The Express.
London, England, 1858-08-11 00:00:00

ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH EXPEDITION.

THE VOYAGE OF THE AGAMEMNON.
It mast be confessed that the prospects of su-
ms were very remote when the squadron left
Queenstown on the 17th of last month. The amount
of cable in the two ships had been reduced by nearly
400 miles, and the occurrence of three separate and
most unaccountable breakages was still fresh in
the minds of all who had accompanied the first
expedition, and there was no reason whatever for
supposing that the very same thing might not occur
again. The cable might, and evidently did as far as
the contractors are concerned, fulfil all the guaranteed
requirements, and the numerous accidents which oc-
curred might be due to cable having become in-
jured daring the gale. nth supposition, though it
may be gratifying to Messrs. Glass and Co., was no
coneolatron to either the engineers or the sharehold-
ers. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising
that many regarded the prosecution of the scheme
as a waste of shareholders money. However, in
spite of the most vehement oppoirition, the majo-
✓ity of the Directors determined to despatch the
expedition to try their fortune again in mid-omen
they abandoned the scheme altogether as
=cable. Accordingly, on the morning of
y, the 17th of ley, the Valorons, Gorgon,
end Niagara, having completed coaling, steamed
away from Queenstown for the rendezvous. The
Agamemnon, having to wait for Professor W.
Thomson, one of the directors, who took charge of
the electrical department on board, did not weigh
anchor until 2 o'clock on the following morning.
As the ships left the harbour there wu apparently
no notice taken of their departure by those on shore,
or in the vessels anchored round them ; every one
seemed impressed with the conviction that we were
engaged in a hopeless enterprise, and the squadron
seemed rather to have slunk away on some discredit-
able minion than to have sailed for the accomplish-
ment of a grand national scheme. It was
just dawn when the Agamemnon got clear of Queens-
town Harbour; but, as the wind blew stiffly from
the south-west, it was nearly 10 o'clock before are
rounded the Old Head of Kinsale, a distance of only
a few miles. The weather remained fine during the
day, and as the Agamemnon skirted along the wild
and reeky shore of the south-west coast of Ireland
those en board had an excellent opportunity of
name the stapendous rocks which rise from the
en in the most grotesque and fantastic shapes.
About 6 o'clock in the afternoon Cape Clear was
and though the coast gradually edged away
passed,
the northward of our course, yet it was nearly
deek before we lost sight of the high and rocky
nuentains which surround Bantry Bay and the
shires of the Binmare River. By Monday
morning, the 19th, we had left the land
far behind us, and from thence fell into
the usual dull monotony of sea life. Of the voyage
out there is little to be said. It was not chequered
1. the exidtensent of continual storms, nor the tedium
tan trashes, but we had a sufficient admix-
ili to render our passage to the rendezvous a
very ordinary, and uninteresting one ; indeed for the
past week the barometer remained unusually low,
and the numbers of those natural barometers, mother
Carey's ohiekens, that followed in oar wake, kept us
is continual expectation of heavy weather. With
every little breeze of wind the screw was got up, and
sail made, so as to husband our coals as much as pos-
sible, but it generally soon fell calm again, and
obliged our commander reluctantly to get up steam.
In consequence of these continued delays and
changes from steam to sail, and from sail to steam
again, much fuel was expended, and not more than
80 miles of distance made good each day. On Sun-
day, the 26th, however, the weather changed, and
for several days in succession there was an uninter-
rupted alms. The moon was just at the full, and for
several nights it shone with a brilliancy which
turned the smooth ma into one silvery sheet, which
brought out the dark hull and white sails of the ship
is cog contrast to the sea and sky, as the vessel
by all but motionless on the water, the very imper-
Mention of solitude and repose. Indeed until the
nilismons we. gained we had such a succession of
billintihl semis.., gorgeous sunsets, and tranquil
p nights, as would have excited the most
admiration of any one but persons
as we were. Bat by us such scenes
the annoying indi-
adios regarded
as
Win which delayed our progress
OM Waled ale Mils. In spite of the unusual calm-
ness et the Wealisir in general, there were days as
which our for unpleasant experiences of the
Atlantic were breught forcibly to our recollection,
when it blew hard, and the sea ran sufficiently high
to reproduce on a minor scale many of the discom-
forts of which the preview cruise had been so fruit-
ful. Thews days, however, wire the exception, and
not the rule, and served to show how much more
pleasant was the inconvenient calm than the weather
which had previously prevailed. By dint, however,
of a judicious expenditure of fuel, and the liberal use
of the cheaper motive power of sail, the rendezvous
was reached on the evening of Wednesday, the 28th
of July, just eleven days after our departure from
Queenstown. The rest of Ors squadron were in
sight at nightfall, but at such a considerable dis-
tance that it was past ten o'clock on the morning of
Thursday, the 29th, before the Agamemnon joined
them. We were, as meal, greeted by a perhot
alarm of questions as to what kept us so much be-
hind ear time, and learned that all had come to the
eneleebra that the *hip must have got ashore on
having Queenstown Harbour. The Niagara, it
Zgr, had arrived on the rendezvous on Friday
, the lard; the Valorous on Sunday, the 26th;
and the Gorgon on the efts/won of Tuesday, the
117th. The day was beautifully Gan, se no time
ins to be lost Wore making the splice ; boats were
soon lowered from the attendant ships, the
two vessels were made fast by a hawser, and the
Niagara end of fits cable conveyed on board the
Aganismnos. Meat half-past it o'clock the splice
was effiestually wade, but with materials very digs-
runt; Lets"' of capitally rounded semicircular board,
whin bed been used to enclose the junctions on pre-
Vine 0001111101111, it consisted merely of two straight
beanie sailed over the joining, with the iron rod and
Imo* thissmet attached to the centre. In heating
' it set teem timid& of the ship, however, the leaden
sinker lathe abort cd, and fell overboard, and then
being ro awn eanvenient weight at hand, a 3211 e.
shot was hahmeti to the splice instead, and the
whole apparatinumi tpdekly dropped into the sea
without any formality, and indeed almost with-
out a spectator, for these on board the
ship had witnessed so many beginnings to
the telegraphic line, tbat it was evident they de-
spaired of ere ever being an end to it. The stipu-
lated 200 fathoms of cable having been payed out to
allow the splice to wink well below the surface, tht,
signal to start was hoisted, the hawser Castor loose, tar
the Niagara and in....„, elected f the
time for theft op. ' '
m-. 14 Far the 4
three hours the . sure.very slowly, impute
en a great stand " 'Ow the expira-
tion of this tune tlisliplat nibe 41S011 was
beral
latireased to about the *lniesillfl. illie
ttuaki about
a six, without ledillffilegr' 'Olt
ef strait thei .
Ustse. Meer attar size/Moak awes) *MIN
wrens appsenbing the eta head bur et a
speed, reline amd. teeming the em into hue
around, and he the liest time we Mt the possibility
of the enppenitin that oar mend mysterious
lembage ebbe inidenight haft bum Gum% Ara
all, by an at time nein& rah. fad .00 beau
wistez::issesed m if it WOW 71110daff direst for
the .MO Iris the relief of al when the
pandiume living. meet was mesa slowly to per
anien, just grazing the cable where it entered the
attar, bat fortunately without doing any mischief.
AU semen to pi well up to about 8 o'clock i the
cable payed oat from the hold with an evenness
and regularity which showed how carefully and