Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-07-29
The Atlantic Telegraph.

The Atlantic Telegraph.
The Cork Qreland) Reporter of July
5th announces the arrival there Of the Nj
agara and her escort the Gordon, that
morning. The account gi7en is more in
detail than we have had BY telegraph
The fleet, on its way from Portsmouth to
tne meeting place, mid-ocean, encountered
a fearful gale, lasting nine days. The Ag-
a'hemnon had to scud for thirty-six hours,
her cable shifting, her Goals getting adrift,
forcing upon her water ways, and one port
broken open she barely escaped laundering:
two sailors being seriously injured and one
becoming crazcd by fright. The NIAGARA
rode the gale out elegantly, only loosiug
her jibboom and one wing of her "Ameri,
can Eagle" figure head.
The vessels first spliced the cable on the
26th and after paying out two and a half
miles it parted, owing to an accident on
board the Niagara. The second time the
cable was spliced and paid out. forty miles
of cable were paid when the electric current
ceased, and the steamers returned again to
the point of departure and spEced the third
time. The Niagara having paid out one
hundred and fifty miles of cable the cur
rent again ceased. After trying the
strength of the cable by various expert
ments, the Niagara sailed for Ireland in
accordance with preconcerted agreement
between the two steamers, that if any ac-
cident should occur in giving out the cable
before the ships should have gone one hun
drcd miles, they should return to the point
of departure, but in case that distance
should have been exceeded before the ca
sualty should happen, they should return
to Queenstown. In accordance with this
understanding, the Niagara, having made
one hundred and nine miles before the
mishap returned to Ireland. The Aga
memnon not having arrived on the coast
of Ireland, it was supposed that she might
not have sailed hundred miles when the
current ceased, and hence returned to mid
ocean. Should the Agamemnon not make
her appearance by the time the Niagara
had taken in her Goals, the N. would sail
fer mid-ocean with the remaining thirteen
hundred miles of cable, hoping there to
meet the A. and try again.
The electricians on board the Niagara
believe the accident occurred on the Aga
memnon, which, if so, does not very much
discourage the enterprise, but if the acci-
dent happened on the oceans bottom the
effect will be probably to deter further at
tempts at laying the cable.
The London Times suggests, in case of
failure at this time, that the ship Levia-
than be fitted for the purpose of laying the
cable. The Agamemnon and Niagara
were loaded down with cable, having but
little room for Goals, and being rendered
almost unseaworthy by their great freights.
The Times says:
The Leviathan is as yet only she'll
Excepting that it has not even its engines
on board, it ia exactly in that state to
which, at great difficulty and cost, the Ag-
amemnon and Niagara have been reduced
for this service. In the Leviathan any
length of cable that could possibly be re-
required could be held and slowed in the
manner most convenient for paving out
The pitch of that huge vessel will be quite
inconsiderable in the toughest seas, and the
strains on the cable will therefore be uni
form. Sufficient length may be taken on
board for the most lavish use of the cable,
to even twice the distance from one shore
10 the other.
1t is plain we are not to be stingy of
material, if we are to succeed. The inge-
neous writers who enlighten the public on
the wonders of lhs deep tell us that cur
rents carry the cable miles out of the ships
course before it touches the bottom; that,
ever SO freely paid out, the cable probably
hangs in festoons from one submarine
mountain to another; and that, even if the
cable is SO fortunate as TO esc"pe the sharp
edge of a precipice, mere suspension be-
tween two distant points may stretch it be-
yond its strength. If this be so, the
more cable we have, within reason, the
better.
No ship af1oat but the Leviathan could
carry ample supply for the whole distance.
1t alone could carry Goals sufficient for pay
iuS out tue WHoie CaOlo at tue Iate vi H'e,
four, or three miles IN hour, if necessary,
and could afford, even in the midst of the
process, to make any delays that might be
thought advisable. Whatever may be
thought of tLis suggestion, we feel sure
that nobody really expects much from a
fleet Of four ships sailing out to rendezvous
in the middle of the Atlantic to lay down
one cable,-all ships confessedly overtask-
ed, and all of them reckoning upon good
weather and other favorable circumstanc,
There is unity and simplicity about the
undertaking which i'll accords with so COM
plex and hazardous a process.
Wines GETTING THEIR PAY.-Mr. Bu-
chanan was elected President of the old