The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-24 00:00:00

RED SEA AND INDIA TELEGRAPH.

The expedition of the Telegraph to India Com-
pany which left this country about two months
since for the purpose of repairing such portions of
the Red Sea cable as are not too far gone in dilapi-
dation is, it appears from recent advices, progressing
very favourably with the work, and it is hoped that
before long some of the most important sections
will be open to the public. It may be remembered
that at the period of the failure of the Red Sea lines
some sections were reported to be in comparatively
good condition, and it is these portions which Mr.
Latimer Clark and his electrical and engineering
staff are now endeavouring to restore. This, how-
ever, is only one of the objects of the expedition,
for so disastrous has been the experience of, sub-
marine wires in the Red Sea that it is the inten-
tion of Sir C. Bright and Mr. Clark, the engineers
of the company, to do away with a large portion
of the sea route altogether by carrying a land
line through Upper Egypt and Nubia along
the banks of the Nile, and thence crossing
an arm of the Desert (about 90 miles broad) which
separates the Nile Valley from the shores of the Red
Sea. Mr. Latimer Clark's applications to the Pasha
of Egypt to give this scheme his countenance and
protection have been entirely successful, and, as the
Pasha himself has a telegraph up the Nile for nearly
700 miles of the proposed route, there seems no
doubt but that this important link in the line to
India will soon be completed. With a view to in-
sure the wires being thoroughly and efficiently pro-
witPhatshhea'
tected throughout, Mr. Clark, with Mr. Rolfe and
ssohffieickesrs,ofhatshebedeinffeurpe
different
et
tribes
bi
el es
severalt
oarrange of the
through which the line will pass. The confer-
ence with the Sheiks was most successful, and they
are now all pledged to the protection of the
wires. As they have previously been employed
by the Viceroy, with great success, in looking after
his telegraph, there is no reason to doubt their
ability or willingness to do so in the case of the
Indian line, especially as they are to be paid
for it, and there is no inducement to a Bedouin
like a promise of " backsheesh." In the mean-
time other portions of the expedition have been
despatched to examine and report upon that section
of the Cossier and Suez line that extends as far as
the island of Shadewan, at the entrance of the
Straits of Jubal. This portion, from tests taken by
Mr. Laws, was supposed to be, if not absolutely per-
fect, at least in sufficiently good order to be capable
of being worked for a considerable time. To com-
plete the repairs of this section therefore Mr. Laws,
with Mr. Brunton and Mr. Woods, was sent in the
Egyptian steam sloop Gabari with a strong working
electrical and engineering staff to carry the line as
far as Jubal, and open a temporary station there to
intercept and forward messages from the Indian
mail steamer. The Gabari arrived at the scene of
operations on the 14th Feb., when a very cursory
examination was sufficient to show that the bottom
was of the most unfavourable kind for grappling a
cable, as coral reefs abounded on all sides. But
before any operations could be undertaken the rough
weather which seems to wait upon all telegraph
operations set in in earnest, and the Gabari was
obliged to retire to the doubtful shelter of the coral
reefs to wait for an abatement of the gale.
Ten days lapsed however before the weather mode-
rated. On the morning of the 24th operations were
renewed, and, after a few casts of grapple, the line
was hooked, but owing to its having been laid out
quite tight it broke in hauling it to the surface. A
buoy to mark the spot was immediately let go, and
soon after the end was brought on board from 57
fathoms water, and the lifeboat was sent to recover
as much cable as would be sufficient to land the end
on the island of Jubal, about five miles distant. The
work having to be carried on entirely by manual
labour, and without appliances of any kind, was
necessarily slew And difficult, and at dusk the vessel
had to be anchored
ana the end buoy,24 for the night.
It had how
"er been suffietently long on board to
prove that for all practicalworking purposes the
wire was in gooaor
been said about
the instability of r. So much has
submarine lines laid in compara-
tively shallow 'water that •
the raising of this was
w
looked forward to with great, interest • yet, when
brought to the surface, even
after having been sub-
jected to the action of the waves over the coral
rocks for three years, it was format
be but slightly
altered in outward appearance. A closer examina"
6011 showed that ir4 SQl2l° Places the wires were cor-

TEE SUN, LONDON,

ro!ed slightly, but still the black coating of mud
and oxide with which it was covered so closely re-
sembled tar that it seemed at the first glance im-
possible to believe that the wire had been down
mere than a few months. The Gabari then con-
tinued to underrun the line till within a mile and a
half of Jubal Island, and the accounts state that it
is difficult to imagine anything more beautiful than
the mass of zoophytes, of every tint and colour,
which had cased round the whole cable to the
thickness of several inches. These being mostly of
a soft tenacious nature would tend most materially
to preserve the outside iron wires from decay. On
the 26th the Gabari underran the shore end of the
cable to Cosseir, in order to remove it and lay it to
Jubal Island. Though this portion of the line had
only been down some 14 months, yet it was found
on raising to he completely encased in a protecting
sheath of coral and zoophytes. The station on Jubal
Island may now therefore be expected to open from
day to day, and as the Peninsular and Oriental
steamers, both outward and homeward, will call,
news can be transmitted in anticipation of the over-
land mail by at least 12 or 13 days, and the same
time saved on messages to India. Mr. Clark and
his staff are now at Aden to meet the Sir James
Duke, the vessel which has taken out the cable to
repair or replace the Indian Ocean section as may
found necessary. Though the season for the navi-
gation of these seas will be far advanced, it is yet
hoped that much may be accomplished in the way
of effecting through communication with India
even this summer.