El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-06-24

n
VA lie as to the number of words
which were transmitted over
! the transatlantic cables giving the story
! of the death and funeral of King Ed
ward to the American press it probably
| will be found that all records were bro
| ken, even that great record of 5000
! words which were sent to this country
describing the late kings magnificent
J coronation. The previous records We're
toria died and the $4,000 words upon the
| occasion of her jubilee.
| The marvel of such a stupendOus
| amount of news being sent across thou
! sands of miles of trackless waters at
1.-The rate of from 100 to 200 words
minute for each cable operating cannot
be fully appreciated until the reader re-
| calls that next month will be celebrated
| the 44th anniversary of the completion
| of the first permanent transatlantic
cable. But when the old Great Es-
tern" dropped its last fathOm of cable
| off the Newfoundland coast on July
p, 1866, that did not mark the first
successful spanning Of the Atlantic
The first cable message ever sent from
America to England was that which
was Transmitted at 11:12 a m. of August
s, 1858, and the words were Glory TO
God in the Highest
First Attempt Failed.
In 1857 Cyrus W. Field of New York.
Charles Bright, J. W. Breet and other
prominent financiers of England form
ed company for the laying of a trans
atlantic cable. start was made from
Valentia, Ireland. Only 225 miles had
been laid when the cable broke and
the scheme was abandoned for the time
being. The following year Field began
work again, this time having the coop
Grafton of both the British and Amer
| lean governments The L. s. warship
Niagara and the British warship Aga
memnon met in mid ocean, spliced the
two halves of the cable and began max
ing their way to Newfoundland and Ire
land respectively. Both reached their
destination on the same day. August
., 1858. Electrical connection was at
once established across the 1850 miles
of cable.
Following the GLORY to God in the
Highest message, congratulatory dis
patches were exchanged between Pres
ident Buchanan and queen Victoria. and
the achievement was proclaimed
throughout the world as one of the
greatest conQuests of science in all
history. The rejoicing was short lived,
however, for after % days the cable
ceased TO work. Less than thousand
had been s1.256, 250. No part of it was
ever recovered.
Field Again Unsuccessful.
In spite of the fortunes that had been
sunk in his two attempts Cyrus W.
Field was not discouraged by failure.
In 1865 he was again actively ar work
with new cable project During the
intervening seven years rapid strides
had been made in the laying of short
cables between England and France,
from Malta to Alexandria and in the
Red sea 1t was believed that the fall
ure of the cables of 1883 had been due
to improper insulation so the new ca
bic was prepared with the greatest care.
The cost was to be 100000.
The Great Eastern, then the largest
steamship afIoat, was chartered to car
laid the cable suddenly parted during
stormy weather and the great coil sank J
in 1900 feet of water y brave effort !
was made to recover the cable but the /
Great Eastern was not equipped for /
the purpose Several times the big coil /
was hooked, and once it was drawn |,
nearly to the surface when a weak link /
in the drag chain gave way and it sank /
back more than two miles below the !
surface Finally, thoroughly disheart- /
ened, the Great Eastern returned to !
Ireland
Transatlantic Service In 1866. !
But Cyrus Field was not vet defeated. I
new SS,OOO,0OO company was organized |
with the double purpose of laying a
new cable and recovering the old. I
The Great Eastern" was remodeIed
Three big cable tanks IS. So and 80 feet
across. were built for holding the coil
and new hosting and paying-out ma
chinery was installed The ship left |
Valentia on July Is, 1866, and began
paying out the cable at the rate of six
knots an hour, a course % miles north
IF the old cable being followed. Four
zen days later the big ship arrived
afely at Newfoundland and communica-
ion was Immediately established.
From that day up to the present there
las never been more than Temporal
" interruption of communication
Two Hundred Words Per Minute.
But this was not the end of the en-
erprise of 1866. Luck seemed to have
changed at last Immediately after
the laying of the new cable
he Great Eastern set out for mid
'cean to recover the cable of the pre-
-ious year. After, eighteen days of
leroic effort the broken end was re-
covered, a new cable spliced to it. and
n September the second cable was
The speed with which |
words could be transmitted across the ]
ables was at first from three to eight
minute. This was finally increased ! {
o fifteen Since that time there have !
cen great strides in this direction. In
S74 the duplex system was applied in /
reasing the speed so per cent. Now Y
is not an extraordinary feat to 7
end 200 words a minute. c
Cables Proposed In 1875. Y
To Saliva, Spaniard, belongs the