The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-10-02
THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
A COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE DIFFICULTIES IN
ITS WORKING.
From .ne Correspondence 4 ne London nms.l

tween England aud America had hardly ceased on both
sides Of the which has been wonderfully inter
eected by the wre and the oyations and festivities in
honor of those who instrumental in achieving the
great work still at their height at this side Of the
channel when gloom cast upon all by the sudden
and unexpected announcement that intelligble signals
had ceased to through the cable. The public and
those interested in the Of the undertaking have
doubtless been much surprised that many days should
have been allowed to eapse since the Of
the failure of signals without their being acquainted
either through the company newspaper correspond
of the progress of affairs at this terminal Of the At
lantic wire But the fact is that, beyond the bare fact
that signals were not fceved, there has been nothing
communicate until the results of the Investigations Of
Professor Thomson, Mr. Edward Bright, Mr.. yarley,
and other scientific gentlemen, who have been
pcrimentng upon sthe cable for the past few days
had tr.nspred Those experiments have not yet
been completed, but sufficient has been done to-
wards pointing out the exact position Of and probable
nature of the fault to justify the public being made ac-
quanted with the facts In order to make the present
condition of the cable perfectly understood it will be
ccssary to trace its history from previous to the landing
OF the end at Vaentia down to the present time In
former communication containing the particulars OF the
last successful cruise of the Agamemnon it will be
membered that reference made to very serious elec
tical fault having occurred in the cable Sunday Au
gust the lst after about onehaf of the distance from
the shores of Ireland had been trayersed
Though that fault (Which was apparently break in the
continuity of the eonducto gradually recovered ITSELF
after having caused great trouble and anxiety for some
thirteen hours yet the electrical condition of the cable
had evidently received shock from which it never com
petsly recovered. This was, however, regarded as a
matter Of very little consequence the currents which
were both received and transmitted sufficiently
good for oil the purposes of teegraphing During the
remaining three four days which were occupied
in submerging the remainder of the wire its electrical
condition very variable, being at times very good
and occasionally indifferent These variations at tire
time referred to the effects Of magnetic storms and earth
currents, but at time its condition defective
in any degree impair the telegraphic communication.
From the time of landing the end the 5th Of Au-
gust to Monday, the 9th, the cable continued in ir
condition. though slight defect, of consequence in
working, observed in the insulation. Up to that
evening nothing but alternate positive and negative cur
rents had been received from Newfoundland, though
words and adjustment messages had from after the
landing been continually sent from Vaenta That
ming, however coil currents with the words, Send
slower and repeat from Newfoundland being sent by
Mr.. Whitehouses instruments and received upon his
beautifully reconstructed recording relay. 1t
found, however, that Mr. Whitehouscs receiving relay,
though admirably adapted for receiving messages through
the cable had been and constructed under the
very natural belief that the cable landed at ALL would
have suffered little in its electrical condition. and it
found not TO work with certainty with the comparatively
feeble signals which arrived from the American conti
nent Professor Thomsons delicate rejecting galvano
meter accordingly substituted for it, though mes
sages transmitted from both ends usual by Mr.
! Whitehouse's patent.
During the whole of week. from Monday the 9h to Sat
urday, the l4th various adjustment messages
ceved and sent through the ne though in consequence
of their constantly requiring messages from Vaenta to
be repeated several times it evident that in New
foundand the signals not read with the same fac
ity those in the contrary direction to Yalenta This
circumstance tended to prove that the fault which
observable was somewhere the Irish coast for any
defect than 300 miles from either coast would affect
the transmission and reception of signals equally at both
ends Accordingly the cable was underrun for the dis
tance Of about three miles from Valentia Island by Mr.
Canning cut and tested through by Mr. Bartholomew,
the electrical superintendent who found that whatever
fault existed far out to The ends accord
ingly Joined up again without piece of cable
| being laid between Dowas Head and the shore.
/ From this to Saturday 2lst Of August, the fault
4 was very variable both in its nature and its
apparent distance from the Irish coast, 1t first
appearing something like five hundred miles distant, and
gradually diminishing until it became stationary at point
calculated with great accuracy to be nearly 270 statute
miles from the yaena end of the cable All this period
the electrical condition became daily and worse
and it only with the greatest difficulty and by
slant repeons that the various official and congratua-
tory messages between the English and American author
tiles transmitted to Newfoundland the messages
back to Valenta being in almost every clear and dis
tnct The condition of the wire became daily more
faulty until the 3lst of August, when government
sage despatched through the cable for the North
American colonies and the morning of the lst Of Sep
tember second government message was safely trans
mitted but after IL had been duly acknowledged the in
sulaon of the wire became suddenly worse and it
found impossible to make them understand at Newfound
land Words and messages were continually transmit
ted but 1t evident that the American shore
they could only just distinguish that signals
being sent, for the only answer received at Valcn-
tia was Repeat and :. Don't understand " and even
these small phrases only disngusbabe at inter
walls and since half past o'clock on the morning of
Friday, the 4th of September Ineligible signal what
ever has been received Occasionally however very dis
tinct reversas as regularly alternating positive and neg
atve terme have been received, sometimes
strong and good that had they been sending words
from Newfoundland, they might have been distinctly
read the rejecting galvanomcter of Professor Thorn
SON. When the line is not in for the purposes Of
testing words short messages continually despatched
through the wire for hour at tme and then for the
next hour the galvanometer Is watched for the answer
which, excepting the reversas already alluded to-
come From the time of the first cessation of the sig
nails up to the present time Prof W. Thomson Mr. Var
ley and Mr. Edward Bright have been engaged day and
night in testing and have to the conclusion that
the defect loss of insulation about 270 miles (aong
] the cabe) from valentia This calculating the amount
Of slack cable paid out during the later days of the sub
merging operations would place the fault about 220 stat
ute miles from shore, somewhere upon the mountain
range which divides the depths of the Atlantic from the
comparatively shallow water leading from the Irish coast
Reference logs and diaries kept by those board the
Agamemnon during the submerging operations shows that
tcrnoon of the Sd of August than hour before
Bright allow great quantity Of slack cable out
while crossing this point in order that it might reach
the bottom of all the inequalities which might exist there
undiscovered by the sounding line. But, from
explained cause the Agamemnon throughout tho whole
cruise steamed at greater speed than registered by
the log line Owing to this circumstance the bank
reached at hour before the expected time the first
ntmaon received by those on board being sudden do
the registered strain upon the dynamoetcr and