The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-22 00:00:00

THE RED SEA TELEGRAPH LINE.

The following rep mt La 3 been received by Ibis
company :

" Her Maj sty's steamer Cyclops, Suez, April 15.
" Sir —ln compliance with their lo; &hips'
orders (letter M), hearing date 9th January, 1838,
which 1 f.utid Waiting my arrival at Aden, I pt.,-
ceeded first to Fl,,deidal), and I.e t )13y before you

for their information a de'aileclaccount of all I
h,ve done r(svecling the hying a telegraph cable
and e,itabtishing stations for working .it between
Stiez an,l Aden.

"On arrival at Hodeidah, the principal mer-
chant, a Greek under Britisa protection, came on
board, and, le ruing what I requited, offered to
conduct me to the author&e3 of the place, inform-
ing me that the Pasha (Aeh met Pdsha) wal away
on au f xpedition aza;nst the Arabs. I accordingly
lande I, and was introduced to he Lieut.-a,vetn..r,
' who gave me to utile' stand that no difficulty would
be thrown in the way of establishing a statini for
working a telegraph wire here, but • that it would
be necessary to get permission from Jiddah, to
whose authority they are subject.
" Walking round ihe town and along its sea face
there are several spots where a ea l•h may he br.ught
in and the necessary place built for working it, but
the risk would be of i-s brie°, fouled and hooked
up by the large native CoAts anchoring all
a.on,,e• the sea face of th town, as I have thown
in the small plan of Hodridah obtlined from the
Indian officers at Aden. The an'thorage fur large
ships is at least 24 ge,graphical miles from the
shore—not that I think they would come near the
cable, for they could be placed within certain li,,,iTs
of bearing, yet they might possib'y anchor on their
way up and down the coast, particularly towards
Rts Nej trula, which is much frequented.
"Jiddah was the next place. In my lett,ir from
Aden I had not a very good idea of being able to
establish a station at this port, by reason of the
many outlying shoals and thos. lining the shore,
over which the cable must necessarily lie. But con-
sideringthat it would be a most advantageous plac.,
as being the chief port in the Red Sea, I li.tve en-
di-around to -point 011 if how all thewltfficultica,
may be overcom.. _ _ _

With the captain of the port I trie I to carry a
line of s iundiugafrorn the anchorage of the ship to
the •town, but fail-d in every effort, frequently
grounding with my gig in what this officer c tiled
the channel,' and which he stater: in the summer
s.rason is dry. After ineffectually trying at the
top of high water I wis obliged to give up the at
tempt to take a sufficient depth of water anywhere
near the town for placing the cable securely ;
and, moreover, all this is on a c Iral bottem, so
that the cable would not only ran the risk of being
picked up by the natives, who are c instantly
wading about over these places fishing and gather-
ing shells, but chafed by the bottom, on which
it must necessarily lie to get in t) the
shore ; and newhere do I sea any other chan-
nel for bringing the cable iu from seaward to the an-
chorage and out aga n but what I have marked in
the accompanying plan, the northern red line being
the one used by lsrge ships both for entering and
leaving the port. The bungalowe', or native boats,
sometimes enter at the proper tide by that passage
marked with the double red line, but it is full of
stones, and at low tide very little water on it.
"I would theiefo.e propose that a vessel Ire
moored in the roads between the shoals walked
Berry' and r Mayett,” at the point of intersection
of tile red lines, or further up ; where the Cyclops
lay she ancho:ed iu 11 fathoms, and swinging could
only find four ; however, by mooring head and
stern these inequalities would he got over.
" My reaaona are that, in the first place, I should
imagi,ie the •telegraph could -be worked, quite as
well from a ship as 'he shere ; mireovrr, there it
would b I free from all obstruction or interference
with any one. •
" The health of those working the cable would
ba insured, for Mr. Page itif aims me that the town
itself is certainty not healthy, which c tnnct be
wondered at when there areas many as 40,000 pil-
grims iu the place at ono time, on their
way to Mecca ; and the veseel fitted
with a condenser, Grant's galley would bs
independent of the shore -as far as water is con-
cerned, which is of very inferior quality. By
these means a cable would be in a sufficient depth,-
and, as there is generally a soft bottom in the pas-
sages where the deepest water is found, it would
soon be covered over.
" This plan also I should say would bs the
cheapest, and a ship could readily be got at Cal-
cutta (teak-built) to carry a good cargo of what is
suitable for the market, such as rice, sugar,
which would meet a ready sale at Jiddal ; even
her spars &c., would not be lost. Moor her
bead- and stern off the town, where she would
not only be clear of interference and med-
dling from the natives, which would perhaps be
only from curiosity, but all the disagreeables of
a Turkish town, and the authorities of the place
would certainly throw no difficnities in the way—
nay, would rather, I am certain, do all they could
to protect and encourage it. All those merchants
I had an opportunity of seeing and conversing with,
through the Vice-Consul as interpreter, c tnsidered
the establishment of such a thing here would
not only be highly • beneficial to their trade,
&c., but do much good for the place. Learning
that Mr. Page had been long it the Red Sea, and
had visited many of the petits, I called upon him
for any information he could give me that would
be useful in establishing the telegraph. A copy of
his reply I herewith forward, and think that his
suggestions respecting Hodeidah are deserving of
consideration.
" Setting aside the chances of its being attacked
by the Arabs the Island of Carnelian stems to te
.
in a better position for running th_eectaimble; m--ire
pplies
di-
rect from. Jiddah, thence on I"
can be got at either Loheia litol eidali. There
is a small force of Turkish soldiers, I hear, at
Camaran.
The next station was Cossier, and where the 1 n.
mrneece I go' a few .clrp
of soundiags was to c°
casts in the sea both before and after leaving
om
tin the track chart. Bur.
J iddah, which are n - . nely
on this track between li
aes' ttwo ports,
o .b(e_ d eeiar 0 ,ft
about mid-channel, appe
water in the Red Sea, for with 1, KM .honTs
line in one spot we would not get a bottom,
and a little further on with 678 fathoms
he weight was down. In getting the cable
in to Costlier I see no difficulty whatever so
long as it can be laid clear of the. bunoalowe's,
anchorage, and other native boat, which is close
to the reef off the town, on which their anchots
we e laid while we were there ; further out the
water would be too deep, and I have shown on the
plan wi, h a red line where I think the cable ought
to come iu and the station-housd be built, rather
to the left of the town, looking at it from the an-
chorage. The Governor assured us that the na•