The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-12-09
The Atlantic Gable.
A Complete and InfeIIigible History Of the
Whole DimcuIsv.
IcOrespOndence Of the London Times.l

eO tR"s NC NRcfO Chthhi
| ued IN fair condition, though a slight defect, oil
. no consequence in working, was observed in thu
!. insulation Up to that evening nothing but al
= ternate positive and negative currents has been
! received from Newfoundland, though words and
4 adjustment messages had from soon after the
: landing been continually sent from Valentia.-
{ That evening, however, coil currents anne with
the words IS Send slower and repeat" from New
foundland, being sent by Mr.. Whitehouse's in
, %strument, and received upon his beautifully con-
! structed recording relay. 1t was soon found
l however, that Mr.. Whitehouse's receiving relay,
5 though admirably adapted for receiving mes
sages through the cable, had been adjusted and
constructed under the very natural belief that
; the cable, if landed at all, would have suffered
little in its ELECTRICAL condition., and it was found
not to work with certainty with the compare
lively feeble signals which arrived from the
American continent. Professor Thomson's deli
cate rejecting galyanometer was accordingly sub
stItuted for it, though messages were transmitted
from both ends as usual by Mr.. Warehouses;
patent.
During the whole of the week, from Monday
the 9Th to Saturday the Nth, various adjustment
messages were received and sent through the line,
though, in consequence of their constantly re-
curing messages from Valentia to be repeated
several times, it was evident that in Newfound-
land the signals were not read with the same ia
cliIty as those in the contrary direction to Valen-
tia- This circumstance tended to prove that the
fault which was observable was somewhere near
the Irish coast, for any defect more than 300
miles from either coast would affect the trans
mission and reception of signals equally at both
ends. Accordingly the cable was underrun for
the distance of about three miles from Valentia
Island by Mr.. Canning, cut, and tested through
by Mr.. Bartholomew, the electrical superintend-
ent, who found that whatever fault existed was
lar out to sea. The ends were accordingly joined
up again without a new piece of cable being laid
between Dowlas Head and the shore. From this
to Saturday, the Dist of August, the fault was
very variable both in its nature and its apparent
distance from the Irish coast, it first appearing
something like 500 miles distant, and gradually
diminishing until it became stationary at n point
calculated with great accuracy to be nearly go
statute miles from the Valentia end of the cable.
All this period the electrical condition became
daily worse and worse, and it was only with the
greatest difficulty and by constant repetitions that
the various official and congratulatory messages
between the English and American authorities
were transmitted to Newfoundland, the messages
back from Valentia being in almost every case
clear and distinct. The condition of the wire be-
came daily more faulty until the 31st of August,
when a Government message was transmitted
through the cable for the North American colo
MES. and on the morning of the LIST September,
a second Government message was safely trans
mitted, but after it had been duly acknowledged,
the insulation of the wires became suddenly
worse, and it was found impossible to make them
understand at Newfoundland. Words and mes
sages were continually transmitted, but it was
soon evident that on the American shore they
could only Just distinguish that signals were
being sent, for the only answer received at Valen-
tia was % Repeat" and Z" Don't understand, " and
even these small phrases were only distinguishable
at intervals and since half past l O'Clock, on the
morning of Friday, the 4th of September, no in
signal whatever has been received.
Occasionally. however, very distinct reversals (as
alternating positive and negative cur
rents are termed) have been received, sometimes
SO strong and good that had they been sending
words from Newfoundland, they might have been
read on the rejecting galvanometer of {
Prof Thomson. When the line is not in use for
The purpose of testing words, short messages are
continually dispatched through the wire for an !
hour at a time, and then for the next hour the !
yalvanometer is watched for answers, which, !
the reversals already alluded to, never
,ome. From the time of the first cessation of the
ignals up to the present time, Prof. w. Thomp- y
on, MIR. Marley and Mr.. Edward Bright, have 7
engaged night and day in testing. and have J
,ome to the conclusion that the defect is a loss of
about go miles (along the cable) from
This, calculating the amount of slack
able paid out during the later days Of the sub
merging OF erations, would place the fault about .
20 statute miles from shore, or somewhere upon e
he mountain range which divides the depth of
he Atlantic from the comparatively shallow wa
er leading from the Irish coast. Reference to 9.
he logs and diaries kept by those on board the
lganennon during the submerging operations
that this bank was crossed between 1 and
O'Clock on the afternoon of the Sd of August.
than an hour before the expected time. 4
1t has been intended hy Sir Charles Bright to
low a great quantity ofslack cable to run out
lille crossing this point, in order that it might
the bottom of all the inequalities which
light exist there undiscovered by the sounding
ne. But, from some unexplained cause. the
gdneznnon throughout the whole cruise steamed
a greater speed than was registered by the
CLINE Owing to this circumstance the bark II
rs reached at least an hour before the expected
me. the first intimation received by those on !
being a sudden decrease in the registered ]
ram upon the dynamometer and an equally :
dden falling off in the speed of the cable. the '
ip maintained the same rate, as registered by me
log-line. Sir Charles Bright's attention was ?
He'd TO the circumstance, and he, seeing at once
DIT the shallow water was approaching, or had ~,
tually been reached, ordered the weight to be
ken on the breaks, and allowed a large quantity ssti
slack cable to 90 overheard. 1t must ALWAYS
main a matter of doubt. however. whether the
ling off Of the strain on aud speed of the c,bIe =,
observable at all until the top of the bank -
d been reached. and had this been the case IL is
tie possible that the cable may have remained 49,,
upon some projecting points in the =
ep, and its insulation become gradually bran
ured by its own weight. This is, of course. bite
a probable conjecture, based upon the facts ale.
I'VE stated. But at the same time it is i'm -
sible to account in any other way for the cable
Fing become damaged since its submersion II
1uld the fault have originated in this wav not e.
least blame is attributable either to Sir IL.
aries Bright, his assistants, or the officers of -
Agdmemnon, the occurrence being solely re- -
iole to the defective and uncertain method of "
the speed Of a ship at present in BRA
;ue IN the Royal navy The steep range above On 1a b
laed 20 rs often mentioned as a sloping bank, -
IN what ground it is difficult to saw. for but
soundings were taken upon it, one at the
tom and another at the top, and those two J
ndings, though only eighty miles apart. show 100
ifference in elevation Of 7 200 feet. or the N,
ire OF the intervening space no one can, of ~
rse, form any conjecture. ~
neither the sides of this submarine mountain
it can be called nothing else) are broken bv 1s
mes and percipitous cliffs in the same way as F"