Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-09-01
HISTORY OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH
From the National Intelligencer.


Amid the general eSutations with which the
completion of telegraphic communication be-
| tween Europe and America is hailed, the graf
| itude OF all is naturally turned towards those
who have been pre-emnent in initiating the
measures which have conducted to this grand
| result. The history of the corporation under
whose auspices ard by whose indomitable en-
/ ergy the magnificent enterprise has been
brought to consummation justly fills a large
| space in the eye of those called to contem-
plate the agencies to which primarily
| indebted for the Trans Atlantic Telegraph.
Especially is great praise awarded, to that re-
nowned citizen Of New York, Cyrus w. Field,
| Esq, to whom, more than to any other, is as
| cribcd the honor of planning and concerting
an organized effort to test the practicability of
this S;upendOus undertaking. Submarine ca
| bles, it is true, had been already laid between
many points of the earth's surface from the
time when, in the year 1850, the first telegraph
| ic connexion was instituted between Dover
and Calais, a distance of twenty-four miles.
| But the wide interval which parted the two
continents of Europe and America, the un-
| known character of the ssdark unfathomed
| caves" at the bottom of the Atlantic, combined
with the difficulty at first encountered in the
transmission of the electric force through sub
marine or underground coils of great length,
were supposed for time to present almost in
surmountable barriers TO the speedy accom-
! plishment of this titanic task. Meanwhile, as
| pSIOEc, SCitHCS was dSSluuOuSlN at WORK In UeT
cloisters, and the latter difficulty, if not who'll
! ly overcome, at least believed to be suffi-
ciently obvated to justify an attempt to trans
| late theory into fact by proving the feasibility
| of transatlantic telegraph.
1t was at this stage of the preparations pre-
,iminary to trial of the grand experiment
that the 'sNew York, Newfoundland and Lon
! don Telegraph Company was formed, mainly
| through the tact, business capacity, and rare
| intelligence of its Vice President, Mr.. Field.
| The first step taken was to secure charter for
the corporation. This obtained in April,
| 1854, from the Colonial Government of New
| foundand, and the purposes of the company
were further seconded by the Provinces of
| Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and finally
by the promised aid and cooperation of Great
! Britain and the United States in LAYING the
cable and contributing to a support of the work
| if ever brought into actual operation.
Great Britain granted an annual subsidy of
900 sterling until the nett profits of the
company reach six per cent per annum on the
whole capital of f350, 900 sterling, the grant
| then to be reduced to f10 600 sterling per an
mum for period of twenty-five years. The
| United States grant an annual subsidy of S70,-
| 600 until the nett profits yield six per cent.
| per annum, then to be reduced to $50 900 per
annum for period OF twenty-five years, sub
| ject to termination of contract by Congress
after ten years, on giving one years notice.
| Both nations also agreed to furnish vessels to
| lay the cable.
Professor Morse was appointed electrician of
| the company, which proceeded to connect St.
Johns, Newfoundland, with the lines already
| in operation in the British North American
| Provinces and in the United States, by INNER
sing thirteen miles of cable across the Straits
| of Northumberland, and cighty-five miles in
the waters of the St. Lawrence.
| The ssNew York, Newfoundland, and Lon
| don TelegraphCompany having next procured
decisive scientific assurance from Messrs. w lid
man Whitehouse and Charles Bright, both able
| electricians, of the possibility of their enter
| prise, deputed their Vice President, Mr.. Cyrus
| W. Field, to visit England in the summer of
| 1856 for the purpose of effectng such arrange
ments as might seem eXpedient to promote
the success of the undertaking. Mainly thro'
his agency the existing Atlantic Telegraph
| Company was called into being, not only as a
| chartered, but also Il moneyed corporation,
comprising the holders of three hundred and
| fifty shares of one thousand pounds each.-
The charter of the original company, confer
ring upon it the exclusive right to land tele-
! graphic cables on the shores OF Newfoundland
| and other parts of North America, and for
twenty five years TO do the same thing on the
| shores of Nova Scotia, was then made over TO
the new association, together with all conccs-
| siOnS bearing upon the undertaking which
might be hereafter obtained, and all the patent
| rights of McSSrs. Whitehouse and Bright which
in any way concerned the working of instru-
ments in marine circuits of great length.
| in regard to the route by which the pro-
| posed telegraph should run, it will be obvious
to the reader that, besides the advantages in
point of diminished distance, furnished by
! that lying between Ireland and Newfoundland,
! this selection also determined by other in
| dispensable considerations, the result of ex-
| plorations made by Lieut.. Bergman, of the
| United States Navy, who, armed with the in
| genious apparatus invented by Lieut.. John NJ.
| Brooke for the taking of deem SDnndIDpS-
| demonstrated the existence OF vast submar-
| inc plain, (already commonly known as the
! Telegraphic Plateau,) which at its greatest
! depth is scarcely twelve thousand feet below
| the level of the sea- and extends in a continu-
Gus ledge from Cape Race, in Newfoundland,
| to Cape Clear, in Ireland. This plain is gem
orally level, and deep enough to be below dis
| turbing causes. Its bed is composed of par
ticles of shells so minutely triturated as to
! render their character undiscoverable save
| with the aid of microscope In this bed it
was believed that the cable could repose in per-
| feet security.
The route being finally decided, the mechan-
ical construction of the cable was next to be
considered. The contrary conditions of the
problem afforded by no means an easy solution
| of the question raised under this head. 1t
was apparent that the cable must not be too
| light, or it would refuse to sink. 1t must not
be too heavy, or the loop between the two de-
livering vessels wonld break of its own weight,
Besides, if too light, it would be at the mercy
of the currents while descending, and run
great risk of fracture while being laid. Ii
too heavy. how could 2, 500 miles of it be ship
ped, handled, and safely deposited! After re.
peated estimates and experiments it was found
that the cable should not weigh more than one
ION per mile. In the next place, 1t must be OF
the utmost tcnacity consistent with this stand.
ard of weight, and flexible enough to adapt it,
x-,vx<p nall