Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1857-09-18
The Broken CabIc-Interpsting Letter


lSlILh STATES fRlGAIE - NIAGARA, :
Plymouth August 18th, 1857.
Ny DEAR CoLoNEL,--Before you receive
this YOU will have heard Of the failure of
the first attempt to lay the Atlantic
Telegraph Gable; but the full particulars
you will not not have received | have no
doubt blame Is attached to this ship-much
blame. Probably all the papers have heard
oil the failure on board the Niagara and
throw the whole misfortune on us. She
was not the proper ship y was too fast or
too slow or too large or too small.
or the els were not arranged properly,
Or We did not take sufficient interest in it
or some other ridiculous reason will be
given for the failure. We are not in the
least to blame; the fault lies, not in the shin
or those on board, or in the cahle. or in
the c,iiing of the cable, but in the machinery
used in rlyins it out. That is what br ke
the larger part near the shOre-is what
broke the smaller portion 3G5 miles from
shore, and it's what came very near
breaking it on several occasions before it
finally snapped.
Early on the morning Of the 9Th we got
under way, and commenced paying out tie
large cajle-had paved out about three
miles, when the cable threw itself off one OF
the heels, became flst IN such a manner
t.ut tic Nhecls cOull not move, and lt
snapped The remainder Of that day w1s
employed in undermining. and the next in
getting it up and splicing it, 50 that it W.,
not until $ T. VI. OF the 9TH that we again
got under way, anI commenced paving out
ABOUT II 0: the same evening it again
broke, whore the large and small cables
were i1ined but fortunately it broke in
the m chinery, and the end caught before
leaving the ship 1t was Immediately splic-
ed and about | clock we were again un-
der way, paying out the smaller portion. .-
On the oth and 9TH they worked admira-
bly, ON the 9th we finished the spar.dec
coil, and commenced on the forward main
deck coil. On the 10th. everything worked
beautifully until about F. n. when .
splice on the cable threw one wind on a
wheel ont OF its proper groove into a groove
on top of another wind, thereby stopping
the wheels, and very much enda ngering
the cable The ship was Immediately
stopped and backed, and the cable right.
cG. Ghesame thing again occurred about .
o'clock and was again put to rights without
injury to the cable Next morning, (llth y
about a quarter to I, the paying out ma
chinery stopped entirely-brought tire
mendouS strain upon the cable and snapped
it entirely clear OF the ship, where there was
no chance of recovering it. Longer faces,
OF more iispirited persons you never w
than there were on board this shi p that
day but we made the best of it, and spent
the day experimenting, by which means we
found it was very fortunate it had broken
so soon for after connecting the end of
the cable on board the Agamemnon with
that on board this ship and paying 1T out,
We found the outer portion of both untwist-
| Ir..l , tha fp- nhl md
strands inside, long before it reached the
/ bottom on account of the two cables being
twisted in opposite directions. The same
would have been the result had we succeed
/ ed in laying the whole cable. As soon as
the A.amemnon had joined her end, and
commeucei paying out, the cable would have
broken, and the loss to the company wouli
have been some SAP 800 more than II
now Is.
After making all necessary experiments
we commenced a little trial of speed, We
. with op-sails very easily beat the Agamem
non and kept along side the Susquehanna
both of which had all sails set. TN th'
18th. the Susquehanna signalized that sh,
was tired waiting for US, and would pro
coed to Plymouth. We fired up little
strouscr-set top sais-passed her, and il
about six hours put her hull down. w
then hove too, and waited for the Aga
mcmuon, whose top-sails could Just be seen
While waiting. the Susquehanna passed
and kept on her course. At dark she wa'
out OF sight Next day, in the Channel, 1
fine breeze spraug up astern. We wer'
sailing along beautifully, side-by side, witt
the Agumemnon we with top sails, an'
she with all sails set, when we discovers
the Susquchanna ahead, Set top sails
shot ahead of the Agamcmnon-overloo
passed and crossed the bows OF the Susquc
hanna-she doing her very best, and "
also, by-the-byeD, That day we sale
without top gallant-sails, loaded with tn,
carlc, and heavy guard around the stern
lGi knots per hour Arrived here about
The probability now is, We will 20 t
Liverpool. take in some more cable, an
make another attempt in Octo ber hu
that is as yet Undecided At any rate
write me at Liverpool, When anything
decided upon, IN let you know. For my
- self, | don't wish to return until the cnbl
is land, and that is the feeling of nearly a
a ON board N,
- pNyvrNT or INTEREST. -During the war ,
, lSl2, the United States became indebted
10 Maryland about half million OF dollar
. The principal of that debt was paid of
Il various sums, at different times betweC
j. ISIS and lN22, but no interest was pn L.
I- In lN25 Congress passed an act authorizii
Ia interest to be computed and paid at Il
n Treasury. This was done, but, in makil
8 the calculation, all the payments were a
piled to the principal, reducing the su
' upon which interest was allowed by {
4 fun amount of each payment, and allowir
T. NJ interest at all after the debt had thl
re been extin suished Maryland never W.
Pc satisfied with this, She continued TO IN
vi m'tialize Congress for a more liberal a
'h lustment of her claim, but never succeed
until the last day of the last session, VIII
u the act under consideration was passed,
{. The Attorney General rendered an al
liz decision on the subject The amount
io volyed was about three hundred thousa
IN dollars, and we learn that the money "
on Saturday paid II Washington unit
- september lat,