RECOVERY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE OF 1865.

West Coast Times, Issue 367, 26 November 1866, Page 2 (Supplement)

RECOVERY OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE OF 1865.

A communication received at nine o'clock on the morning of September 2, by Mr Saward, the secretary of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, announced the success of the expedition for recovering the company's telegraphic cable broken in August, 1865, the broken end being lost on that occasion in a depth of 2400 fathoms after 1040 miles had been successfully payed out from Valeutia. It appears to have been grappled at 5.40 a.m. on the above morning. On being tested signals passed through it accurately, and the expedition at once set about the work of splicing.

The " Times " of September 5 gives some interesting particulars connected with the recovery of the cable of 186 0 from the very lowest depths of the Atlantic. From the moment of the fracture of last year's cable till Sunday morning (Sept. 2) the reflecting marine galvanometer connected Avith the shore end of Yalentia had been incessantly watched : —

Night and day for a whole year an electrician has always been on duty watching tho tiny ray of light through which signals are given, and twice every day ihe whole length of wire — 1240 miles — has been tested for " conductivity" and insulation. The results of these tests were almost marvellous in their uniformity, and they showed conclusively that up to tho point of fracture the cable Mas as perfect as the day on which it left the works — apart, of course, from the improvement which always takes place iv a wire submerged in the cool and uniform temperature of great ocean depths. The object of observing tho ray of light was, of course, not any expectation of a message, but simply to keep an accurate record of the condition of" the wire. Sometimes, indeed, wild incoherent messages from the deep did come, but these were merely the result of magnetic storms and earth currents, which deflected the galvanometer rapidly and spelt the most extraordinary words, and sometimes even sentences of nonsense, upon tho graduated scale before the mirror. Suddenly, last Sunday morning, at a quarter to 6, while the light was being watched by Mr May, he observed a peculiar indication about tho light, which showed at once to his experienced eyo that a message was near at hand. In a few minutes afterwards the unsteady flickering changed to coherency, if we may use such a term, and at once the cable began to speak. The messages hitherto sent have come ■with a distinctness and precision even greater than those of the cable laid last year. No repetition of a word " or letter was necessary, and a few sentences of warm congratulation were at once sent back, and as quickly responded to from the Great Eastern by Mr Canning. 13oth the shore ends of last year's cable and that kid this year being in the little shanty at Foilhommerum, a message of the good news was at once sent through to Heart's Content, and a reply, wishing every good fortune to -the rest of the enterprise, was sent back to Foilhommerum and transmitted to the Great Eastern in the centre of the Atlantic within a quarter of an hour. So also with the messages announcing to the directors in London that the cable had been raised. These, though they can scarcely be said to have left Ireland before 7 o'clock, were delivered in the metropolis before 9, and return messages wont back to the Great Eastern before midday. Now as to raising the cable itself. If any one can imagine what the difficulty would be of picking up a little rope in Cheapside from the top of St. Paul's, they will be able to form a faint notion of the difficulty of lifting the wire lost last year in three miles depth of water and in the middle of the Atlantic :—

Apparently, however, the ships, fitted with proper apparatus, found no more difficulty in grappling the cable than one might experience in raising*iight-liues for eels. They all caught it, and caught it almost when and where they "wanted. The weather was very rough, but nevertheless the Medway, which Vas the first on the ground, succeeded in catching it, raising it partly, and buoying it. In the night, however, while a heavy sea was running, the buoy ropes gave way, and the cable Avent to the bottom again. It may be mentioned that, from repeated soundings taken for the purposes of the' telegraph, no oceanbed is so well-known to us as is the bottom of the Atlantic. Where the cablo was grappled for it is covered with a soil composed literally of minute shells of the diutomacem tribe, sominute, iv fact, as to be only visible under a microscope, and so fine in their organisation as to prove that not tho slightest motion can exist at those depths, for otherwise their delicate formation would be destroyed. On these the cable has lain harin'essly as on a bed of sand, and the grapnels at once caught it. On Saturday, September Bth, the following telegram was received by Mr George Saward, the secretary to the Atlantic* Telegraph Company :—: — Hamilton to Saward. — We arc within a few miles from Heart's Content, and expect to land the cable early this morning. It is in perfect condition. *I again congratulate the Atlantic Telegraph Company on renewed success. Later in the day the following telegram was received, announcing the completion of the great work :—: — Yalentia, September 8. Following received from Heart's Content, through the 1865 cable, at 9.20 p.m. :— " It, i 3i 3 with tlie greatest pleasure I have now to report to you the successful completion of the Atlantic cable of 1865." The results which have now been ac- J complished have demonstrated that submarine telegraphy may be carried out with as much certainty as the construction of railways or the erection of land lines of telegraph. Three cables have now been successfully laid across the Atlantic. One of them, it is true, failed shortly after it had been laid, owing to inherent defects in the cable itself. The first attempt was made in 1857, when the cable parted in 1950 fathoms of water when about 300 miles hud been laid. It being then the month of August', and too late to prepare the needful additional cable, the expedition was postponed till the next year, when the cable was successfully laid by the ships which started from a point in mid ocean and laid the ends in Heart's Content and Valcntia respectively. The success was unfortunately one of but slight practical value, for although messages were sent and received, and in fact the English nation was saved an expenditure of not less than L 40,000 by the safe delivery of one message, yet !

the defects in the construction of the cable soon became apparent, and it did not live long enough to become a commercial s\icccss.

The daily record of the doings of the ships composing the telegraph squadron in raising the lost cable in 18G5 has just been made public. It is a record in which heroic perseverance, extraordinary mechanical ingenuity, and able seamanship vie with each other in exciting the admiration of the world. From the three weeks' diary of the proceedings kept by the Secretary of the Anglo-American Company, the following account of the last successful act of grappling with and raising the lost cable is extracted :—: —

Sunday. Moknixg, Sept. 2 (3.43).— W0 have succeeded ! Untiring energy and perseverance have conquered all the difficulties. The Atlantic Telegraph Cable of 1865 has been raised to tho surface, and in a few minutes afterwards communication established with Yalentia. It is impossible adequately to describe tho enthusiastic joy which prevails on board the ship at the present moment. Those men who by their skill have achieved this great success deserve well of their country. As I slated in yesterday's diary, the grapnel went down for the 15th time at 10 a.m. Save that there was a long swell, as there always is in the Atlantic, the sea was like a mill-pond, and as we saw the grapnel go down wo could not help remarking to each other that the circumstances under which we w°ro going to make another effort to recover the cable were as favorable as they could possibly be. In fact, it was felt that if we did not succeed on such a day as this there was very little chance of our succeeding at all. The buoys had all been placed accurately to mark our position, the Medway was signalled to, to grapple, and wo were drifting as fairly for the line of the cable as if our course had been marked by a line on the water. From 3.45 p.m., when we began to haul up, the strain on the dynamometer varied from nine to eleven. After dinner we received a signal from the Medway that she, having hooked the cable, had hauled it up about 500 fathoms. We told her to heave up as rapidly as possible, and, in fact, to break the cable, so that we might have the strain taken olf our portion of it, and so increase our chance of raising it to the surface. To the eastward the effect would be produced by tho bight we lifted yesterday, and buoyed 011 the bight, buoy. The picking up went on with its usual certainty and precision, and by 12 o'clock (midnight) the bow 3 of the ship were crowded, not only by those actually on watch, but by nearly all the hands, who turned out to see tho result of this attempt to recover the cable. By this time the boats of the Albany and Medway rowed up under our bows, not so much -with a view to assisting iv putting stoppers on the cable, but to be there in case any of the men who were lowered in bowlines over the bow should fall into the water during their perilous work. Precisely at 12.50 this morning the cable made its appearance upon the grapnel, and save v.'hen the voice of Captain Anderson or Mr Canning was heard giving an order, one could almost hear a pin drop, such was the perfect silence which prevailed. No excitement, no cheering, as there was on tho Sunday -when wo lifted it before — all -was calm and quiet, the men scarcely spoke above their breath. The cable hands, having had the bowlines slipped over them, were lowered down over the bows, and placed huge hempen stoppers on the cable, which was speedily attached to 5-inch ropes, one being placed to protect the eastward side of the bight, and the other the westward. This took the best part of three-quarters of an hour. It was then found that the bight was so firmly caught in the springs of the grapnel, that one of the bravo hands who put on tho stoppers was sent lower down to the grapnel, and with hammer and marliuspike and other implements the rope was ultimately freed from the tenacious gripe of the flukes. The signal being given to haul up, the western end of the bight was cut with a -saw, and grandly and majestically tin cable rose up the frowning bows of the Great Eastern, slowly passing round the sheave at tho bow, and then over tho wheels on the fore part of tho deck. Even then there was no excitement, but now men were seen to cross {he platform and to touch the rope, in order to feel satis Qed that success had been achieved. The greatest possible care had to be taken by Mr Canning and his assistants to secure the cable by putting stoppers on between the V-wheel and the pick-up machinery, and to watch tho progress of the grapnel ropo and shackles round the drum before it received the cable itself. This occupied a considerable time ; and now it became evident that ere long the end would be passed down as far aft as the electrician's room. Thfcro awaiting it 3 arrival were Mr Gooch, M. P., Mr Cyrus Field, Captain Hamilton, Mr Canning, Mr Clifford, Professor Thompson, Mr Deane, and others. At last Mr Willoughby Smith, tho chief electriciar , made his appearance at the door with the end of the cable in hi 3 hand, and the connections having been made, he sat down opposite the instrument. A breathless silence prevailed. Not a word was • spoken, all eye 3 being directed upon the experienced operator, whose expression of countenance indicated the deep anxiety ho felt in making the test. At the expiration of some 10 minutes he relieved our suspense by stating that, as far as he had then gone, he believed the tests to be perfect; but another minute had scarcely elapsed when he took off hia hat and gave a, cheer, which, as can be easily understood, was lustily taken up in the room, and having been heard outside, it was echoed from stem to stern of tho ship with a heartiness which every Englishman can appreciate. A rocket or two having been fired from the ship to announce to our convoy that we had succeeded, the crews of the Albany and Medway answered our cheer enthusiastically. Mr Canning at once sent a message to Mr Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, expressing tho pleasure he felt at speaking to him through tho cr.blo of 18G5, and the operator at Yalentia telegraphed back his congratulations. ARRIVAL OF THE GREAT EASTERN. Early on the morning of September 1G the Great Eastern came into the Mersey, and proceeded to her moorings amidst the most hearty and expressive demonstrations of welcome and congratulation. She cast anchor at the Slo/ne just before 9 o'clock. The people rushed down to both sides of the river, and cheered heartily and continuously as the great ship passed. Every description of craft hung out flags, dipped ensigns, manned the yards, fired guns, and in some such way welcomed the successful crew, who answered the cheers with which they were greeted. The Cuuard ship Persia fired two guns : her Majesty's ship Donegal, the Mercantile Marine Association training ship Conway, the orphan training ship Clarence, and the Akbar, all manned the yards. Several steamers with passenger's, and decorated with flags from stem to stern, went out to meet the gigantic

vessel, which steamed very slowly and majestically through the smaller craft up to tho Sloync.

It has been resolved at a special meeting of the council of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, that a public banquet shall be offered to Captain Anderson and his coadjutors,, to take place on Monday, the Ist of October. Sir Stafford Norfhcote, President of the Board of Trade, has signified his willingness to preside on the occasion.

The directors of the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, London, received from Mr Cyrus Field, on Sept. 21, tho following telegram, dated Auxec Bay, Sept. 20 :—

The cable across the G-ulf of ' St. Lawrence was completed this evening. I send you this message through the same. Wo have now two cables in good working order between Newfoundland and Cape Breton The Medway and Terrible leave early to-morrow morning, to lay an additional cable across the Straits of Northumberland.