The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-26 00:00:00

SINKING OF THE GREAT CABLE 7E

LE GRAPH.

DOVER, THURSDAY AFTERNOON, —At four o'clock
this morning the vessels having charge of the sub-
marine cable arrived in Dover harbour from London.
At five, after a breakfast at the Ship Hotel, the gen-
tlemen in charge of it, accompanied by M. Foy, Ad-
ministrateur en Chef des Telegraphes to the French
Government, and Professor Jacobi, of St. Petersburg,
who had arrived for the express purpose, left for the
South Foreland, the point chosen for the point de
depart of the submarine cable. The English Go-
vernment most generously aided the undertaking by
affording the valuable assistance of that experienced
officer, Captain Bullock, R.N., with the Fearless and
Blazer. These were accompanied by the Black Eagle
steam-tug and the Red Rover, a tug in waiting. On
board the Blazer, the hold of which had been gutted
to make room for this gigantic metallic and gutta
percha tube, were M. Foy, Professor Jacobi, Sir
James Carmichael, Bart., Mr. Jacob Brett, Messrs.
Barlow, Humphrey, Crampton, 'Wollaston, and other
scientific engineers, including Mr. Stateham, Mr.
Brunston, Mr. Hutcheson, and others, who had ably
assisted in carrying out the works.
The vessels arrived off the South Foreland at half-
past six. The sun rose brilliantly on the occasion,
and exactly at seven the cable was landed. Mr.
John W. Brett, Mr. Brunston, and other gentlemen,
accompanying it to watch progress and keep up a com-
muication at regular intervals from the coast, through
the several wires of the cable as it progressed in its
onward course to France.

At nine o'clock, when about five miles from land, a
feu de joi, was fired from the extreme end of twenty-
five miles of wire to the land, being a sort of electri-
cal cannonade, which was kept up from time to time,
amid the vivas and huzzas of the several parties en-
gaged in this useful, and, as regards its future advan-
tages, important enterprise. Several telegraph in-
struments were also most liberally allowed to be at-
tached, in addition to those of Messrs. Brett, the ori-
ginal projectors of the submarine telegraph, and the
needle telegraphs of Messrs. Cook and Wheatstone,
under Mr. Reid, and of Messrs. Henley. All had
an opportunity of mending communications to and
from the two extreme points, during its progress
across the Channel, in addition to the printing tele-
graph of Messrs. Brett.
This was kept up until the vessel, at one o'clock,
was out of sight. Several gentlemen who witnessed
it from the English shore, crossed by the boat to
Calais, at half-past two P M., to see the landing of the
cable at Sandgate, when, by its connexion with the
wires at Calais, communications are expected to be
forwarded direct to Paris.

A continuous correspondence is kept up by the
different telegraphs, and a cannonade (formed by fu-
sees in connexion with the wires) kept up at intervals,
the word "fire" being given from side to side by means
of the telegraph, when,
.by the points of the several
wires at the terminals being brought in contact, the
explosion instantly takes place.
(PROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
STRAITS OF DOVER, THURSDAY.—The actual sub-
mersion of the great cable telegraph, now attracting
so much international attention, and which arrived
here by her Majesty's ship Blazer, was commenced
this morning at six o'clock, at which hour Capt. Bul-
lock, R.N., was ready, with the steam-ship Fearless
and a picked crew, to pilot the convoy across
the channel. The morning was calm and
sea-bright, and the crews of both vessels ap •
peered animated with that feeling of adven-
ture which is naturally enough evoked by an experi-
ment of such entallrise and novelty as that of
underlaying some 20 miles of deep sea with the elec-
tric link of intelligence between the European conti-
nent and the capital of the world. The first thing
done, there not being sufficient depth of water for
the Blazer to be brought near enough shore, was to
convey the extremity of the cable to the South Fore-
land coast, where it will be buried deep in the beach,
and carried up the cliff. The Fearless then steamed
ahead, having made fast her towing tackle to the hull
of the Blaner, at the rate of two miles an hour, out to
sea, the men on board the latter vessel paying out
continuously the cable over her stern, from whence,
by the action of its own weight, it sank into the sub-
marine sand and valley. The track between the
South Foreland and Sandgate, the corresponding
point on the French coast, and which has been se-
lected as presenting, from soundings and surveys, the
fewest obstacles and probable disturbances, was marked
out by pilot buoys, and is chosen as the best site
for the submerging of the wire that could be adopted
by those having the best knowledge of naval and ma-
rine dynamics. The depth of the sea line at starting
point is from 20 to 30 feet, and its maximum depth
180 feet, or 30 fathoms. There being a surplus of 4
miles of wire over the 21 required, the slackening pro-
cess was well sustained, and the experience gathered
from the experiment of last year rendered the opera•
tion the more facile. The route adopted differs ad-
vantageously from the one laid down last year, which
was in the neighbourhood of shifting sands. Messrs.
Crampton and 'Wollaston, the engineers, were in
charge of the engineering arrangements, and some
30 men and the necessary batteries being on board,
complimentary messages and notifications of progress
were sent over the progressively paid out cable
through the waveless depths to Dover. Fusees were
also, at intervals of miles, fired through it on the
foreshore.

At half-past one the gratifying intelligence was
conveyed through the cable that it was then half-way
across the channel, 10 miles; but at this stage of the
voyage it began to blow fresh, and the ripple at the
bows of the vessel at starting now assumed more of
the rolling sea, which occasioned a pitching of the
vessel that, for perfect facility of operation, bad been
better dispensed with. At about half-past five o'clock
the time at which the last train left Dover for Lon-
don, about 1G miles of cable had been successfully
steamed off and submerges, and al, consequently,
nothing further in the shape of a written dispatch
could be conveyed to town, the only medium for com-
municating the subsequent progress of submersion
would be

[BY SUB-SEA. AND LAND TEDEGRAPIL]
" COAST OF FRANCE, TWILIGIIT.
" The cable is securely anchored two-and-a-half
miles off the French coast."

It will thus be seen that the great cable, after an
arduous expedition, was all but successfully landed
on the French frontier, and this is to be completely
accomplished on the renewal of operations to-morrow
morning (Friday).

THE I3LACHWALL DOCKS AND THE EAST AN WEST
INDIA DOCK RAILWAL—Within the last few days the ex-
tensive dock formed by the East and West India Dock Junc-
tion Railway at Black wall, contiguous to the eastern entrance
of the West India Docks, has been opened for the admission
of shipping. it covers a space of nearly seven acres, and
its depth of water amounts to upwards of twenty-four feet.
The eastern side of the dock is devoted to the coal traffic.
Tramways are laid along the whole length of the quay, and
by several powerful cranes or lifts the coal is very expe-
ditiously raised from the colliers and deposited in the trucks.
In addition to the dock, and the company's works in the
immediate neighbourhood, a double line of rails has been
formed along the entire frontage of the eastern warehouses
of the West India Export Dock, so that the different bales
and packages of East and West India and other produce
may be lowered from the loopholes of the warehouses into
the trains, and, if necessary, may be conveyed to Aberdeen
tthi the London and North-Western Railway without break
of carriage.

" ALABASING SACRIFICE."—One of our tradesmen
list week issued a number of handbills, announcing that
bonnets were to be given away at his establishment to all
comers.. The doors of the shop were soon besieged by a
motley crowd, sores of whom carried off one, two, three, and
in some cases, five bonnets each, which they obtained at the
extremely low price of—nothing! This fun went on until
some of the neighbours, with more sense than himself; in-
duced him to give over the losing trade; and then the mul-
titude, who did not at all relish this stoppage of the sup-
plies, displayed their gratitude in a strong inclination to
"smash the windows of the liberal bonnet-bnilder.—Chelten-
ham Examiner.

A coach has been running for some time between
Brighton and London, taking the Horsham, Dorking, and
Richmond ro-.d ; and on Monday another four-horse coach,
taking the alternate days, was put on. It is called the
" Recherché," and appears to be well horsed. The starting
of another coach in the railroad times attracted no little
curiosity, on Tuesday, in Castle-square, from whence the
Ache h 6" ritatted,--krighron Ouctte.