The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-03
FIRST EDITION
THE FRENCH ATLANTIC CABLE.

4
Particulars of the New Enterprise-HOw the
Gable was MRde-The Vessels Chartered to
Garry IL.
The following additional particulars of the
French cable enterprise are given by the London
Daily NeeCs:-
1.-THE French cable as It is familiarly called
has been made, and will be laid from English
ships, by Englishmen, the Telegraph Construc-
ton and. Maintenance Company having under
taken the contract, Sir Samuel Canning being
the engineer in chief of the expedition. and the
Great Eastern having been chartered for the
work. Indeed, substituting Brest for Valentia,
and st. Pierre for Hearts Content, the entire
process recalls the laying of the lines now
/ worked by the Anglo-American Company. The
present cable is some twelve hundred miles
longer than either of its predecessors; it is
divided into several sections and has been manu-
aCtHred at the rate of $50 miles a week ever
since the contract was accepted. Up to yester
day it was within a hundred miles of compile
1 ton, and was nearly all shipped on board the
vessels appointed to carry IL out. Thus the
AGreat Eastern carries 1852 miles, or about 400
more than when it left with the Anglo-American
i Cable, its vast receptacles being made still
yaster, and its main tank considerably enlarged.
Il with this cargo the great ship will leave her
present resting place in the Midway about the
f 10th of June, and will proceed to Portland.
Here few days will be spent in taking in coal,
after which she will go to an appointed spot some
+ FIVE and a half miles from Brest. One of the
vessels of the expedition (the Chiltern) will in
the meantime have laid the heavy shore end,
and this will be buoyed out to sea ut the distance
named. The Great Eastern will, somewhere
I about the 10th june pick it up, and after
splicing and testing, will set about her regular
work of cable-laying under Sir Samuel Canning
and his staff. She will be accompanied by the
Scanderia, fine vessel of 1900 tons and $40 feet
= long, now lying alongside her in the Medway,
and by the Chiltern, both ships being fitted-lp
! with graphing irons, buoys, and picling-up
machinery, which are Identical in every respect
with those on board the Great Eastern herself.
ut will be remembered that in Mr. Deaue's
narrative of the expedition of 1866 the parts
played by the ships Albany and Medway, during
the search for and graphing with the lost cable
4 Of the preceding year, were of the greatest i'm
portance. 1t is intended that the Scanderia and
the Chiltern shall be equally serviceable in case
OF need; and though it is fervently hoped that
no picking-up will be necessary, every preeau-
ton is taken to secure that the operation shall
I be successfully performed, if it has to be at
tempted at all. 1t may be mentioned that the
! Hawk, smart steamer belonging to the Tele-
graph Construction Company, is at this time on
its way to reconnoitre the French coast with a
view of ascertaining the most favorable spot for
Slanding the shore end.
Some eighteen days will be occupied by the
Great Eastern in the voyage from Brest to ST..
Pierre: and Immediately on the line being laid
between these two places, the other cable-laying
vessels will carry on the remainder of the work.
For in addition to accompanying the monster
vessel as an escort, and giving her assistance
should she require it, the Scanderia, the Chiltern
and another ship, the old William Cory, will
each bear portions of the cable across the At
eantic. The latter proceeds to st. Pierre early
in June, and having laid a shore-end there will
buoy the course and wait the arrival of the Great
Eastern. This over, Sir Samuel Canning will
leave the latter ship, which will return to Eng
lland forthwith and will take his place on board
II the William Cory. Another shore-end, of course
in direct communication with the line to Brest
land ntXy-fn Of nnh
will be laid. Then Sir Samuel Canning changes
ships again, and splicing this portion with that
on board the Scanderia, proceeds on board the
latter vessel to lay four hundred and fifty miles
more on the way to Boston.
The Chitern and her cargo are called into
reQuisition next and another splice made. The
l52 miles added now carry the cable direct into
Boston, and the line will be thus made complete
between the latter place and the French port.
The frequent splicings the change of ships
and the varieties of cable of which, though the
great length is identical with the Anglo-Ameri-
Afan there are six sections-A, b, {, ID, f., and
H-On the whole line, may seem to cOmplicate the
programme; but it should be understood that
after st. Pierre the real work is over. The rest
is shallow water, the whole of which has been
sounded, and the greatest depth of which is
ascertained to be 800 fathoms. Between Brest
and st. Pierre the depth of the line in which the
cable is to lay is less accurately known, and
there are variations between the soundings taken
at various times. These are, however, being
Yelned ana corrected AT tnls tlnle on Denall OF
1.-THE Telegraph Construction Company, and full
Information win be secured before the eXpedi-
hOn starts.
I'VE have said that the Great Eastern has
nOre cable on board by some hundreds of miles
than she has ever held before, and it is curious
70 note the difference in her appearance now and
when she left Sheernessl last. This however, is
appreciably due to the massive coil she hides.
The middle or main tank has been followed out
tI il is seventy-five feet in diameter and in this
y aOe more than eleven hundred miles of cable
*are slowed. The after tank and the fore tank
SNold nine hundred and twelve miles and seven
hundred and twenty-eght miles respectively, but
all are below deck, and none have the slightest
= effect upon the appearance of the vessel as seen
from the paddle-boXes or deck, or upon the spa
dOus saloons and berths below"