The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-07-22
THE NEW ATLANTIC CABLE.

Another telegraph cable unitc9 this CONT
nent with Europe, making thro" in All The
Great Eastern reached the little French island
land, on the 18th, and has since landed the
cable. Dispatches have been freely sent over
it to France and back. \ steamer is now eX-
tending it from ST. Pierre to DuXbuly, Mass.
when it is supposed that il will be immediate
lv opened for business. This line is said to
be more substantial and reliable than those
heretofore laid, being Of heavier materials.
and following Il line much less liable to be
disturbed by the grounding of iccbcrgs. The
cables first laid have been very profitable to
the stockholders, a the business over them
has constantly increased, and the receipts
corrcspondingly large. On an average $500
per day in gold have been received Other
lines will doubtless follow, as the experience
and success Of the past renders the achieve
ment one of but little more risk than ordinary
commercial ventures
The concession for the building, LAYING. and
working of the present cable was granted by
the French Government in July, 1868, 10 En-
hanger Of Paris, Reuter- of London, and their
associates. 1t conveyed the exclusive right
TO run cable from Brest to the coast Of the
| United States and to work it for ten years,
subject to the following conditions: No soil
foreign to France OF the United States is to be
touched by the cable in its transit, and the
price of a dispatch of twenty words will not
exceed $40. The capital of the company was
fixed at Sc 900, 900, divided into GO 900 shares
of 800 each. In eight days the subscription
list of stock was filled by the most respecta-
bic banking houses Of Europe, and shares
were Immediately sold in the London and
Paris Exchange at premium Of two or three
per cent The route was selected, after the
most careful soundings, under the supervision
Of expert scientific men, and was recon-
mended by Sir James Anderson, formerly of
the .'Great Eastern ,s preferable TO the
route adopted bv the British company in Law
ing their cable from Ireland to Ilacentia BAY.
The length of the cable from Brest to st.
Pierre, will be 1925 miles, and from st.
Pierre to Boston about 132 miles. The line
will then have q total length of ;},0t7 miles,
or nearly POO more than the length of the
Anglo American cable. The French island
of St. Pierre, at which the cable touches, is
one of the group of three islands, discover
ed bv French mariners about the time of the
settlement of Canada. They are chiefly val
liable to France on account of the nciohbor-
ing fisheries, immense fishing fleets being an
nually dispatched from France to these is
lands and the coast of Labrador The popu-
lation of st. Pierre is between 1000 and 8,
900. The cable constructed for the French
company was made in England, and is be-
lieved to be decidedly superior to the one
now working across the Atlantic. A descrip-
ton of it gives the following facts
The central copper coil, which is the spinal cord
the along which the electric fluid is to run
is larger. 1t is four instead of three sizes in cir
conference; that is, it weighs four hundred pounds
to the mile. 10 secure insulation, the wires arc
! imbedded in ChattersOn's compound, a preparation
| impervious to water, and then covered with foul
successive layers of gutta pcrcha. Outside of these
encasing the whole, is spiral net of steel wires
| each wire surrounded separated with five strands
| of Russian or Manila hemp, saturated with pre-
servatiye compound. The entire cable. while it has
the strength Of an iron chain, has ut the same time
sufficient elasticity to yield like rope to the vari
tons of the ocean bee, and the motions Of the wave.
| and currents