Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1865-07-06
RICHMOND WHIG.
THURSDAY MoRNING...JULY 6, 1865.
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.
From the Iondon Times Juna on

| Sto niles Oh cADe on DoarOi ana on saturday the
i operation OF coiling this in was begun. This
work will probably last till the 22i instant, when
the Great Eastern will have in her as near.
/ ly as possible 1000 tons of cable, or, includ.
| ing the iron tanks which contain il and the
water in which IL ia sunk, about 90O) tons in ALL
10 addition 10 this she has already 700 tons of
| coal on board and lb00 tons more still TO take
In. This additional weight however, will not 10
added until she leaves the Nedway, which she
will do on the morning OF the oath for the No e,
when the rest OF the coa.s aud special stores viii
be put on board, and these will bring her mean
draught Gown to - l.2 feet. Her total weight, in-
| Guiding engines will then be rather over 81, W
tons, stupendOus mass for any ship TO carry, but
well within the capacity of the Great Eastern, OF
| which the measurement tonnage is "a 000 Her
| way out from the More will be By Bulock's Chan
| mel, which the Admiralty are having carefully
buoyed to avoid all risk in those ratGer shallow
waters. Before the following Spring tides set in
| about the 9Th or 7th OF July, the Great Eastern
will start for Valeniia. There she is expected to
arrive about the 9th or 10th, and there she will be
| met by the two ships OF war appointed to convoy
| her--the Terrible and tue Sphinx. Both these
| vessels are being fitted with the best apparatus
| for deep sea soundings: with buoYs and means
for buOying the end of the cable, il ever il should
| become necessaryiand with Bolen's night light ma
val signllS, wit which the Great Eastern ID like
wise 10 be supplied. To avoid all chance of accident
/ the big ship will not approach the Irish coast
nearer than 30 or 25 miles, and her stay of Valen
It's will be limited 10 the time occupied in making
/ a splice with the massive shore end. which for a
| length Of twenty-five miles from the coast will
| be laid previous to her arrival. This monstrous
| shore end which Is the heaviest and strongest
/ piece of cable ever made, will be despatched in
lew days, and be laid from tue head OF a shelter
i ed inlet near Cahirciveen out to the distance we
| have stated where the end will be buOyed and
/ watched by the ships OF war till the Great East
/ ern herself comes up. Some idea of the strength
| and solidity ofthis great end may be guessed by
the fact that lis weight per mile IL very little short
/ Of hall the weight OF an ordinary railway metal.
1 For the shore end at Newfoundland oaly three
miles are required, and this short length will he
sent in The Great Eastern. When once the splice
| Ia made from the great cable ship to the English
| shore end-an operation which will consume
1 about i've hours-the work Of laying the cable
/ will instantly commence. By that time every
mile of tie cable in the three tanks will have been
/ Joined up and at stated hour, morniL and eve.
ming, series of signals will be sent through the
cable to the land at Valentia, and thence to Lon.
/ don, giving the latitude and longitude of the
great ship the state Of the weather, and the mum.
Der of miles paid out. Tie cable will he first
taken out from the forward tank, next from that
amidship, and lastly from that astern; and if all
goes well the vessel should arrive with nearly 800
miles of cable in her still unused-an excess
which is most wisely allowed in case of accident.
1 We may add that since the paying-Out apparatus
has been in work its action has been faultless.-
Messrs. Canning, Clifford and Temple have alb
| sOlute charge of all the details connected with
| the submergence. Mr.. De Sanity is in charge of
the electrical condition Of the cable for the ma.
| kers, Mr.. Vatley goes 10 represent the Atlantic
| Company, and Professor Thompson as scientific
| adviser aud referee. These gentlemen, however,
| are only the chiefs Of the various large depart.
mental STATS which will be on board.
With regard to the process OF laying, it is hoped
| the Great Eastern may be Kept throughout the
| Whole voyage at uniform speed OF six knots per
hour faster than which it would not be safe, az
rule to run out the cable At less speed than this
however the big ship would fail of stearage way
ald with beam wind would certainly 70 TO lee.
ward without some counteracting influence. This
| influence Will be afforded, II necessary, By the
paddle.engiDes which are to be disconnected. and
| the efforts Of ono wheel at either side would he
quite sufficient to over.balance the effects Of any.
thing but very violent storm. This latter risk
ia now literally all that has 10 be feared Every.
thing else which human foresight can suggest,
either In cable or ships, everything which long
experience or scientific progress can devise has
| bsen provided, and the success or failure of this
vast expedition Is now only question OF wealth
or. On this only doubtful point therefore, it is
gratifying 10 know ILat Capt Anderson il san
euine OF all going well. In his experience of
m 10y yea and hundreds ofvJyages backward and
forward Ia command VI the Cunard liners over
this very track OF the Atlantic, he states that in
the early part OF July never bloys long or strong
and that during tal- time he has never even
heard OF any b.. weather which could for mo-
ment aansct vessel like the Great Eastern. If
, these anticipatons should prove corect-and
there are none better capable Of forming them
than Captain Anderson-and il oil goes WELL both
as to course and rate OF s:elming, telegraphic
communication vita the United states may be
looked for at the latest about the Goth or 2lst Of
In IA m 70 Cfe nj IL
not be forgotten that in the last memorable expe-
dition in the Agamemnon, midsummer was liked
on as the time when q storm in the at antic was
almost impossible, and the records of the meteorO
logical depa rtments both here and in America,
| certainly justified such an expectation, as they
showed that for fifty years no storm had taken
| place at that time. Yet it was precisely on the
2lst OF June that the hurricane with which the
A0amemnon and Niagara had teen battling for
| some days was at its height, and those on board
| the ill.starred Agamemnon, at least. knew MT
| from hour to hour which was to be their last
Most earnestly is it 10 be wished that on this great
occasion the calculation of averages, if not more
| Just may prove at least more fortunate. As far
as regards the cable itself there is absolutely no.
| thing to be desired.
The Malta and Alexandra wire was an enor.
nous Improvement on that by means of which it
was hoped to connect England with the United
| States. That laid along the Persian Gulf is
| again great Improvement on the Malta and AL
exandria; while this which is 10 cross the Allan
| tic is a still more marked improvement on them
all. So exquisitely delicate are the tests that
minute flaw even 10 one of the four coatDgs of
gutta.perCha has been detected, its place defined
| almost to a yard or 80, and the length in which
Il occurred at once cut out. II Is singular but
significant fact that almost all the accidents and
| stoppages which have occurred to submarine ca
bles have arisen from those which have been laid
| In shallow water A deep sea line once well laid,
/ ofv fnf M
| course in those few rare cases where the line has
10 be taken over ocean depths known to be liable
| to volcanic disturbances. Thus the deep-sea por.
/ tions Of the Malta and Alexandria line from NAL
| Ia TO Tripo have, it is stated, never given an
hours uneasIness while the shallow sections from
Bengazi, &C.. to Alexandra are constantly getting
out of repair As set-off 10 this, however it is
| only fair 10 state that shallow cables may be re-
paired with as much facility as they seem 10 break
| down; while, on the other hand, the frat fault Of
| a deep.sea line, is, as rule, its last.
| At the bottom of the Atlantic it ID needless to
say that no volcanic disturbances are spprehend'
/ ed. Along the route on which the cable is to be
| laid the depths vary from 1900 to about 2 400
1 fathoms. The dangerous part OF this course mas
| hitherto been supposed to be the sudden dlp or
| bank which occurs about hundred niles OH the
/ est coast of Ireland, and where the water was
| supposed 10 deepen in the course of a few miles
/ from about 800 fathons TO nearly 2OOu. such
/ rapid descent has naturally been regarded with
alarm by telegraphic engineers, and this alarm
| has led TO most careful sounding survey of the
whole Of the appGseq "aan s S tbe
The result of this shows that the supposed pre-.
cinitons bank or submarine cliff, Is gradual
alone of nearly 60 miles. Over this long slope the
difference between its greatest helghth aud great
est depth is only 100 feet 50 that the average in
cline is, In round numbers about las feet per
| mile. good gradiant on a railway is now gen
orally considered TO be in 100 feet, or about SO
| in mile, so that the incline on this supposed
bank is only about three times that of ordinary
railway. In fact, as far as soundings can demon.
strste anything there are few slopes in the bed OF
the Atlantic as steep as that Of Holborn Hill. In
no part is the bottom rocky and With the excep'