The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-07 00:00:00

THE ATLANTIC CABLE.

QUEENSTOWN, JULY 5.
The Gorgon and the Niagara arrived this morn-
ing. Three attempts have been made to lay down
the electric telegraph cable. The Agameamon and
Velorons are expected hourly. The squadron ex-
perienced vary bad weather during their cruise.
On the 13th of June a heavy gale sprang up, during
which they were separated, but all met again at
the rendczvoty, 52 2 lal., 33 18 long. On the first
attempt about 10 miles of cable was lost, on the
second about 120 miles, and on the 28th the cable
was again joined, and about 250 miles were paid
out, when communication ceasing to be received
the cable was parted, and the Niagara and the
Gorgon proceeded to this place. Much to their
surprise, the Agamemnon and Valorous were not
in before them, as tl:ey 11. Ad more ti-Au 200 miles
start. The Agamemnon is report,cl to have suf-
ferei some damages in the gale.
The following ver,h,n, which appears in a second
edition of the Cork Reporter of yesterday, way not
be without, interest : _

...... "
The__ Niaesia and Gorgon, attached to the
squadron for the laying of the Transatlantic cable, !
arrived in Queenstown at an early hour this more-
, ing. We regret having to announce that the
object of the expedition has for the present failed,
and we shall now give our realers such particulars
of the events which occurred in the course of the '
undertakieg as we have been able to collect. The
Agamemnon and her tender the Valme us, and
the Niagara and her tender the Gorgon, sailed from
Flym.eith on the 10th of J tine ; eaee of the }peat
vowel. ceiryiug about 1,500 wils of ceb,e, with a
new and improved apparatus for paying it out,
whic-n:it wan calculated would have allowed for ail ,
st sit or unequld motion of the ships, as the very
speed of the vessels r egide ed by automatic arrange- '
mente the rate at which the coil was to be die-
charged. After having been three days at sea the
expedition was overtaken by a fearful gale, which .
continued without intermission for nine days. Ou
the seventh day of this heavy weather the ships,
which coutiuued to keep together, had to part com-
pany, and the Agamemnon was obliged to scud be-
foie the weed for 36 hours ; her o :als got adrift,
and a coil of the cable shifted, so that .her captain_
for some tithe entertained serious apprehensions
for her safety, and from ' the immense strain her
waterways were forced "pen, and one of her ports
Was broken. Two of her sailors were severely ii -
jured, and one of the marines lost his reason from
fright. Yet such was the consummate skill, good
seamanship, and intrepidity of her commander,
Capt. Priddie, that he was enabled to bring her to
the appointed rendezvous, lat.' 52 deg. 2 win.,
long. 33 deg. 18 min. The Niagara rode out the
storm gallantly, having only carried away her jib- '
boom and one wing of the figurehead, the great
American eagle.
"All the vessels having at length arrived at their
central point of junction, the first splice of the cable
was made on the 26th. After having paid out two
and a-half miles each, owing to an accident on
board. the Niagara, the cable parted. The
ships having met, the splice was made good,
and they commenced to give out the cable a second
time ; but after they had each paid out 40 miles it
was reported that the current was broken, and no
communication could be made between the ships.
Unfortunately, in this instance the breakage must
have occurred at the bottom, as the electricians,
from the fine calculations which their sensitive in-
strumen's allow them to make, were able to decline
such to have been the fact, even before the vessels
came together again. Having cast off this loss, they
met for the third time and recovered the connexion
of the cable on the 28th. They then started afresh,
and the Niagara having paid out over 150 miles of
cable, all on board entertained the most sanguine
anticipations of success, when the fatal announce-
, ment was made upon Tuesday, the 29th, et 9 p.m.,
that the electric current had ceased to flow. As
the necessity of abandoning the project for the
present was now only too manifest, it was consi-
dered that the opportunity might as well be availed
of to test the strength of the cable. Accordingly,
this immense vessel, with nl! her stores, au., was
ellowed te se- La,; to idle cattle, and, iu addition, a
strain of four tons was placed upon the breaks, yet,
although it was blowing fresh at the time, the cable
held her as if she bad been et anchor for .over an
hour, when a heavy pitch of, the sea snapped
the rop6, and the Niagira, bore .away for this
port. Before starting an arrangement was made,
that should any accident occur in giving out
the cable before the ships should have gone 100
miles, they should return to their starting place
in mid ocean ; but that in case that distance
should have been exceeded before any casualty
should happen, they should make for
,Queenstown.
In eccordance with this understanding, the Nia-.
gara, having made 109 wiles before the mishap, re-
turned to this port. Upon her homeward way she
must have passed the Agamemnon, but owing to
the heavy fogs which prevailed for the greater por-
tion of that time, she missed seeing or gaining: any
tidings of her.
"As the Agamemnon has not yet arrived, al-
though her destination was directed towards this
shore, it is conjectured that she might not have
delivered the arranged quantity of coil at the time
of i's failure, and may have 'consequently returned
to their place of meeting. which will unavoidably
protract the suspense which must necessarily be
felt, as, until she be spoken with, nothing definite
can be leareel as to the occasion of this disaster.
The two principal electricians, Dr. Santy and Mr.
Lasses, on board the Niagara, are inclined to be-
lieve that the accident occurred on boatel the Aga-
memnon, which, as it would implicate a faulty ar-
rangement of some of the apparatus, would still
leave hope of the ultimate success of the undertak-
ing, whereas, if the separation has occurred at the
bot'om, its effects will be greatly to damp, if not
deter, the enterprising spirit of the directors from
persevering in this gigantic project. Should nothing
be heard of her consort the Niagara will, after coal-
ing, proceed to her ocean station, having still on
board about 1,300 miles of the cable,l which, sup-
posing that the other vessel has retained a similar
amount, would still admit of the junction being
completed, and allow 30 per cent. for casualties. • In
this last trial some 500 miles of the rope was lost, and
when it is calculated that it is roughly estimated
that the value of the cable is about 1001. a mile, it
will be seen that the sacrifice up to the present has
not been so extensive as might at first sight have
b:en supposed."

The Cork Examiner, of yestAnlay, supplies the
following particulars of the parting of the Atlantic
cable :—" This morning at seven o'clock the
Niagara, American corvette, andthe Gorgon, Eng-
lish war steamer, entered our harLour, with the
unwelcome intelligence of a new failure in the at-
tempt to carry out this gt e,t undertaking. It ap-
pears the squadron Lad Lot to a point in the At-
lantic about 1,000 miles to the ivfst of Ireland,
when they fell in with a heavy gale, in which the
Agamemnon capsizd her portion of the cable. In
the effort to get it right again it is supposed it got
what is technically called a kink, which was the
cause of the subsequent disaster. On joining the
cable for the purp se of paying out the weather
wai fine and everything lool<ed promising. The
Agamemnon steered east, towards Ireland, and the
Niagara west, for Newl.undland. at board the
latter vessel the inAchiaery was found to work ad-
mirably, and the betweeu the two ships
went on without intermision and the highesthopes of success were entertained. On the 29th of
June, however, when 250 miles of cable had been
paid out, tho'e superintending 'the work on board
the Niagara found the signals to cease, and became
aware that something wrong must have occuraed
on board their consort, and the continuity of tho
current having ceased they cut the cable. The
Niagara bore away for Queenstown, which is the
appointed rendezvous. The reason of the ships
coming back to Queenstown Was the running short
of their coals, owing to the quantity consumed dur-
ing the experiment."

MARKET NEW.-- (This Dal. )

CORN EXCHANGE.

An unusually limited supply of English wheat was on
sale in to-day's market, and the dessand for all kinds was
rather active, at fully Monday's improvement in value.
Fine.wheats, had they been on offal-, would have produced
snore money.
We had a ,teady demand for foreign wheat ; but as most
of the holders refused to cell, except on higher terms, the
amount of business was only moderate.
There was a fair sale for barley and malt, and prices
were well supported.
Oats, the supply of which was only moderate, were
firm, and again rather dearer.
Beans, peas, and flour sold at fully Monday's currency.
ARRIVALS TUIS WEL
Wheat. Barley. Malt.
450 30 I 2.710

Oats.

Flotr.
1,250

English
Irish

Foreign.....

2,060 2,450

5,360

sky.
brlw

BOROUGH HOP.
Our market is heavy, and prices rule next to nominal.
The duty has touched 220,0001.