Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1857-09-05
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

On Saturday, some OF the leading member
OF the expedition that accompanied the tele
graph squadron, during The week, arrived i
town, and confirmed in full the directors, a
the company's Office, the fact Of the failure O
the Atlantic Telegraph.
Mr.. Cyrus Field was the first to arrive il
London, and made the following official re
port to the directors. 1.-THE report allude,
to appeared in the columns Of the Ledger oil
Thursday.l
1t does not appear that the accident wal
owing in any way to the too great weight o
the paying out machinery and gear on tn,
Niagara, but the machinery is susceptible o
considerable improvements. Some of the
gentlemen 10 command of the expedition ur
ged the desirableness Of raising up the 300
miles, or Of splicing that quantity on to the
shore end again, and going on towards the
Newfoundland shore, in spite of the catastro.
phe that had occurred but it was eventually
determined to return home, as it would in all
probability be found that the expedition
would neither have enough "slack" nor avail
able cable TO complete the length to be sub
merged betweee shore and shore. There
were two representatives of the Russian Gov
ernment, one of the French Government, two
of the British Government, and two of the
American Government with the expedition,
known father of submarine telegraphs be-
tween England and France, and the Mediier.
ranean, who arrived in town on Saturday,
shortly after Mr.. Field.
The directors of this company hold spe-
cial meeting on Wednesday next, to consider
aud determine whether attempts shall be re-
newed in October next, after the exquinoxial
gales, or whether the further prosecution of
this enterprise shall deferred until next sum-
mer. Various opinions are afloat with refer
ence to the strength Of the cable; but it is
asserted that were II either stronger or weak
er, the desired end in view would not have
been arrived at, and that upwards of sixty
different kinds of rope were experimental Oh
before the present form of cable was deter
mined on. This is the first electric cable
that his been sunk either in this or any other
country to the extent of three hundred and
thirty-fve miles but it is a singular fact that
with the exception of the Norwegian tele-
graph cable, of some ninety miles long she
first attempt in every previous experim ,ut
for laying down a submarine cable has been a
failure, although the second attempts have
been successful. The entire length of wire,
copper and iron in the cable amounts to 332,-
800 miles, or enough to go thirteen times
round the earth.
board the Niagara, for regulating the "strain"
which unfortunately caused the cable to break
it appears the cable weighed one ton mile,
and could bear direct strain of four tons
upon its strands. When, however, according
to Professor Whitehouse and Mr.. Bright,
the engineers, it was immersed in the sea, its
relative weight was diminished, and its down
ward pressure on the salt water was little un-
der ii cwt. per mile. The greatest depth
over which the vessel would have to pass in
depoSitiog the cable was little more than two
miles, and this depth was reached at the time
that the cable broke consequently, il enough
of the rope were suffered to hang motonless
from one of the vessels, to reach the bottom
in this depth, the train to be borne by the
cable would be one ton and half.
According to the arrangements, however,
for the paying-cut, the cable would be con.
staItly in motion, with only sufficient re-
straing power upon it to control and regulate
its passing from the Niagara until this was
increased by rate slightly faster than the
progress of the vessel In this condition of
things, another modifying influence came in
to operation, to act further il relief of the
strain. The cable would not only be some-
what buoyed up, so to speak, by the water.
but also by the influence Of friction. ltwou!d
not descend as it was paid out in vertical
line, because the friction of its sides against
the water retarded the sinkig of the mass.--
The amount Of this retardaton, and the
length that would lie between the stern Of
the vessel and the bottom Of the sea, were
determined by the rate which the cable was
paid out, and at which the paying out vessel
moved. In fact, so far from there being any
strain, consequent on the weight of the cable
30; ;N,n ;t, INT
ally thought and expected that there would
the vessel over the revolving sheaves.
The arrangements in the event of anything
going wrong, we're to back the Niagara as
rapidly as possible, and so slacken the cable
the break being bound down on the frc-
ton drum to arrest the outrun Of the cable
The rope would then be hauled in on board,
and on its being discovered, the imperfect
part cut out, its ace supplied by splicing
in fresh cable, and the paylng-out resumed as
us1ai.
The expectation, in the event of success
was that, within u month at the furtbest
messages nigh be flashed through both Eng
land aud America; and it is now, even in the
face of temporary failure, supposed that grand
international resul. may be regarded more,
merely as q matter OF time than Of actual and
possible accomplishment.
FRANCE.
The fetes given by Napoleon un the 18th
passed of well, though marred by wet wea'
ther.
1t is rumored that France intends to de.
mand the extradition of Ledru Rollin, and
that he is about to leave for America.
1t is stated that France is about sending @
| naval expedition to Cochin China to demand