The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1888-10-10
HISTORY OF OCEAN CABLES
THE LINKS THAT CLOSELY CON
Meet TWO HEMISPHERES

Dllily VI du AtlbuNlC CdDlb was uldut "
Professor Morse in 1S43, nearly TIVE
years before his first telegraph line wa
in operation, and the first submarin,
cable known to have been laid wa
completed in September, 1851, and con
nected England and France April 10
1854, the New York, Newfoundland anC
London Telegraph Company was in
corporated, and on May 6 the first meet
ing of the Board of Directors was held
and preparations were begun for laying
cable between America and Europe.
In July, 1856, soundings were made
IN the Atlantic for cable route and
the next summer the work of laying il
was begun, but on August 10 the cable
end was lost at sea and could not be re.
covered and spliced, and hence the first
attempt proved failure.
In the meantime, however, q second
Atlantic cable company, called the At
lantic Telegraph Company, had been
formed, of which Cyrus w. Field was q
prominent member, and ne became the
manager of the company before the work
was completed On April "a, 1857, the
steamship Niagara sailed from New
York to assist in laying this second
cable, and August Is the cable squadron,
comprising the Niagara and the British
naval vessels, the Gorgon and Indus,
sailed from Queenstown and commenced
the work, which was pursued until in.
terrupted by winter and resumed again
June 10, 1858. The end in mid-ocean
was successfully grappled and spliced,
but few days later the cable parted
again but was again spliced, and on
August 5 the work was completed. On
the 10th, the shore connections having
been made, the President of the United
States and the Queen of England ex-
changed congratulations over the com
pletion Of the cable, and New York be-
gan preparations for one of the biggest
celebrations known up to that time. The
city and surrounding country went
fairly wild over the accomplishment OF
the great undertaking and put in two
days and one night making it memora.
BILE. The city was overrun with visitors
and the streets were described as con.
tanning "over half million of jubilant
people, and nearly every building was
decorated. From the Battery to Union
place, as it was called then, Broadway
was so densely packed that the Seventh
and Seventy-first regiments, acting as
escort to grand procession, could
scarcely crowd their way through. There
were services during the day in Trinity
Church, where Bishop Doane delivered
an address, and there were services else
where and grand reception to Mr..
Field and the officers of the vessels at
the Battery.
During the festivities the next day the
announcement was made that "a bug had
got into the cable" and it was wisely
concluded to postpone further rejoicing
to celebrate the eviction of the 'bug. "
1t was never got out, however, and the
cable was useless from that date. Mr..
Field and his associates, although sadly
disappointed, were not entirely discour.
aged, but the war came on before they
could get to work again and the third
Atlantic cable was not ready to lay until
about the 1st of June, 1865. On July
% the shore end was laid, and the next
day the Great Eastern, which had failed
TO find any other field of usefulness, CON-
p menced paying out the cable. Ex.
perience gained from the two previous
ventures proved valuable to the third
enterprise, but even yet there was much
to learn about ocean. cable laying. Ow.
Ing to the immense size of the Great
Eastern the work could be done more
perfectly, and as coil after coil of the
cable was wound off the reels and
dropped into the sea extreme care
was taken to make the splices to
the following sections as strong as the
body of the cable was, but, nevertheless,
on Aug. ., the cable parted and much
difficulty was experienced in graphing
the ends and splicing them. AS the
cable was completed, section and sec.
tlon, tests were made through it to the
shore. After few months delay the
Great Eastern resumed work again in
1856, recovered an end which had been
lost and completed the cable, which was
opened for business July 90, the tariff
being fixed at 500 message. Four
days later the cable parted in mid d-ocean
and the Great Eastern again grappled
the ends. Communication was restored
September s, and the cable worked
twelve years, having been abandoned in
1873. In the meantime, however, other
cables had been laid, and the tariff was
reduced first to $25 and later in 1870 to
Sl5, and then cables began to multiply
so fast that the rates got much lower.
The difficulties encountered in the first
ventures have to some extent retarded
all efforts to lay Atlantic cables, but
nevertheless there are now twelve of
them in operation, ten from North and
two from South America.
Atlantic cables are usually constructed
OF seven small copper wires wound to.
gether so as to form one conductor, and
covered with heavy coating of compost.
tion insulation, largely composed of rub.
Der and paratfine, around which other
ana lareer iron or steel wires are wound,
protected by another coating of insulat.
ing material, and protected on the sur.
face by oIaer and still heavier wires, al.
though some have another coating out
side the wires. The shore ends are about
two and one-hah inches in diameter and
the mid-ocean sections from an inch to
an inch and half.
The work of transmitting messages
over the cables has been materially re.
duced of late years by improvements in
the machinery. The first effort made to
transmit messages was by means of the
Morse code of signals as used on ordinary
telegraph lines, but owing to the intro,
duction of the current, which does not
affect aerial lines TO an appreciable ex.
tent, 1t was found that only one or two
words minute could be sent Sir Will
liam Thomson, the great English elec.
lrician and scientist, then devised a
means OF signaling by the aid Of a needle