The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-08 00:00:00

The Recovery of Last Year's Cab'e.

This year's expedition of the Great Eastern
with the Atlantic Cable will dispel many delusions.
Most men, indeed the vast majority, had no faith
whatever in the success of the undertaking. This
was no loose and ill-formed opinion of the igno-
rant, but joined in by the electricians, as well as by
those who knew nothing of 'electricity, by sailors
who knew the surface of the Atlantic and what pay-
ing out a Cable meant, and by savans who pro-
, fessed to know the bottom of the Atlantic. If the
• possibility of laying a perfect Cable from Ireland to
Newfoundland was doubted, the possibility of re-
covering a lost one was still more doubted. The
' cable of last year parted in the very deepest part of
the deep Atlantic. It was in the act of recovering
the wire to a point where a haw had been paid out
that the accident happened, and the line broke.
Not only was there a flaw actually existing which
destroyed the cable as a means of communication,
when it parted, but it was shown to be a most dif-
ficult operation, and one unsuccessfully attempted,
L to recover that line up to the point of the flaw.
In all our imaginations the bed of the Atlantic is
• associated with rough rocks and tangled weed heav-
ing to the swell of the ocean. The mind pictured
' the thin line lying among great boulders, twisted in
the folds of gigantic sea-growth, and uneasily rest-
, ing on shell-covered rocks. Instead of this, at the
[ greatest depth where the cable was grappled, it lay
[ along a bed of softest sand, so fine that a micro-
' scope only can show that it is composed of the
L minutest shells, of an organisation so delicate that
they cannot exist in the slightest motion. The bed,
therefore, is of the purest and most beautiful mate-
,
, rial, in a stillness which, on land, the mind can
scarcely conceive. 'We can imagine nothing more
' perfect than this for a cable to rest on, and it is
clear that danger to the cable is not in the great
' depths,," but in the shallows, as it nears the
coasts, and comes into what sailors call
"soundings." No difficulty was experienced
in grappling the cable. The ships knew accurately
where it lay, and caught it where they proposed.
The danger was in raising it, and this arose solely
from the swell ou the surface. A vessel heaving up
and down on the long waves of the ever-restless
Atlantic jerked suddenly as she rose the tightened
line, raising the delicate wire with all the condensed
weight above of thousands of yards of the ocean.
After many failures the Great Eastern got the line
on board last Sunday morning, and Mr. MAY saw
the light on the mirror at Valentia suddenly change
from the gibberish which the ocean bed had been so
long speaking into coherent language. Immediately
the splice was effected it was shown the cable had
improved, and we have now the positive knowledge
that the cool and uniform temperature of great
ocean depths improves the " conductibility" and
" insulation" of the wire. The cable of 1865, owing
to this cause, speaks even better than the more per-
fect cable of 1866, and the latter has greatly im-
proved in speaking qualities since it has been laid.
These facts are full of hope. They show, first, that
there is no difficulty to well-applied science in lay-
ing a cable across the Atlantic. Second, that the
cable lasts and improves when placed under the
ocean. Third, that electricians can state positively
where a fault or stoppage exists. Fourth, that the
cable can at that spot be raised and repaired. Under
1 these circumstances no future difficulty can arise in
multiplying our telegraphic communication with
America, and continuing it uninterruptedly under
any known circumstances. There are scientific and
philanthropic then who would furnish the means
to effect so great a good even were there no hope of
a return. But the Atlantic Telegraph promises
to beone of the most paying concerns ever launched.
- It is said that the one line already working is earn-
ing nearly a million a-year. With two lines down,
with an improved system of signalling, even if the
tariff be greatly lowered, the returns will be
something prodigious. Such communication has a
tendency to grow. Like a railway, it fosters and
creates its traffic. The important business opera-
tions between America and Europe will be trans-
acted through the cable, and merchants cannot
means
afford to be behind each other in employing a
of communication which would give
advantage. A
establishment so important an at
of the fastest
to a rival
lead-
ing firm in China employed a
111
gkon,g, mainly.
all competitors
steamers between Calcuttaa
for the advantage of gaining
earlier news. On nearing
remained concealed in an
twollon
gokro
ntgh three s
ed
steamersa y ndover°n
inlet of the coast, while the house traded ou the
ntelligence. If then it would be worth the while
s
of one establishment to pay a large sum annually
for a little earlier news, it would be surely worth
the expenditure of a few thousands to the great firms
conducting their operations in America and in
Europe. The line now between London and New
York is infinitely speedier, more reliable, and more
secure than that between London and Calcutta ;
and it will eventually be proved that our best track
for a telegraph communication is across an ocean.
If in the ocean's depths the line be subjected inju-
riously to the action of salt water, there are at least
no superstitious and mischievous savages, no de-
structive whirlwinds to level the poles, and no curious
elephant to test their strength, or insidious white