The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-24 00:00:00

The Atlantic Telegraph.

The failure of the expedition in 1865 in the attempt
to lay the Atlantic cable was very lamentable no
doubt ; but the money which it cost was far from
being wasted. The mishaps taught more valuable
lessons to everybody concerned than a success could
have done, and now the expedition will go out armed
at all points, and all the more confident of triumph,
because 10 or 11 months ago there was such a series
of accidents, and such a series of half successes.
There are, besides, two strings to the bow which the
best seamanship and the best engineering skill of
England are about to bend. There is the new cable
to be laid first, and through it there will probably,
within two months from Saturday next, fly many a
message of goodwill and many a message of
congratulation pleasantly exchanged with our
children north of the Lakes and our cousins
south of the St. Lawrence. And then there is the

old cable to be picked up and spliced, and the rest
of it laid to Trinity Bay; when England and
America will be joined in twin bonds, and statesmen
in America will be able to feel the pulse of Europe
(if their touchbe delicate enough) through the wires
and they of Downing-street and the Ministeres on
the Rue de Rivoli will not have to wait a fortnight,
or at least 10 days, for the news of a fishery difficulty
off the " Banks," or a bit of trouble down by the Rio
Grande, while the great public will have its New
York news of Monday evening hot with its rolls on
Tuesday morning ; and when 'Change closes in Lon-
don, Liverpool, or Manchester, they who are begin-
ning 'Change in New York will know the European
prices and be able to regulate themselves accordingly,
while the possession of two wires will ensure transmis-
sion with very little delay. In fact, a brokerin Wall-
street will soon look for his London prices of 3
o'clock p.m. when he goes to his office the same day
at 10 a.m., and Bear in Threadneedle-street, or a
Bull in Broad-street, will expect his New York
closing quotations in his morning paper as he now
looks for those from Vienna, and as he a few years
ago looked for those from Liverpool.
As we were the first to describe the beginning of
the work on this year's cable, so now that the pre-
parations are being rapidly completed we have-the
pleasure of laying before our readers an account of
the programme which will be followed as closely as
circumstances will permit. The Great Eastern,
which lies comfortably enough in the Medway, about
three miles above Sheerness, and where the public
parted with her last year, will run out to sea on
the 30th June. The 28th, being the day of the
highest spring tides, was originally chosen ; but
while the 30th gives a margin of two days more for
possible delays, the water on the bar at Sheerness
will on that day be quite enough to float the big
ship, however deep she may be, especially as she will
coal comfortably from the 3d or 4th of July till the
the 7th or Bth in that delightful anchorage behind
Bear Island, in Bantry Bay, where Capt. Anderson
kept her snugly for three days last year. From
Bearhaven the Great Eastern will go to Valentia
not later than the 10th of July, and by that time the
new shore end, which is to be shipped from North
Woolwich by the middle of June, will be laid from
theWilliamCory, steamship, and be ready at a buoy
not far from the spot where the splice was made last
year. When the ends of the new cable are joined the
Great Eastern, with her consorts, will take her de-
parture on a course distant about 30 miles from that
which she took last year, so that there may be no
chance of laying the new cable over the old one. If
all should go well the Great Eastern will, on her
arrival in Trinity Bay, coal again, and return, as we
before announced, to pick up the old cable and lay
it to Newfoundland. Leaving a margin of a few
days for minor accidents on these voyages, it is
hoped that all will be accomplished, and the Great
Eastern be home again by the 17th of September.
This, it may be said, is all very pretty on paper,
but how is it to be done ? It may first be well to
show what has been done. There are, then, already
on board the Great Eastern in the fore tank 336
miles of new cable, in the aft tank 614 miles, and
in the main tank 757 miles. The length to be ma-
nufactured is altogether 2,800 miles. There are thus
on board 1,707 miles, and all the rest is ready at the
Greenwich works except 300 miles, which, as the
Telegraph Construction Company turns out 120
miles a week, will all be ready by Saturday fort-
night, and be on board the Great Eastern by the
end of the third week in June. So far there is no
difficulty. But there is the half of the old cable to
be conveyed, and the bulk of this will go in the
Great Eastern, but 274 miles of it will be carried in
int
thoeiwnst screw eitnwhge steamer
besidet tanks,
nksthe,h i w bwhich
Medway,big ship,
the of 1,900 tons, which is
y all but ready to take
riveters
were yesterday
busily engaged in finishing. When this
supply is
on board the Medway will run up to Greenwich and
take on board 45 miles of the old cable, and then
shift her berth to Woolwich, and take in 91/ miles
of cable to be laid across the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Her freight will be completed by four miles of the
shore end of the new cable to be laid at Trinity
Bay.
The decks of the Great Eastern are in a much less
confused condition than at this time last year ; but
that is hardly to be wondered at when it is remem-
bered—or stated, if the fact has not before been
published—that in the internal fittings of the ship
for her last year's voyage there were consumed 200
tons of iron plates, 75 tons of angle iron, 6 tons of
three-quarter rivets, 9 tons of 8-inch spikes, 600
loads of 12-inch timber in balk, and 150 loads of
other timber. The work represented by these figures
did not need to be done again, but there has been
work of another kind more than sufficient to keep
busy the mind and the hands of Mr. Halpin, the
first officer, who will once more, to everybody's
satisfaction, be chief of the staff to Captain An-
derson. The cleaning of the bottom has been a
work of time and labour, and now even nattiness
doubt the 1,500
big ship will look as gallons of oil as a
is beginning to be looked for. There is enough
paint about to float the pinnace. They think little,
beginning,we are
told,a
no
df orderingno
" good as new" before she dips her flag to the guard
ship at Sheerness on her way out. The cable fleet
will comprise, beside the Great Eastern, the Med-
way, above mentioned, the Albany, screw steam-
ship, of 1,500 tons, the William Cory, of 1,500 tons,