The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-19 00:00:00

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH EXPE-

hinos.

(nom ova SPROUL COI

FOILHOMMIIBUM BAY, MONDAY, JULY 16.
The Irish bank, sa the long shelving ridge whichthe
Great Eastern has cleared in safety, is called, is one
of themost crucial situationsin Atlantic telegraphy.
Here the cable of 1857 parted some 300 miles from
land, and here, too, the first serious hitch in the
proceedings of last year occurred. The soundings
taken show this huge shoal to have a soft oozy bot-
tom, and to vary in depth from 1,200 feet to as
many thousands. Up to six o'clock this evening
the three days' run of the Great Eastern have
been as follows : July 14, at noon, 135 miles run,
144 miles of cable paid out ; July 15,263 miles run,
283 miles paid out ; and to-day, 381 miles run, and
447 miles paid out. The slack has been about 13 per
cent., and the difference between depth and depth
has been nearly a mile. Herein lies one
of the dangers of the Irish bank. For
though its entire gradient is known to
be not steeper than that of many London streets,
there are parts of it where the cable passes in
a few hours over submarine depths almoat as vast
as any it has yet to encounter. The bottom of the
Atlantic, as shown by the careful 'soundings taken
by Mr. Hoskyn, R.N., by order of the Admiralty,
is a soft fine ooze nearly all along the line chalked
out for the Great Eastern. At one place, where the
submarine surface rises nearly a mile, shingle takes
the place of ooze, and it is hoped to lay the cable
over this about Friday next. The ooze, when
dried, is found to be composed of a powder as fine
as the down upon a butterfly's wing. Viewed
through the microscope, it is seen to be composed
of minute shells, but to the naked eye it is simply
a soft white mud, in which there is great impro-
bability of the cable 'sinking below its own depth.
The Great Eastern is now passing over the lengthy
table-land which follows the Irish bank. After
this come considerable undulations, and it is only
when the great depths in which the cable of last
year parted have been left behind that those
interested in the cable may congratulate each other
upon success. That meeting between the Gulf of
St. Lawrence, the Gulf Stream, and the Greenland
seas, to the deposit from which is due the Banks
of Newfoundland, is away from the route of the
cable, and will not affect it, and it is only
their enormous depth, superadded to the
lengths already paid out, which makes the
waters yet to be passed through critical.
Up to to-day the tests for insulation and conduc-
tivity show the cable to be gradually and surely
improving. The messages are stronger and the
electrical condition of the vast coil superior to when
it left the factory. The cause of this is easily ex-
plained. The Atlantic acts favourably both on
copper and gutta-percha, the one becomes a better
conductor and the other a better insulator the
colder and deeper the water in which each is placed.
The insulating power of gutta-percha increases, too,
by pressure, so that the improvement in the cable
is a mere fulfilment of obvious and simple rules.
When the deepest parts are reached, if the weather
be as favourable as now, the Great Eastern will be
put at the greatest speed allowed to her during the
trip, and will steam at six knots and pay
out cable at the rate of seven knots an hour.
This is slow when compared with last year, when
eight knots were sometimes run. It has been
wisely determined, however, that the great ship
shall under no circumstances exceed six knots,
and Captain Anderson has formal instructions to
this effect. By this precaution the strain in paying
out is reduced to its minimum, and the cable
leaves the ship's side at a maximum rate of seven
knots an hour. Another important change is the
system of tank-watching. On board the Great
Eastern are many young seamen serving before the
mast,who are certificated by the Board of Trade as
chief mates. Interest in the expedition, love of
enterprise, and an anxiety to see the cable laid,
has enabled Captain Anderson to select picked
men for his crew, and to a selection of
these will be entrusted the task of removing
the cable from the tanks. Mr. Canning, Mr.
Clifford, or the Messrs. Temple, will always
be present, and the young engineers on
board are to be told off into watches, one or other
of which will keep permanent watch in the tanks.
Thus every precaution is taken against a recurrence
of the distressing suspicions of last year, and if
faults occur it will be while men of some position
are vainly guarding against them. Directly the
shallow waters off Newfoundland are gained the
cable may be considered laid. Picking up at a
thousand fathoms, even if an accident were to
occur at the last moment, would be a comparative
trifle, the worst effect of which would be a trifling
delay ; and when the Great Eastern has once passed
into this depth congratulations may be exchanged.
Every provision has been made to open the line for
commercial purposes forthwith, and, if all go well,
the merchants of London and New York, and the
general public of England and America, will be
able to hold telegraphic communication with each
other the very day after it is certified as laid.
Foilhummerum Bay and the telegraph house con-
tinue objects of attraction to pilgrims. The grass-
grown words, " Success to the Cable," cut in last
year's turf, have been carefully freshened and made
deeper by some modern Old Mortality. Tourists
and natives flock thither, and peer curiously in at
the windows of the house, as if seeking to master
electrical mysteries at sight. The boatmen em-
ployed in laying the shore end pay visits of cere-
mony of a more or less disinterested character to
Mr. Glass, and it has been found necessary to affix
ONo admission on any pretence" to its doors.
The gentleman just named is on duty throughout
the day, and is summoned back to the hut by a flag
signal if a message arrive during one of the brief
absences he allows himself from his post. Mr. C.
F. Varley, Mr. May, and the rest of the staff are
fully occupied, for apart from the minute and deli_
cats tests constantly carried on, frequent messages
are sent to and arrive from the great ship. Time
and space seem literally annihilated when gentle-
men with nearly five hundred miles of sea between
them are chatting familiarly together about the
weather, the funds, politics, and the crops. "Send us
more news for our paper," was one of the messages
received from the Great Eastern. Accordingly
arrangements have been made with Mr. Reuter for
a telegraphic synopsis of the latest intelligence.
The accouchement of the Princess Alice of Hesse,
the stoppage of the Birmingham Banking Com-
pany, the outbreak of cholera at Liverpool, the
disastrous fire in Norway, and the latest action of
the ministry, were all known by the Great Eastern's
passengers soon after their publication here. More
interesting still will be the news of the next few
days, for, assuming all to go well, it will be carried
to Newfoundland concurrently with its occurrence.
The ordinary American mail will convey the facts
already telegraphed, and they will be spread over
the 'United States by the time the Great Eastern
reaches land. But from to-morrow the intelligence
sent is expected to forestall every other source of
information, and a complete budget of " latest
intelligence " will ammonite during the next