The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-04

ity of submarine telegraph comn1Gnica-
ton
In 1850 submarine telegraph line
was laid across the English channel be-
tween England and France and signals
We're exchanged and in the following
year a permanent service was estab-
lished by the use of a, somewhat clumsy
cable. Four insulated copper wires
were wrapped in gutta percha and
around all this galvanized iron wire
was tightly wound
These experiments had demonstrated
the practicability of submarine COM
munication and the remainder of the
task of a constructing the great world
cables was simply one of getting enough
capital together to build them.
The following statistics furnished by
the United States Bureau of Statistics
give a good idea of subsequent develop
ment of the CABLE
1S57-First attempt to lay a submarine
telegraphic cable across the Atlantic
OCSdL, LIE enterprise DelnB HSd1eu
by Cyrus w. Field, of New York,
and Charles Bright ]. w. Brett and
others, of England. The line was
to extend from Valentia, ireland, to
Newfoundland, the length of cable
necessary being estimated at $500
miles. The construction of this cable
was similar to that across the En-
giish Channel. After 255 miles had
ben laid from Valentia westward, the
COL Ia hr~0Ir .r1d 10 az l,o,,
doned.
185S-ReneWal by Mr.. Field and his assoc
ciates of the attempt to lay SUBJ
marine Geographic cable across the
Atlantic The United States naval
vessel Niagara and the British vessel
Agamemnon, carrying each one-half
of the cable, proceeded to midocean,
and, after joining the ends of their
respective sections, on July 20, pro-
eeeded westward and eastward, pay
ing out the cable, and reaching their
respective destinations, Newfound-
land and Valentia, on the same day,
August 5, 1858, when electrical con-
nection between the continents was
at once established over 1850 nautical
miles of cable which they had thus
laid. Congratulatory messages were
exchanged between the President of
the United States and the Queen of
England, and there were public re-
joicings in both countries over what
was pronounced the great event of
the century. After less than one
month of operation, however, the ca.
bic ceased working. and it was never
operated further, nor was any part
of it ever recovered. During the
time of it's operation $50 messages of
about ten thousand words were pass
ed over it. Its total cost was 81,
256,250.
B59-A submarine telegraphic cable to
connect England with British India
was laid through the Red Sea and
Arabian Sea to Kurrachee, India,
having a total length of 3,043 nautical
mlIes, but with several intermediate
landings Some portions of the line
worked satisfactorily for thirty days,
but few, if any, messages were sent
over the entire length, and 1t soon
proved a complete failure.
lS6O-An elaborate study of the entire SUBJ
ject of submarine telegraphs and the
construction of cables was made by
committee appointed by the British
Board of Trade. resulting in an ex-
preston of the belief that submarine
telegraphy might, despite past fail
ures, become successful and profit
able if sufficient care were exercised
in constructing, laying and managing
the cable.