The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-11-01
The Atlantic ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS for
Next Year.


By the last mail from Europe we learn that
active preparations are being made with the
view of laying the Atlantic submarine cable
next summer the month of June having been
selected as the most favorable for the work
The company have ordered the manufacture of
four hundred additional miles, which will be
ready for shipment, if necessary, in January,
with the understanding that if they should not
succeed in their attempt to recover the three
hundred and forty miles now submerged, they
are to have as much additional cable made with
in twenty eight days as may be considered ne
cessary to supply the deficiency.
The length of the cable at present in course
of storage in the Keyham dockyard, near Ply
mouth, where it is being discharged from the
Niagara and Agamemnon, is something over
twenty-five hundred miles, SO that with what
has been ordered, and the portion already
laid, the company will have nearly
three thousand miles with which to
make the next attempt-an attempt which, by
the aid of the valuable experience they have
gained, will undoubtedly be successful. Some
fears are entertained of the company having
the means to carry out the CREST enterprise in
which they are engaged, but few facts will
show how groundless they are In addition to
the twenty-five hundred miles Of cable which
they have-and all of which has been paid for
they have over three hundred and seventy
thousand dollars of their capital yet untouch-
ed; and after they shall have paid for what has
been ordered, they will have a surplus of one
hundred and seventy thousand dollars in hard
cash-something of u surplus, it must be admit
ted, in these hard times.
The British government has signifed its in
tention to detach two of their vessels from their
naval service next year to assist in the great
work, and will appoint the Agamemnon and
Leopard for that purpose. These are
the ships which were engaged in the
last expedition, the reason of their re-
appointment being the experience which
their commanders, officers and men have
already had in the management and laying of
the cable. For the same reasons our own gov
former escort, the Susquehanna, both being the
best adapted for the work. There is also another
reason, perhaps more cogent than any other
the Company have spent u large sum of money
in preparing the Niagara for the coiling and
paying out of the cable and the withdrawal of
her from this service would not only be attended
with great pecuniary loss, but would seriously
lessen the chances of success. The result of the
last expedition has proved that she IL better
fitted for the work than any vessel that could be
employed-simply on account Of her remarka-
BILE steadiness in heavy sea and the great
ease with which she can he managed On
these grounds, as well a. on the ground
that our government has q joint interest
with the British in the undertaking, they will
be not only justified but bound by their OBJ
legations to send both those ships next year.
In connection with this enterprise there is
one important consideration which forces itself
upon our attention at this particular time Had
the attempt which was made last August to lay
the Atlantic telegraph cable been successful,
the great mercantile and commercial communi-
" on the other side Of the ocean might have
been enabled TO have averted many of The dis
astrous consequences which, in the early stages
of the present crisis, must have attended their
VI i1c tAtSuh tbloubHOul
country. AS ii is they have been obliged to
work almost entirely in the dark, with no know
ledge of the actual state Of things here, or of
the terrible depression under which business of
all kinds is now laboring. AL this misappre-
bension, and much of the evil effects which have
followed, would have been avoided had the At
lantic telegraph been successfully laid. The
pecuniary benefit alone which it would have
been to the English commercial world would
have paid for the laying of dozen Atlantic
cables and have left large surplus over. It,
value, in fact, can hardly bc estimated in
dollars.
Naval Intelligence.