The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1869-07-09
THE FKENCII CABLE.
From, the Lomdo,, Times Of June 2i

1t has already been explained that the
whole cable is of very composite des
criptiOn. 1t has four very heavy shore
ends-one at Brest, one on reaching and
leaving st. Pierre, and one for DuXburY
beach, near Boston. Then there are
what are called intermediate pieces of
cable, some of considerable length and
great strength, which will be laid where
the water is shonl, and where, In case
the rope was light one, there might be
danger, either from the surf, or, possi-
bly,, from vessels anchors, or even from
misChieVious injury. This latter source
Of danger is not nearly so remote as
people who know little OF the subject
are apt hastily to consider. The Allan
tic cable of 1865 has once been broken
m4liciCusly in WO places, about twenty
miles apart and some forty miles from
the Newfoundland shore. 1t was done
at the height of the Fenian troubles,
and when a rumor was spread in
America that there had been a
rising i'll Ireland. One evening
vessel was seen In the of1ng,
lowering about, and then stood 10 sea,
and was not again seen. That night
the cable was broken in two places. 1t
could not have been by accident, for 1t
was broken in 15O tathoms water. and
at such distance from shore that no
vessel could have anchored had she de-
sired. All doubts were set at rest,
however, when the cable was raised
and mended, when the marks OF the
grapnel upon it were found distinct In
many places, cutting the hemp IN all
directions, Il and the line had evidently
withstood some desperate tugs before 1t
parted. The intermediate parts of the
French Atlantic cable-that is, portions
thicker than the deep sea lineI and
thinner than the shore end-are laid
across the Channel to the deep sea
waters OF the Atlantic, and again un-
der the less deep water from St. Pierre
to Boston. These parts are OF great
slreugth,-so great that it would be
Impossible to break them by dredging,
and, indeed, q very well.1Ound cable
with proper steam picking-up ma
chinery, would be required to get it to
the surface at all.
called respectively the A, B and G
cables-the A being the deep sea, the b
the intermediate, and the Q the shore
ends. These are the main divisions OF
the line; but there are certain small
portions, both of shore and inermedt-
ate, which vary a little in construction,
and these are called cables d, L and f.
Iu all these there are about $500 tons
OF cable, making up length of J, ,564
nautical miles. OF this great burden
the Great Eastern has s, 500 tons, the
Scanderia / ,I92 tons. the Chiltern 737
tons, and the William Cory has already
zone with ,O39 tons. The Great East
arm carries her share in three immense
tnnks-one forward, one amidships and
one aft-and she will pay out in this
way: About 500 tons will be paid out
| of the middle tank to tighten her amid :.
ships, where she much wants 1t. 1t Will
then pass, from blight in the cable, TO
the fore tank, which Will pc completely
emptied. The line will then be taken
along the deck to the aft tank, and
when that also Is cleared out 1t will
come back to the centre tank and finish
with that, and this will bring the Great
Eastern to the buoyed end Of the shore
line, which will in the meantime
have been laid by the William cory;
When this has been accomplished
by tho William Cory that vessel
goes on to st. Pierre and lays over the
shoals from that little town line OF the
intermediate down TO the Gut OF Canso,
Il little southeast of Cape Breton, and,
her work done, makes the best or her
way to Halifax. The Great Eastern
then transfers Sir Samuel Canning, MIR.
WilIoughby Smith, and the engineering
and electrical staff to the ScanderiR,
and comes home. while the Scanderia
and the Chiltern so on from the Gut ol
Canso to Cape Sable, the ScanderiR pay
ing out all her intermediate line erl
roIiIc. When she is empty she again
transfers the staff to the Chiltern, and
the Scanderia comes hOmer leaving the
Chiltern to complete the line from Cape
SaIllo 70 Boston, when she also comes
6sck, the last of all except the William
Corr which remains for 81 days on the
snot in case of any want OF repair OF
s5iustment to any of the many spices
and @ shore ends. Thus each ship has it,
allotted section, and each, in fact as !
completes it transfers Its stah an ~.
middle of August before the last ships
are home, but the Great Eastern vii
have done her work-that is, the rea
work-before the 10th Of July II all goes
veil. and certainly all fear OF danger
viii be past about the 9th of July, Whef
she will be nearing the shoal water Oh
the banks of Newfoundland.