The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-25 00:00:00

Henley's Indian Telegraph.

The shipment of the Indian telegraph cable from
Mr. Henley's factory at North Woolwich is now in
active operation. The Marian Moore, carrying 170
miles of the cable, left the Downs a few days ago for
Bombay, and is expected to arrive at her destination
towards the end of November. The sailing ships
Assaye and Kirkham, moored alongside the works,
are now receiving their cargoes of the wire, which
is being rapidly coiled in the holds of both ships
simultaneously by machinery constantly at work.
The former vessel will carry about 360 miles, and
the latter about 200 miles. The Assaye is well
known at Woolwich, where she arrived last year in
company with the sister ship the Punjab, at that
time both paddle wheel steamers. They were re-
moved from Woolwich to the Victoria Docks, and
were sold to a Liverpool firm, since which time they
have been ship-rigged and converted into sailing
vessels. Both are exceedingly fast sailers and what
is termed "clipper ships." Although fitted with
powerful engines they performed the voyage under
sail, at the rate (it is stated) of upwards of 16 knots
per hour, and made the voyage home in 75 days.
They ore both constructed throughout of teakwood.
The Kirkham is an iron vessel painted white. Both
vessels are well adapted for the purpose, and have
been fitted so as to prevent the possibility of any
shifting of the cargo during the voyage. The cable
is coiled in large watertight tanks, three on board
each ship, which will be kept fall of water through-
out the voyage to Bombay. They are expected to
sail from Woolwich the second week in September,
and will be fully equipped with all appliances for
paying out the cable at sea. The Tweed (late the
' Punjab) and the Cospatrick will follow the two ves-
sels, now alongside, and will take in 350 miles and
200 miles respectively. The latter named ships are
being fitted at Poplar by Mtssrs. Wigram for the
reception of the cable, under the superintendence of
Capt. Dicey. The Charente, a screw steamer of
about 600 tons, is being fitted by the above named
firm for permanent employment on the line, and
will be supplied with all requisites for repairing
the cable, should any accident arise hereafter from
ships, anchors, or any casualties to which the wire
must be subjected by exposure. The Charente will
take out a small quantity of cable in addition to
her coals. She will be commanded by Lieutenant
Stiffe, an experienced officer of the Indian Navy,
who has recently surveyed the Persian Gulf speci-
ally with regard to this important undertaking.
The total length of cable taken out for this line will
amount to 1,250 miles, and will weigh upwards of
5,000 tons, being an excess of 2,000 tons over that
of the Red Sea, Malta, and Alexandria, or the At-
lantic. The wire alone of the present cable weighs
1,000 tons. The operations, which are under the
direction of Lieut.-Co:onel Stewart, Royal Engi-
neers, are expected to be completed by the month
of February next, when it is hoped that London and
Calcutta will be in telegraphic communication, by
which a correspondence may be conveyed from one
hemisphere to the other in the course of a very few
hours. Sir Charles Bright and Mr. Latimer Clark,
the consulting engineers superintending the.manu-
facture of tho cable, are attended by a competent
and effective staff of electricians at Woolwich, who
supervise and test the whole of the work as it pro-
gresses. The Gammelholm, a Danish store ship,
arrived and moored off Mr. Henley's works at
Woolwich on Saturday morning, preparatory to
taking in a telegraphic cable for the Danish Go-
vernment, which will weigh upwards of 15 tons
per mile. Twenty-five miles of the electric wire
have also been recently despatched from the same
( factory to Christiana for the Norwegian Govern-
ment.

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