The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1858-08-14
Short History of tho Atlantic Tole-
graph Enterprise.


now rgoicngl
In the year 1850 Cyrus w. Field visited
England. The result Of his visit was the
formation Of the Atlantic Telegraph Compan,
with capital Of E35OOOO for the purpose
Of connecting Europe with America hy guh,
marine telegraph cable. In August, 1857, An
attempt was made To lay down the Atlantic
Submarine Cable, resulting In a disastrous
failure, The cable was 25O0 miles In length
weighing nearly one tun per mile, capable Of
bearing direct strain Of over five tuns with
out fracture, The centre Of the cable was
formed by seven fine copper wires, twisted
into cord l-lG Of nn inch thick. this
strand was coated with gutta percha, forming
small rope 3-S Of an inch thick then coated
with hcmpen twino twice soaked in pitch and
tari lastly, an external sheathing Of l8 iron
wires, zach wire being a strand Of seven finer
wires, making in all l2G wires.
The submcrsion was commenced on the
9th Of August, 1857, There were present the
six steamers Niagara, Agamcmnou, Leopard,
Susquehanna, Willing, and Mind, intended
TO assist in various parts Of the operation.
The cable came up from the hold of the shin
around a central block, 80 to the open spnce
above dccksI il was there wound round
grooved sheaths, geared together by cogs,
and firmly planted on girdcrs. Thence it
passed over q. .dftlt sheath, out over the stern
into the sea, sinking by its own weight. A
trilling accident happened on the 9th; this
was repaired, and on the llth $50 miles
(statutc) had been submerged. The engineer
here concluded that there waS too much
"slack" in the cables course, aud some modi-
ioation in the machinery was consequently
made. This appears to have been badly at
tended to by subordinate. The cabld
snapped, and thus ended tnc attempt Of
1851
1t having been concluded from Lieut.
Murrys calculations that the average state
of the weather was much better on the Allan
tic in the early part Of the summer, it was de.
cidcd this year to make the attempt ofla,ing
the cable in June. 1t was also thought best
to begin the submerson in mid-occan and
pay out towards either shore. Accordingly
the telegraph fleet, consisting Of the United
tvs steamers Agamemnon, Valorous and
Gorgon, left Plymouth on Thursday, June
lo, 1893. The Niagara had $50 tuns, and
the Agamcmnon 100 tuns coal. md onch obout
100 nautical, or little less than 1900 statute
miles Of cable on board. The wcathcr al
first favorable, became unusually boistcrous
so that the fleet were not ready to commence
operations until late on the 2jth Of june.
The first splice was made between the mi
ngaru and Agamemnon on the morning of
Saturday, the 26th of June, and after each
ship had payed oul about three miles the
5Es'ItE sTgtsHTJ t5j'dFti The -Siagar1, owing to
its overriding and getting Off the pulley lead
ing on to the machine. Both vessels put
about and returned, fresh splice was made
and again lowered over at halGpast seven.
The paying out proceeded beautifully until
early on Sunday morning, when the signals
suddenly ceased. The cable was cut, and
the Niagara repaired to the rendezvous. The
cause of the rupture was equally mysterious
10 those on buHrd the HgUmGmn0n. .and no
satisfactory conjecture has since been made.
The cable was again splicel on on the 2sth, |
and the steamers parted. Everything work /
ed beautifully during that night and the next
day But at o'clock L. VI. on the Goth,
the announcement Of "no signals was made /.
on board the Niagara. At the time l42 miles /
of cable had been payed out. 1t was subse-
quently asccrtaincd that the cable parted for !
some reason unknown, about six fathoms
from the stern Of the Agamemnon About |
400 miles ofcablo were lost during these tri-
ais, the effect of which upon the public con-
fdencc in the final success of the undcrtak-
ing was most depressing.
But the managers continued indcfatigable.
The fleet sailed a second time from Queens;
town on the 18th of July, joined the cable
on rhe 20th, and on the 9th of August the
world had news of SUCCESS
The cost Of the telegraph cable has been
put down as follows:-
prico Seep-sca wire per mile, 5000
Price spun yard and iron wire per mile PCS .
Price outside tar per mile, 20
Total per mile, Sls5
For $500 miles, 9l2l2 500
For 10 miles deep sea cable, at Slt5o
per mile lASOO |
For 25 miles shore ends, at Sl25Opcr
mile, 3l,25o
Total cost, 1858, $50
-Boston journal.
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