The Sun.
London, England, 1865-01-10 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

Col. G. Gambier, C. 8., Deputy-Adjt.-Gen. of
the Royal Artillery, yesterday attended at Wool-
wich garrison and transacted business with Gen.
Warde, C. 8., and the officers commanding divi-
sions, with a view of forwarding the arrangements
ordered by the Horse Guards for the reduction and
re-organisation of the corps to take place in April
next.

A Government committee of officers, appointed
for the purpose of inspecting the powder magazines
afloat and ashore, assembled yesterday in the office
of Capt. Gordon, C. 8., Superintendent of Military
Stores at Woolwich, and commenced their prproceed-
ingsby visiting the floating and shore magazines on
the banks of the Thames near the Royal Arsenal.
The committee consisted of Gen. Sir John Bur-
goyne, G.C.8., inspector-Gen. of Engineers and
Director of Works (president), and Capt. Hon. G.
Wrottesley, R.E., Aide-de-Camp and secretary,
Capt. Caffin,
C. 8., Director of Stores; Lieut.-
Col. Boxer, Superintendent of Laboratories; Major-
Gen. St. George, -„C.8., R.A., Director of Ord-
nance, and others, and were accompanied by Capt.
Gordon. They are acting under instructions from
the War Department, with a view of promoting any
suggestions which may occur during their inspection,
tending to the further security of magazines, so as
to guard against the occurrence of a catastrophe
similar to that in Erith-marshes.
During the last few days a large number of sea-
men paid off from various ships, and whose term of
leave have expired, have reported themselves at the
Fisgard's office at Woolwich. About 300 conti-
nuous-service men are now berthed on board the
Fisgard and will be draughted to other ships ready
for sea. Their berths will be again filled by an
equal number shortly expected home. On account
of the unsuitable construction of the Fisgard as a
harbour vessel the men, whose mess quarters are
below, are totally deprived of daylight during their
meals. They find it necessary to use candles at
breakfast, dinner, and supper. This could easily be
remedied by the substitution of windows and sashes
instead of portholes and scuttles, which would ren-
der the ship at the same time far healthier for the
men during their stay in harbour. It is hoped that
the Admiralty will keep this in view in the Vernon,
now under fitment at Chatham, to replace the Fis-
gard at the commencement of the financial year.
Many other improvements are likewise suggested as
necessary to the comfort of the new flagship.
The following departure of storeships from Wool-
wich Arsenal took place yesterday :—The Indus,
from Woolwich, with powder and other stores, for
Hobart Town ; the Frederick Basil, with powder,
for the Cape of Good Hope ; the Fy-Chow, with
a similar cargo and other stores, for Hong-kong ;
the Annie, with combustible and other stores, for
Fort Beaufort, Cape ; the John Pitcairne, with
powder ammunition, &c., for Malta ; the Alma and
Raglan, with guns and other army stores, for Ports-
mouth and Dublin. The Lord Panmure has
arrived with a general cargo from Portsmouth.

The Great Eastern Steamship.

Every exertion is being used by the Atlantic Tele
graph Construction Company, into whose hands the
Great Eastern steamer has provisionally passed, to
equip and prepare her for the sbrvice for which she
is intended—that of laying the new Atlantic Tele-
graph cable between this country and America. The
great ship still remains at her moorings in the Med-
way, near Saltpan-reach, a short distance below
Chatham, which she has occupied since her arrival
from Liverpool, the experience of the late autumn
and winter having proved that these were the best
possible moorings which could have been selected
for her on any part of the coast, as in addition to
an excellent anchorage ground she is well protected
from the westerly and southerly gales, while her
proximity to the Thames allows the shipment of the
Atlantic cable to be carried on with the least possi-
ble delay. During the autumnal gales not the least
anxiety was experienced for her safety, and the large
ship, in short, would appear to be as safe in the ex-
cellent anchorage of the Medway as if she were in
dock in the Thames. For several months after her
arrival in the river a considerable sum was realised
from the large numbers who visited her, but for the
last few weeks all visitors have been rigidly ex-
cluded in order that the work of fitting the ship for
the important service on which she is to be employed
may be carried on with the least possible interrup-
tion. The principal work now being urged forward
on board is the preparation of the enormous tanks
in which the different lengths of the Atlantic cable
will be coiled in readiness for its paying out. To
provide the necessary space which these tanks will
occupy a considerable portion of the interior of the
Great Eastern, to the wing pamages of the ship,
has been removed, together with two of the decks,
for nearly their entire length, both fore and aft,
the machinery, of course, not being interfered with.
The entire length of cable will be deposited in
three monster tanks, and it is in the construc-
tion of these that every expedition is being used by
Messrs. Westwood, Baillie, and Co., who have
taken the contract. The largest of the three tanks
is piaced in the after part of the ship, occupying the
space formerly devoted to the second-class saloon,
and necessitating the entire removal of two of the
decks. This tank is 58ft. in diameter and 20ft. 6in.
in height. It is constructed entirely of iron, and
will be perfectly watertight, the cable being placed
in water from the time it is received on board until
it is finally deposited in its bed in the Atlantic. The
plates of which the tanks are formed are all five-
eighths of an inch in thickness for three courses
from the bottom, and half an inch to the top. They
are formed with butt-strip joints, and single-rivetted
throughout, with double rivetted in alternate butts.
This, the largest of the tanks, is calculated to hold
between 800 and 900 miles of the cable. The mid-
ship tank is 58ft. 6in. in diameter and 20ft. 6in. in
depth, allowing for about the same quantity of stow-
age as the after tank. The forward tank is 51ft. in
diameter and of the same depth as the other two,
the quantity of cable it will hold being calculated at
between 600 and 700 miles. This tank is entirely
finished, and will be filled with water to-day, in
readiness for the reception of the first portion of the
cable. The after tank is about three parts complete,
but no commencement has yet been made with that
which will occupy the midship portion of the vessel
further than the removal of the cabins, decks, and,
indeed, the entire interior portion of the ship. In
order to sustain the enormous additional weight
which will be placed on the decks when the whole
of the nearly 3,000 miles of cable is on board, the
deck on which the tanks are erected is being
strengthened by a system of knees and deck-beamS,
while the lateral pressure of the cable against the
sides of the tanks will be overcome by
an arrangement of beams and supports, having
for
their object the confining the dead
weight of the cable to the centre of the ship,
and preventing or rather overcoming the outward
pressure of the enormous mass when the vessel is
rolling—as the Great
Ea,t
rn
This, not the least
does roll—at sea.
is being carried out
--et portion of the work,
engineer, towhom is also Canning, the company's
intendence of the ecluipmert ded the generalsuper-
perience that gentleman gainer vessel, the ex-
the former Atlantic telegraph ea bbl assisting to lay
advantage in making the necess le being of great
the present undertaking. The threPreparations for
respectively 817, 803, and 633 mileseof ks will hold
a total length of 2,253 miles ; but it giedviutgn
place a length of cable of 2,400 miles Oniteblidard t;
allow for slack. About 800 miles, or one-third -
the cable, has been completed at the works of Messof
Glass, Elliot, and Co., Morden-wharf, Greenwich,
the rate at which it is turned out being about 100
miles per week. The first portion of the cable is
expected to be shipped on board in about a fort-
night from the present time, and one of the sailing
vessels of war belonging to the Chatham ordinary
has already been despatched to assist in conveying
the cable from the works to the Great Eastern. The
new cable encloses a conductor of copper strand,
consisting of seven wires—six laid round one—and
weighing 3001 b. per nautical mile, imbedded for
solidity in Chatterton's compound. The gauge of
the single wire is .048, or equal to the ordinary 18
gauge, and the gauge of strand .144, or the ordinary
No. 10 gauge. In the old Atlantic cable, sub-

merged in 1858, a copper strand conductor was em-
ployed, consisting of seven wires, and weighing only
1071 b. per nautical mile. In the new cabl3tl e insu-
lator is gutta percha, the same as in the former cable,
but with four layers, which are laid alternately with
four thin layers of Chatterton's c3mpcund. The
weight of the entire insulation is 4001 b. per nautical
mile against 2611 b. of the old cable. The diameter
of the core is .464, and the circumference 1.392 in.
The external protection consists of ten solid wires of
No. 13 gauge, drawn from Webster and Horsfall's
homogeneous iron, each wire surrounded separately
with five strands of Manilla yarn, saturated with a
preservative compound, and the whole laid spirally
round the core, which latter is padded with ordinary
hemp saturated with a preservative mixture. The
weight of the cable, in air, is 35cwt. 3qrs. per nau-
tical mile, and in water 14ewt. per knot, or equal to
11 times its weight in water ; that is to say, it will
bear its own weight in 11 miles' depth of water. The
old Atlantic cable weighed exactly 20cwt. per nau-
tical mile, and 13.4 cwt. per mile in water, which
would be equal to 4.85 times its weight in water per
knot ; or, in other words, it would bear its own
weight in a little less than five miles depth of water.
The breaking strength of the former cable was 3 tons
scwt., and that of the cable now in course of manu-
facture 7 tons 15cwt., while the contract strain is
equal to 11 times its weight per mile in water against
4.85, the weight of the last cable ; and as the deepest
water to be encountered in the Atlantic has been
found to be 2,400 fathoms, or less than 21 nautical
miles, one knot in the new cable will consequently
be 4.64 times the strength requisite for the deepest
water, against 2.05 the same strength in the cable
originally submerged. It will thus be seen that the
new cable will be more than double the strength of
the first-laid cable between this country and America,
while the speed at which messages will be transmitted
through its length by means of the present improved
instruments will be from 8 to 12 words per minute. It
is expected that the work of shipping the cable and
preparing the Great Easternfor sea will occupyabout
five months from the present time, and under pre-
sent arrangements she will not take her departure
from the Medway until June next, so as to have the
best period of the year before her for her important
undertaking. The statement that the great ship
had been disposed of to the French Government is
without foundation, and there is little doubt, should
she be successful in the work on which she will be
employed, precautions will at once be made for lay-
ing down a second cable between this country and
America.