Carroll free press. [volume] (Carrollton [Ohio]) 1834-1861, 1858-03-18
The Atlantic Telegraph Enter
prise.

prise Of uniting the Continents by an slec.
trio nerve. The Agamemmnob. the Eng.
liah man.of.war which took half the cable
on the first expedition. has been detailed
for the same service, and will take half the
cable aboard at Plymouth. The Niagara
will take the other half Of the three thous-
and miles Of cable which is 10 be provided,
and Of which only about three hundred
miles have yet to be made. The eIpsdi-
ton will, il is expected, start for mid ocean
in June next, with the tame escort that &C.
companied the ships last year. The Mag
ara will pay out the cable toward the shores
Of Newfoundland, the AgamemnOn to the
coast Of Ireland.
The machinery for laying the cable is
in course Of construction in england under
the superintendance THE Chef Engineer,
Mr.. W. E. Everett, and is TO be much I'M
proved over that used last year. Mr.. Cy-
rus W. Field, Of New York, has been ap.
pointed general manager aud supervisor,
aud the next expedition will have the ad-
vantage Of the experience Of the FIRST, and
will start under more favorable auspices.
The practiCability Of the undertaking was
demonstrated last season, as the great
depths of the ocean had been reached be.
fore the cable was parted by the machinery,
and the paying out was attended by no
more difficulty than in !be shallow sound.
ings. With the improved machinery. the
managers are sanguine Of complete success.
The strength and perfect suitability Of
the cable were thoroughly tested last year.
1t ia said in the N. Y. Herald's account
that
Three or four times when the brakes
were applied and the wheels stopped, it
held on with q terrible tenacity; it had a
desperate struggle with the brakes before
it parted, and if it had anything like fair
play, it would have held on to the end.-
In the harbor of Valentia it proved its
strength by bearing a strain equal to five
times its own weight, and in the process Of
laying it descended as easily into two thou.
sand as into two hundred fathoms of water,
in fact, with more ease. Under proper
management it did not exhibit the slight.
cts tendency to kink, aud when subjected
to the seversst strain the electrical conduct
or was always true to itS function. When
the facture occurred its strength was tested
by attaching piece of iron, weighing two
hundred aud fifty pounds, 10 length Of
three miles, and towing it after the ship;
for seven or eight hours this weight was
dragged through the water, the ship going
at the rate of about nine miles per hour,
and there is no knowing how much long
er it might have held had it not been cut.
During this time that piece of iron must
have been kicking up tremendous rum
pus on the telegIa aph plateu, as it plunged
and knocked about in ltS nine mile rate
along the bottom.
No change is to be made in the cable,
as it is not possible now to suggest any
improvement in it. In the next expedi.
ton, therefore, the same cable, with an ad-
ditional eight or nine hundred miles
making three thousand miles aItogethet-
will be used again. As the distance be-
tween Vaentia, Ireland, and Trinity Bay,
Newfoundland, is 1884 miles, this will
give a surplus of more than fourteen hun
dred miles over the actual length required.
This is considered amply sufficient to make
up for the excessive expenditure of cable
that may occur in the process of paying
out, and we have no doubt that when the
work shall have been accomplished there
will be three or four hundred miles of Ca
bic remaining.
The electrical connection was also salts
factoriy tested. During the laying Of the
whole 334 miles the conductor remained
perfect, and it was found that the electri-
cal character of the cable was improven by
its submersion in the great depths, and
that it worked with greater ease and with
more satisfactory results. At one time for
two hours and a half no signal was re.
ceived through the cable, when suddenly
it was found that the continuity had been
restored.
Nor did Terrestrial magnetism, which dis
coveries ir science says is always courSng
round the earth in regular circuits, affect
the working of the 334 miles laid, and it
is believed that it will not disturb the trans
mission of signals across the telegraph.pla
tau. We quote from the Herald's elabor-
ate article Un two other points of interest:
THE CURRENTS.
A great deal has been said about the
currents, and much apprehension exists
with regard to the parts which they were
supposed to play in the laying of the great
submarine cable. 1t is believed, contrary
to the assertion of those who ought to
know--coutrary to the facts established by
Lieutenant Bergman, of the United States
steamer Arctic, and Lieutenant Daymau,
of her Msjesty's steamer Cyclopa, that the
whole bed of the ocean between the pro.
posed points of connection in Ireland and
Newfoundland was swept by currents; and
that despite tho incontrovertible evidence
which both these distinguished officers have
brought up from the great patau-ffom
depth of two thousand fathoms---the wa
ter on that plateau was in perpetual mo-
ton. Once for all, let it be stated for the
satisfaction and relief of those who are yet
nervous upon this point, that there are
none in the great depths, and that the only
current which was the shallow current
which is almost always found on the sur
face, and which is created by the winds.
This, however, had no effect upon the ship
except when she was going at the reduced
rate of two or three miles per hour, and
only affords another argument in support
of what has already been stated in increas-