New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-06-24


able, Hti'e the ocean is IS much open TO-
day az /. ever will be, Itisto be hoped, then, th1
should tee present expedition be unsuccessful tas
etter,,;se will rot be abandoned, aud that II VIII
be perseyeftd il, at Whsteyer coat, so long as
science ha. nat deu onstrated that it lie 40 impsss
bili'y.
Tie capital Of the Atlantic Telegraph Company
i. about SI5CO,OOO. II WAS formed two years
$50 By Mr. Cyrus ". Field of NeS'Ioik, who is
the soul Of tie enterprise aud has had the talent 20
se6uce American and Eogli'h Gnssciers into one oil
the ersudts. and dest schemes that man ever AZ
tempted to realize Taking advantage OF the great
discoyeIy Of submarine plateau in tbs North
Atlantic the direction to be followed in laying the
cable yas decided upon; bu', to leave nothing 10
chance application was made to the Government
and sourdipgs we're taken every twenty miles OF the
projected way to ascertain tie nature OF the Dot
tom. The bed Of the ocean was found ID be buttxo
niles below the surface at the point, and the
bottom to be Of soft caleareous nature, We'll cacu
lated TO receive the cable, and to cover it, dGer
time, with new protecting coat resulting ifem TIE
chemical combir stion Of its iron covering with the
circumsnbient substances- The hi0d Of cable to
be adopted was next consde ed. Some members
Of the Company were for stout cable, an inch or
mere in diameter. protected BY covering OF wires
an eighth Of sn inch thick. ike the Mediterranean
and Newfoundland cables Others for slender
line Of quit, -percbs quarter of an inch IN diane
ter, ipcOspg the copper wire and without exteroai
prote ctiop like the cable laid across the Black Sea
during the Crimesu war. The Company decided
upop cable of the outside diameter Of q ten-cent
piece.
In the center is copper conductor OF six fne
wires twisted around seventh wire, equivalent
all together to a large pin. Around the conductor
are three layers Of euta perchs, put on in sue 'es
sion "a that fracture in one layer viii be covered
By the next; and around the guta percha are wound
,pirarv eighteen strands made Of seven tine iron
wires each. This cable is so flexible that 1t may be
wound arout mans arm; itmay be elongated -
per cert without the in.ide conductor breaking
ssurder, and IT has been found to have no tendency
10 coil. Nevertheless, the course Of tie Company
in adopting a cable on tie mere opinion of some In
huentia members, ard 10 ordering 800 miles Of it
to be constructed is very surpri,iDg. 1t would
have been more in accordance with the spirit oil In
vestgstion BY which the Grst steps OF the enter
prise had been guided to order few miles of every
kind of cable suggested, and 10 send vessel to Sea
to test their qualities in relation to sinking, while
the electricians should have experimental on their
conducting capacity. The cable was made in two
different factories, with only this mistake, that in
one factory it w.s twisted from left to right aud 10
tie other from right to left. 1t is confidently hoped
that this circumstance will not prove prejudical to
the final result; and, since comparative expert
ments have not been made, no one can affirm that
the Directors have not bit upon the best cable which
could be devised
Tie cable was completed late in the Summer of
1857. It had to be put on board in hurry, to.
gether with come crude machinery for paying it out,
when the Directors, renquishipg at the last hour
the plan of commencing operations IN mid ocean,
the expedition started from Valencia Bay, one
ship paying out and the rest Of the squadron fol
lowing The result is known The shore end of
the cable, which wa, much larger than the cable
itself, was successfully laid, together with small
portion of the Atlantic cable till deep water was
reached and the swell Of the sea increased. Then
it was perceived that much more Of tho cable had
passed overheard than the distance travelled, and
that by going on at the same rate there would net
be enough of the cable to reach Newfoundland.
The brake was in consequence ordered to be ap-
piled, and, this being done unskillfuy at the mo-
ment the stern was going down, when it came up
the cable was snapped asunder as if it we're
piece of twine. Such . conclusion was to be ex-
pected. The inertia of the cable could not be
overcome except by q force much superior to
what it could bear; hence il broke instead of
moving.
The plan Of obviatDg this difficulty by making
the cable pass yielding sheaye was suggested
to the Company by Mr. Victor Beaumont of this
city, and described in our columns in August last
The same arrange ment was also embodied in pay
ing machine patented by Mr.. Fl. Berdan, model
of which *as exhibited in New York; and it was
finally reinven!ed month ago BY Capt. Ericsson,
and set forth 10 the world in The ". ]. Times, he
rot being aware that it had been described before.
immediately after the fret failure, the Company
were favored with the written suggestions OF
some hundred individuals, mostly worthless,
but yet containing small proportion Of good
ideas. 1t was now to be expected that,
taught by experience the Directors would
resort to regular process of Investigations that
engineers and mechanicians Of talent would be
consulted; and that paying or windng-up ma
chimes Of various construction would be built and
experimental with at sea on some merchant vessel
chartered for the purpose twas also t. be expected
that experiments would be made TO ascertain the fc