Ashtabula weekly telegraph. [volume] (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1853-1873, 1865-09-16
THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
Interesting Letter from Capt. Anderson
of the Great Eastern. .7,..-aF
GREAT EASTERN, Aug. I6. 1865.

OhEAI ASAolrhNi aug ~, lOOo.
Ny DEAR SIR IL have no doubt that
You will read with some interest he opin.
ions of sailor whom you know, respecting
| telegraph cables across the Atlantic, and
especially as to the cause of our present
failure. / was formerly douhter then.
as became intimate with the men aud
means to be employed to overcome all the
d ffcultes I had thought of, l became
hopeful but now that l understand per
soually iheidficulties in the way Of practi
cally laying cable-iu an ocean of great
depth, 1 have become sanguine. ra si3a,7
B. The cable has failed for the present,
principally from the cause Of its own wires
penetrating the gutta percha core, -snlihat
cause has been so far fatal only. becauseit
was unanticipdted / mean by that, If we
conld have foreseen, his probability, and
sufficiently understood the action of this
ship, appliances could have been arranged
bat would have recovered The faults with
out The elaborate process that past expert
eDce has tanght TO be Efficient. =. s...--i
They can generally tel! Immediately when
fault occurs Very iule--only, few
miles--i- necessary 10 be han'ed in +; for
bis purpose the cable has to be passed
from the stern to the bow of the ship, at
the best of times a huz,rdons thing to do.
aud in this very long ship difficult opera
| ion. An engine attached 10 be payi q
ont gear, so as 70 reverse and haul in at
once before The cable had reached the bot.
ON, and while the fault was being iocai ed
would have reduced our three faults to a
very small ritk So that even this cable
which in all other respects seems perfect
could be efficiently laid down when we have
obtained the appliances. our new experiment
has taught us 10 be necessary, .-, sls.y3
II was never anticipated that we should
have 10 a,tempt the recovery of a lost ca ble
from the depth OF two and half miles, ant
for the same reason we failed.s Our grap
pIipg gear was insufficient. osis1... sis,isi's
Three times ont of, four attempts we
hooked the cable and raised il from be
ground several hundred fathoms. Upon two
occasions the swivel Of the grapnel rope
broke, and upon ihe third occasion. our
rope which was made up Of ships stores,
added ON 10 the. proper rope, and when we
had once more began't to be Hopeful, good
looking six inch rope broke like a bread.
This much, howe ever, we have established,
we can have the cable whenever we choose
and We fairly believe hat, with proper APP
oIiances We can lift it aud complete its
laying, o. ,
ing this unfortunate result. Every kind oi
experiment had been tried, and the wire
hid never before penetrated The core. This
aud some other aspects seem to. have fixed
the idea in some Of the leading minds that
the faults have been the result of malice.
I incline TO the opinion. that they were The
result of accident, as l know by experience
that accident will produce more curious
results than design. aud they are as easily
Fsxplapped enc ,sAy as the ptber,7 BntYthis
follows, that appliances should be used that
wou d prevent such fatal results, vheih Der
produced by one cause or the other, This
can be done beteafter by machinery we now
kaow how to conStract. ! and the additional
security can be had of making those wires
of a nnmbeD of sun lleri oues, go Shat no
one would be sufficiently streDg to pene-
iraie the core or, IT, necessary, to coser
the wire with canvas or wire gsaze, to
make il still more secure. This done, there
eau really be no difficulty With this ship 10
Hayipg submarine cables all aroasd lht
world. ~ XlTt1B .EHGNlgI.sAO
1t would be long and useless story tc
teltyo how our hopes al,ernared betwixi
hope aud hopelessness during. the ten days
that we gtsppled aud hooked Asd lost The
dear old thread. Our backs are vssy mach
up. and oil Of US long TO recover The cable
and restore our prestige. J. have. heeome
positively eager, and hope circumstances
will admit Of my fnishine what j have
begun. .Isnl1i''aa ia' bss ysd INV Dos
My opinion now is that the companies
Interested in-,ths snccess Of this cable are
really upon the point Ct success. i have
l0Anfkftst I
50 sfst.i ~ = alzIR .ese