The Hawaiian gazette., 1890-12-09
OCEAN TELEGRAPHY.

before we see the reallzatl0n or the
often-proposed trans-Pacific tele-
graph cable from some point
on the northwest coast of the con-
tinent of America to Australia. To
effect this there must be sundry
stopping stations to subdivide and
reduce to manageable distances
the enormous space between the
terminal points. Of these stations
this Hawaiian group must neces-
sarily be the first from the, Amer
lean coast. These islands linked
together, the next great span will
be probably to the Phoenix Islands
in about 3 deg. South latitude and
III deg. West longitude from
thence across the FIJI archipelago,
and thence to Auckland, n. 2.
From San Francisco to Hawaii is
2OOO miles, Honolulu to Fiji about
$500, which may be divided in two
lengths, to Phoenix 100 thence to
FIJI HOO, and then on to Auckland
is only 1880. thus leaving the first
stretch of 1000 miles the longest of
the whole, and that not so long as
the existing cable from Brest to
Cape Breton or to Duxbury, Mass.
The depth of portions of the Pacific
where the cable must be laid is not
yet ascertained, but there is no
reason to believe that it will
greatly exceed some of the depths
already traversed in the Atlantic
and Indian Oceans.
We shall take occasion to refer to
this part of the subject in a subse-
quent article.
A historical sketch of the pro-
gress of submarine telegraphy is
most interesting. Just fifty years
ago. Professor Wheatstone drew
plans for connecting Dover and
Calais by submarine telegraph.
Seven years later plan was sub,
mitted on behalf of Jacob Brett,
the inventor and patentee, having
the same object. This however
was unfavorably received by the
Government of Louis PHILIPPE, and
it was not till 1850 that permission
to make the trial was granted by
Louis Napoleon. In that year thirty
miles of telegraphic wire enclosed
in gutta percha covering half an
inch in diameter were placed on
board the steamer Goliath, which
started from Dover, paying out the
cable as they crossed the channel
and the farther end was success
fully landed at Cape Grisnez and
were sent to and fro
between England and France. This
cable however being imperfectIy
protected, or rather not armored at
all was soon cut through by a
rocky bottom. and so the first cable
was by no means long-lived. In
the next year, 1851, a stronger
cable was successfully laid and
communication established between
London and Paris. This was the
year of the first great International
Exhibition IN London.
Such was the beginning of the
now familiar cable telegraph.
Singularly enough, between two
and three hundred years ago an
Italian writer named Strada so
nearly described the electric tele-
graph that it seems now almost
like an inspiration. The whole
story is so marvellous that we
quote it literally from Addison,
who writing in I'LL says: "Strada,
in one of his prolusions (essays),
gives an account of a chimericaI
correspondence between two friends
by the help of certain loadstone,
which had such virtue in it that if
it touched two several needles,
when one of the needles so touched
began to move. the other, though
at never so great distance, moved
at the same time, and in the same
manner.
He tells Us thatthe two friends.
being each OF them possessed of one