The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-17 00:00:00

morning of Sept. 1 a second Government message
was safely transmitted, but after it had been duly
acknowledged the insulation of the wire became
suddenly' worse, and it was found impossible to
make them understand at Newfoundland. Words
and messages- were continually transmitted, but it
was soon evident that on the American shore they
could only just distinguish that signals were being
sent, for the only answer received at Valentia was
"Repeat" and'‘ Don't understand," and even those
small phra§eswere fully distinguishable at inter-
vals ; and since half-past lon the morning of Fri.
day, Sept. 4, no intelligible signal whatever has
been received. Occasionally, however, very distinct
reversals (as regularly alternating positive and ne-
gative currents are termed) have been received,
sometimes so strong and good that had they been
sending words from Newfoundland they might
have been distinctly read on the reflecting galvano-
master of Professor Thomson. When the line is
not in use for the purpose of testing words, short
messages are Continually; despatched through the
wire for an hour at a time, and then for the next
hour thee-galvanometer is watched for the answers,
which, excepting the reversals already alluded to,
never come. From the time of the first cessation of
the signals up to the present time Professor W.
Thomson, Mr. Varley, and Mr. Edward Bright have
been engaged day and night in testing, and have
come to the conclusion that the defect is a loss of
insulation• about '270 miles (along the cable) from
Valentia. This, calculating the amount of slack
cable paid out during the latter days of
_the sub-
merging operations, would place the fault about
220 statute miles from shore, or somewhere upon
the mountain range which divides the depths of
the Atlantic from the comparatively shallow water
leading from the Irish coast. Reference to logs
and diaries kept by those on board the Agamemnon
during the submerging operations show that this
bank was crossed between 4 and 5 o'clock on the
afternoon of the 3d of August, more than an hour
before the expected tithe. It had been intended by
Sir Chas. Bright to allow a great quantity of slack
cable to run out while crossing this point, in order
that it might reach the bottom of all the inequali-
ties which might exist there undiscovered by the
sounding line. But, from some unexplained cause,
the Agamemnon throughout the whole cruise
steamed at a greater speed than was registered by
the log-line. Owing to this circumstance the bank
was reached at least an hour before the expected
time, the first intimation received by those on board
being a sudden decrease in the registered strain
upon the dynaraometer and an equally sudden fall-
ing off in the speed of the cable, the ship maintain-
ing the same rate, as registered by the log-line.
Sir C. Bright's attention was called to the circum-
stance, and he, seeing at once that the shallow
water was approaching, or had actually been
reached, ordered the weight to be taken off the
breaks, and allowed a large quantity of slack
cable to 'go overboard. It must always remain a
matter of doubt, however, whether ,the falling
off of the strain on and speed of the cable was
observable at all until the top of the bank had been
reached, and had this been the case it is quite pos-
sible that the cable may have remained suspended
upon some projecting points in the steep, and its
insulation sooner become gradually injured by its
own Weight. This is, of course, only a probable
conjecture, based upon the facts aboved stated. But
at the same time it is impossible to account in any
way for the cable having become damaged since its
submersion: Should the fault have originated in
this way not the least blame is attributable either
to Sir Charles. Bright, his assistants, or the officers
of the Agamemnon, the occurrence being solely re-
ferable to • the defective and uncertain method of
ascertaining the speed, of a ship at present in vogue
in the Royal navy. The steep no,nge above alluded
to is often mentioned as a sloping bank, upon what
ground it is difficult to say, for but two soundings
were taken upon it, one at the bottom and another
at the top, and these two soundings, though only
eight miles apart, show a difference in elevation of
7,200 feet. Of the nature of the intervening space
no one can of course form any conjecture. Whether
the sides of this submarine mountain (for it can be
called nothing else) are broken by ravines and pre-
cipitous cliffs in the same way as the sides of
the mountains on land are, nothing but a
close and careful series of soundings can ever deter-
mine.' That such a series of soundings were not
made by Commander Dayman at the point in ques-
tion, when he sounded across the Atlantic from the
Cyclops, was, we believe, due to the prevalence of
bad weather at the time. It is perfectly conclu-
sive, according to the experiments of Professor
Thomson and Mr. Varley, that the water has
reached the conducting wire in at least one place
not less than 220 miles from the shore, and, as the
currents received from Newfoundland vary from
one two-hundrdth to only one nine-hundredth part
of the strength they should be, it would be deceiving
the public to state that the fault is other than of
the most serious nature. But still it is believed
possible by some, with more delicate instruments,and
with proper concert at both ends of the line, to work
through during part of each day, provided the con-
dition of the' wire becomes no worse. Negative
currents of electricity are now used as much as
possible in the transmission of signals, for were
positive currents used the exposed portion of the
wire, by deeomposing the salt water in contact
with it, would be oxidised through in a very short
time. Mr. Henley, who has been for sonic days
experimenting upon the cable, is sanguine of
making the line again serviceable, by the use of his
powerful magneto-electric machines, which are now
on their way from London. It is as well that every
expedient for working the line in its present de-
fective 'condition be tried, as the chances of success-
fully underrunning the cable as far as the point of
injury are unfortunately very small indeed. The
extraordinary phenomena of the natural currents
of electricity, which are continually traversing the
surface of the earth in various directions, act by
their inductive effects upon the great length of cable
submerged, and disturb the needles and galvano-
meters at both ends of the lino to a considerable
degree. This nature and action, if properly ob-
served and studied by means of the Atlantic cable,
would, no doubt.throw considerable light upon the
phenomena of diurnal magnetic variations, to' ac-
count for which no satisfactory law has been pro-
posed. On the night of Monday, the 6th Sept., one
of those extraordinary phenomena called magnetic
storms must have passed over the track of tile cable,
for from half-past 11 to half-past 12 the reflecting
galvanometer in connexion with the line was most
violently disturbed. The reflections were so rapid
and violent that it was only occasionally that the
reflected ray of light could be distinguished upon
the reading scale. These magnetic storms are by
no means of rare occurrence, and, as well as the
earth currents already mentioned, sometimes cause
great delay and annoyance on long lines of tele-
graphic communication.

There is still a very generally prevalent idea that
one of the principal faults in the cable is compara-
tively near shore, and though this supposition is
opposed to the very conclusive experiments of
Professor Thomson and Mr. Varley, yet it is a
question whether, for the full satisfaction of the
shareholders, it would not be worth while taking up
the cable for a few miles from either shore, and then
testing through the middle portion. These opera-
tions would undoubtedly be attended with consi-
derable expense, and it is, therefore, probably, not
thought advisable to engage in them until it has
been ascertained how matters stand at the Ameri-
can terminus of the cable. Mr. Lundy, one of the
electric assistants, proceeds to Newfoundland on
Tuesday, by the Prince Albert, from Galway, for
the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the wire
at the other terminus, and also for the purpose of
arranging a day on which a certain known code of
signals are to be sent at concerted time from both

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