THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

Colonist, Volume II, Issue 112, 16 November 1858, Page 3

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

A correspondent of the Daily News, who. accompanied the Agamemnon, furnishes a graphic and interesting description of the expedition, as : far as that ship was concerned. He says':— The rendezvous was reached on the evening of Wednesday, the 28th July, just 11 days after our departure from Queenstowri. The rest of the squadron were in sight afc nightfall, but afc such a considerable distance that it was' past 10 o'clock on tlie morning of Thursday, the 29th, before the Agamemnon joined them. We were, as usual, greeted by a perfect storm of questions as to what kept us SO; much behind our time, and learned that all had come to the conclusion that the ship roust have got ashore on leaving Queenstown Harbor. The Niagara, it appeared, had aimed oh the rendezvous on Friday night, the 23rd; the Valorous on Sunday, 25th; aiid .the Gorgon on the afternoon of Tuesday, the 27th. The day was beautifully calm, so no time was to be lost before making the splice; boats were soon lowered from the attendant ships, the two ships were made fast by a hawser, and the Niagara end of the cable conveyed on board the Agamemnon. About half-past 12 o'clock the splice was effectually made, but with materials very indifferent. Instead of carefully rounded semicircular boards which had been used to inclose the junctions.on.previous occasions, it consisted merely of two straight boards nailed over the joining, with the iron rod and leaden plummet attached to the centre. In hoisting it out from the side of the ship, however, the leaden sinker broke short off, and fell overboard,: and there being no more convenient weight at hand, a 321b. shot ; was fastened to the splice instead, and the whole; apparatus was quickly dropped into the sea without any formality, and indeed almost without a spectator, for. those onboard the ship had witnessed.'; so many beginnings, to the telegraph line, that it was evident they despaired of there ever being an end to it. The stipulated 200 fathoms of cable having been paid: out to allow-the> splice l to sink well below the surface, the.:signal; to::start. was j hoisted, the hawser cast loose, and the Niagara and Agamemnon started for. the last time for their; opposite destinations. For the first three hours the ships proceeded very slowlyy paying out' a great quantity of slack, but after the: expiration of this time the speed of the Agamemnon was increased to about five knots per hour, the cable going at about six, without indicating more than a "few hundred pounds of strain upon the dynamometer. Shortly;after 6.o'clock; a very large whale was seen approaching, the starboard: bow ; at; a great, speed, rolling mid-tossing, tlie sea into foam all around ; and for the first time'we felt" the possibility of the suppositionthat our second mysterious breakage of the cable might have been caused, after all, by one of these animals gettiiigfonl of it under water. It/appeared as if it were making, direct for the cable, arid .'great was the relief of all when the ponderous Mivingriiass was seen slowly to pass astern, just grazing the cable-where It" entered the> waiter, bufc.fortunately.without doing any mischief." All seemed to go well up to about; 8 o'clock; the cable payed outfronVthe hold with am evenness and;:regularity whicli shewed how' carefully and perfectly,it had been coiled away; and. to. guard against.accidents; which might arise, in consequence of the cable.having suffered injury during the• storrii^ the [indicated strain upon the dynamometer was'-'never allowed to get;beyond 1700 lbs., or less than one quarter what the cable is estimated to. bear.- Thus far everything looked; promising of success. But in such a hazardous work tip one knows what, a few minutes 'may bring forth,-*'for soon after Ban injured portion of the; cable was discovered about a mile or two from the: portion paying out.. Not. a. moment w-as lost by Mr. Canning, the engineer on,duty, in setting men to workyto cobble up the injury as vveli as.thne would pErmit, for the cable was going out at such a rate that the;-damaged portion would be paid overboard my less, than twenty minutes, and former experience had shewn us that to check either the speed of the ship or the cable would in all probability he attended by the most fatal results. Just before tbe lapping was finished, Professor Thompson that the electrical continuity of the wire had ceased, but that the in-.;; sulation was still perfect. 'Attention was "naturally directed to the injured piece as the probable sourceiof the stoppage, and not a moment wasdost in cutting the cable at that, point, with the intention of making a perfect splice; .but, to the conster- [ nation of all, the electrical tests" applied shewed the fault -to be overboard, and in all probability some: 50 miles from the ship. ; Not a second was to be lost, for it was evident that the cut portion, must be paid overboard iri^ a. few minutes, and in the meantime the tedious and difficult.operation of making a splice had to" be performed." The ship was immediately stopped, and no -more cable paid out than was absolutely necessary, to prevent it breaking." As the stern ofthe ship was lifted: by the waves a scene of. the most intense excitement followed. It seemed impossible, even by using the greatest -possible speed and paying out' the least possible amount of cable, that the junction could. be finished before ; the part was taken" out of the hands of the workmen"; The main hold presented an. extraordinary scene. Nearly all the officers of the ship and those connected witli' the expedition stood in groups about the coil, watching (with that intense anxiety which is seldom seen except round foreign gaming' tables) the cable as, it _ slowly unwound itself nearer aud nearer the joint,'while the workmen, directed by Mr.; Canning, under : .whose superintendence the cable was originally manufactured, worked,afc the splice as only men could work 'whoVfelt.'that tlie life and death of the expedition depended upon their rapidity. But-all their speed was to mo purpose, as the cable was unwinding within a hundred fathomsj and, as alast and desperate resource, the cable was stopped altogether, and for a few minutes the" ship hung on by the end. Fortunately,- however, it was only for a-few minutes, as the strain was continually■■ rising above two tons,: and it could not hold on-/much longer,,when the splice was finished, the" signal made to loose the. stopper,' and it passed overboard;safely enough..; When* the excitement consequent; 1 upon having so' narrowly saved the cable had passed away,-we woke to the consciousness: that the case was still as hopeless as ever, for tlie electric continuity was sti.ll entirely wanting. Preparations were consequently made.to pay out as little rope as possible, and to hold -on" tor- six--hoursjr in hopelthafc the fault, whatever it might be, might mend itself be-, fore cutting the cable and returning to the 'rendez-.-vous 'to- make another splice. The magnetic needles on the receiving instruments were watched closely for the returning signals, when, in; a,few minutes the last,hope was extinguished, by their suddenly indicating "dead earth," whicli tended to shew that the cable'had broken from the' Niagara, or that the insulation had* been completely destroyed. An three minutes, however,-every one was agreeably, surprised by.the intelligence that, the.stoppage had disappeared'and that-the signals had again appeared at regular intervals from tlie Niagara. It. is needless" :to say what a-load of anxiety-this news 'removed from, the minds of everyone, but the ..general confidence in the ulti- ; mate success.'of the operations'- was much shaken by th c ■ occurrence, ;for all felt that at any m iriute a similar accident might occur. '{'-'-' • :- ; ■ ;On Saturday, the 31st'of July,: observations at noon shewed us to ,be in 4 latitude- : S0 deg. 23 min.^ N.,. andr longitude 26 deg.: 44 ; min. :i W.,. Haying, made good 120 miles'of distance from the" starting point since nooni of the previous, dayi with a loss * of .abput ? 27yper~centi of* cable; They Niagara, as far as could tbe judged..from the amount of 'cable slie J payed -oii V, ' which,, liy ■'[ a*, previous arran'gLMii'i^^ pace witli tis, within'oneiot two'miles^ the'whole distance, adross., , Duringthe") afternoon of Saturday the lyind.again'freshencd- up,;aud before night-, fall itagaiii blew nearly a gale, and a -treineudbus sea-ran before itfrbm'th'e'seiith-west^ which made

the Agnmeinhon pitcli" to such an thst it was thought impossible that. the. cable could hold on through the -night., - Indeed, had- it nst been for the constant" care"tind -watchfulness exercised by Mr. Bright, and the two energetic engineers, Mr. Canning and-Mr. Clifford, Wlio" acted with him,'ifc could not, have "been;done at all. Men were kept at'-the ".wheel's of the machine to prevent them front s topping, as the * s tern 'of the ship rose . and fell with the sea, for had they done so,the cable must undoubtedly have parted. During Sunday the sea and wind increased, and before the, evening it blew a/smart gale. Now, indeed, were the energy and activity of all engaged in the operations <Kxed to the utmost. Mr. Hoar and Mr.: Moore, the two • engineers who had charge of the releasing "wheels of the dynamometer, had to'keep watch and watch alternately every four hours, and while on duty riot-daring to let their attention be: removed from their occupation for one moment; for on their releasing the brakes every time the stern of the ship fellintp tlie trough of tlie'sea entirely depended the safety of the cable, and the result shews how ably they have discharged their duty, Throughout the night there were few who had the least expectation of the cable holding oa till morning, and many remained awake listening for the sound thafc allriiostdreaded to hear, viz., the gun which "should announce the failure of all our hopes; .but still ■ the cable —which in comparison, with, the ship from which it was paying out, and the gigantic waves among which it was delivered, was but a mere' thread—continued to held on, only leaving a silvery phosphoric line upon the stupendous: seas as they rolled ontowarda the. ship. With Sunday morning came no improvement in the weather. We had passed by the deepest sounding of 2400 fathoms, and over"' more than half ofthe deep water generally, while the amount of cable still in the ship w ras more than sufficient to carry us to the Irish coast,, eyensupposihgthe continuance of the bad weather should ' oblige' us to" pay out the. same amount of slack cable' we: had been hitherto, wasting. Thus far things looked very promising for our ultimate success. . During the afternoon of Monday, an American three-masted barque, which afterwards provedto be the Chieftain, was seen standing from the eastward towards us. No notice was taken of , her at first, but when she was within about half a | mile of the Agamemnon, she altered her course, and bore right down aerbss our bows. A Collision which might prove fatal to tlie cable now seemed inevitable, or could:Ohly be avoided by the equally hJazardous expedient of altering the Agamemnon's course; The Valorous steamed ahead, and fired a"r gun'forher to heave-to, which, as she did not ap- * pear to take much notice of, was;quickly followed by. another from the bows of the Agamemnonv and a second and tlur'd "from the Valorous, but still the . vessel held on her eburse^.and as the only resource1 left to avoid the collision, the course of the Agamemnon ,# altered, just, in time to pass within a few,.yards, of her. ;It ; was evident that our proceedings were a source of the greatest possible as-..' toriislimcntyto them, for jail her crew crowded" upon, the deck and rigging. At length they evidently discovered who we were and what we were doing; the crew manned the rigging, and dipping the ensign several times,- they "gave us three heartycheers. About 8 o'clock on Tuesday morning, all on board were '■ startled from their beds.> by the loud booining of a gun; everyone^ without waitingforthe performance of the most particular toilet, rushed on deck to ascertain the cause of tlie disturbance. Contrary to all expectation the cable' was safe, but jusfc in the grey light could be seen the Valorous, rounded in most warlike attitude, firing gun after gun, in quick succession towards.a large American barque,* who being'quite unconscious of our proceedings, was standing right across omystern. .Such,loudandrepeatedremonstrances from;a large steam : frigate.were not to be deapisedj arid' evidently without knowing the why, or. the > whei;efore,; she quickly threw her sails a-oack, and"' remained hove-to.' Tuesday was a; much finer day:;: than any we "jhad-experienced for nearly a Hveek,: but still there was a considerablesea running, and; our dangers were far" from-past. Yet the,hopes of ; bur ultintate;success ranhighr About 5 "o'clock in' the evening the steep submarine mountain which' divides tlie: telegraphic-platforrri.from the; Irish coast wasreachedj and; the sudden shallowing of ; the water had a^ yery?marked effeefcup^ causing the strain on and the speed of it to lessen every minute. A great deal of slatek was paid out to allow for any greater inequalities [which might exist, though not. discovered by .the sounding, line., About 10 o'clock the shoal water of 250. fathoms, was reached. The only "remaining''anxiety h6w was the changing from the lower main coil to that upon the upper deck, aad this, most difficult and dangerous operation was successfully performed between three and four o'clock1 on 'Wednesday* morning. Wednesday -Sva. a beautifully calm.day;indeed, it was the first on which 'any one would; have.t.hought of making a splice since the. day .we; started front' the rendezvous. We 'therefore.' congratulated ourselves' on having saved a week'by commencing operatioiiii on the Thursday previous. ' At noon we were in latitude 52 deg. 11 min.^ long-; 12 deg. 40 mm. 2 sec. W.,! |Bp miles distant from' the telegraph station.at Valentia. The water was, shallow, "so that t!here was no difficulty in payings out. 'We were almost without any loss by slack, arid all looked upon the; undertaking as virtually accomplished., At about 1 o'clock in the morning. the second Change from the upper deck coilto that, upon;the !orlop deck AVas safely effected, and shortly after the -Vessels:exchanged signals- that" they -were in 200 fathoms water," Asthe nightad-r vanced the speed ,of the. .ship was reduced, as,ifc. was "known that.we. were only a short, distance,, from the land, and there would be no advantage in making it before daylight; iri: the ; morningl; about. 12 o'clock, however,.the Skellcys;_ight was> seen in the distance, and the Valorous steamed on. aliead to lead us' into the coast, firing rockets at;. intervals to direct us,"Whicli were answered front, the Againemhori; though according to the directions, of Mr. Moi-iarty, the master, the ship,; disregarding the -Valorous, kept her own course,, which; proved to be the right one in the,end. By day-. light in the morning of Thursday, the bold and rocky mountains whicli entirely-surround the wild" and picturesque neighborhood: of .Valentia, rose right before us at' a few. tuiles distance. Never, : probably, was trie sight of land more,welcome to ._ us, as it'brought our arduous duties to a successful. termination. ■■' '-•-■; > '-.-;':" :'y/: ■'-'' ::!";-'

The tenders for the -£300,000 reserved for the;' public • out;of the New Zealand loan of £500j000,* bearing an imperial guarantee,of 4 per cent.,-; were opened at the XTnion .Bank of Australia. The applications were ' iread seriatim, and it appeared that the lowest was at 77£, and the highest 109$. The aggregate of the tenders, reached £1,125,700^ and the lowest and' highest indivi-dual-sums applied for were >£100 and £71,000. The biddings appeared in 'many cases' to have been based on the rate at which the Indian loan' was lately taken^ but the larger amounts were generally at prices ranging between:par and 10_$.\ The, .minimum haying, been /announced as 107, it was found that applications for only ,£122,000 were above that rate, but _£7006 more was afterwards * subscribed at 107^ inthe room,wliile-in the course; of the afternoon £21,000, in addition wastakenjip, making the, total out of the ,£300,000,.; The accepted tenders were from Mr. G. '. W. Alexander, for £25,000,' at 109|; '____. W. D. Alexander, £25,000^ atiloß|; Mr. R.Graham. £10,000, and: 108/ 'j/L. and.G. W-Alex;ander and Ce r * .£50,000, at 107^; Mr. <A Saunders, ;_520q0,,, at 107jj arid the Northern* CorttiheritatShipping' Coriipany vfor <-£lQ;000^; ''at; ah* eighth^above the - minimum;;": the/latter;being admitted'oft _ccounfc; of the insufficiency 'of theother applications. -, It"; is;, evident that thei minimum price hasbecn fixed., at too .high a 'rate; arid this' is much to'be^^ regretted,- for," thoughthe/loan -is ih'higKfavor,ifc ia" riot probablethat • the 'remainder will be^takeui'* at the minimum rate. t! Perhaps*at-101 .to ,102 the.; whole would have been taken off, and thei-Deben-tures would' have been in demand oiij .he Stoclc! Exchange. jAs it Is, up '''to' date^.nly-about'"'" £20'0,000;has been takenof*-th<.:^3o(]yOOO.«--^i^h' News,Ang{\&-sGX<XAyX}X^^^^ While the- traffic; on English: railways this'year.' has generally; fallen., offfas^cdrnparcd v w-ithr:;lßs7j-;,;. the.receipts of &p*lrish^ ception^ all show "a: slight ihcreiiseV - : ; v