
resiover that portion of the cable in which the fault
lay, elecitriml testa placing it probably within six
miles. The cable Was pawed from the stern to the
bow of the ship for thleporpose, and after getting in
two miles of the cable, the fault being still overboard,
the cable broke about ten yards in board of the
wheel at the bow, having been injured by chaffing
on the stern of the ship. Two previous faults had
been diseovered—the first in soundings of about
1,001 yards, and the second in about 4,100 yards—
and had been sliccessfrilly recovered and made good;
in the first case ten miles, and in the second two-
and-a-half miles of cable were hauled in. After the
cable parted, a grapnel with two-and-a-half nautical
miles of rope was lowered down' the ship
being placed so as to drift over the line of
cable. The cable was hooked on the 3rd, and when
2,200 yards of the rope had been hauled in, a swivel
in the latter gave way, and 2,800 yards of rope were
lost, the cable having been lifted 1,200 yards from
the bottom. On the 4th a buoy, with a flag and ball,
was moored with 500 yards of rope to mark the
place. It is in lat. 5135, long. 384220. From
the 4th fogs and adverse winds prevented a further
attempt until the 7th, which was then made nearer
the end of the cable, and was unsuccessful from the
same cause when the cable bad been lifted about
1,000 yards. Another buoy was here placed in lat.
512830 long. 38383. A third attempt was made
on the 10th, which failed on account of the grapnel
chain having fouled the flukes of the grapnel. The
grapnel and last 800 yards of rope came up covered
with ooze. A fourth attempt was made on tke Ilth
at 3 p.m., which also failed through the breaking of
the grapnel rope when the cable had been raised 600
yards from the bottom, The stock of rope having
DOW become exhausted, it became absolutely
necessary to proceed to England for more and
stronger tackle.
The practical conclusions unanimously arrived at
by those engaged in various capacities in the expedi-
tion are 84 fait) W : —First : That the steamship
Great Eastern, from her size, and consequent steadi-
ness, together with the better control obtained over
her by having both the paddles and screw, render it
possible and cafe to lay an Atlantic Telegraph cable
in any weather. Second: That the paying-out
maehine.— constructed for the porpoee by Messrs.
and Clifford, worked !perfectly and can
be connuently relied on. Third -That the insula-
tion of thegutta-peredia-ornetederindostor improved,
when submerged, to more than doable bat- it had
before starting, and hie proU4i 140 the
insulated cable ever inancilbetated, miff many
lbw tbe staridarCrenstietriy
-I