The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph Part 17

8. That there is no difficulty in mooring buoys in the deep water of the Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland, and that two buoys even when moored by a piece of the Atlantic Cable itself, which had been previously lifted from the bottom, have ridden out a gale.

9. That more than four nautical miles of the Atlantic Cable have been recovered from a depth of over two miles, and that the insulation of the gutta-percha-covered wire was in no way whatever impaired by the depth of water or the strains to which it had been subjected by lifting and pa.s.sing through the hauling-in apparatus.

10. That the cable of 1865, owing to the improvements introduced into the manufacture of the gutta-percha core, was more than one hundred times better insulated than cables made in 1858, then considered perfect and still working.

11. That the electrical testing can be conducted with such unerring accuracy as to enable the electricians to discover the existence of a fault immediately after its production or development, and very quickly to ascertain its position in the cable.

12. That with a steam-engine attached to the paying-out machinery, should a fault be discovered on board whilst laying the cable, it is possible that it might be recovered before it had reached the bottom of the Atlantic, and repaired at once.

S. Canning, Engineer-in-Chief, Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company.

James Anderson, Commander of the Great Eastern.

Henry A. Moriarty, Staff Commander, R.

N.

Daniel Gooch, M.P., Chairman of "Great s.h.i.+p Co."

Henry Clifford, Engineer.

William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S., Prof.

of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow.

Cromwell F. Varley, Consulting Electrician Electric and International Telegraph Co.

Willoughby Smith.

Jules Despecher.

This was a grand result to be attained in one short month; and if not quite so gratifying as to have the cable laid at once, and the wire in full operation, yet as it settled the chief elements of success, the moral effect was next to that of an immediate triumph. All who were on that voyage felt a confidence such as they had never felt before. They came back, not desponding and discouraged, but buoyant with hope, and ready at once to renew the attempt.

This confidence appeared at the first meeting of directors. The feeling was very different from that after the return of the first expedition of 1858. So animated were they with hope, and so sure of success the next time, that all felt that one cable was not enough, they must have two, and so it was decided to take measures not only to raise the broken end of the cable and to complete it to Newfoundland, but also to construct and lay an entirely new one, so as to have a double line in operation the following summer.

The contractors, partaking the general confidence, came forward promptly with a new offer even more liberal than that made before. They proposed to construct a new line, and to lay it across the Atlantic for half a million sterling, which was estimated to be the actual cost to them, reserving all compensation to themselves to depend on success. If successful, they were to receive twenty per cent. on the cost, or one hundred thousand pounds, to be paid in shares of the Company. They would engage, also, to go to sea fully prepared to raise the broken end of the cable now in mid-ocean, and with a sufficient length, including that on board the Great Eastern, to complete the line to Newfoundland. Thus the company would have two cables instead of one.

In this offer the contractors a.s.sumed a very large risk. They now went a step further, and in the contingency of the capital not being raised otherwise, they offered _to take it all themselves_--to lay the line at their own risk, and to be paid only in the stock of the Company, which, of course, must depend for its value on the success of the next expedition. It was finally resolved to raise six hundred thousand pounds of new capital by the issue of a hundred and twenty thousand shares of five pounds each, which should be preferential shares, ent.i.tled to a dividend of twelve per cent. before the eight per cent. dividend to be paid on the former preference shares, and the four per cent. on the ordinary stock. This was offering a substantial inducement to the public to take part in the enterprise, and it was thought with reason that this fresh issue of stock, though it increased the capital of the Company, yet as it was all to be employed in forwarding the great work, would not only create new property, but give value to the old. The proposal of the manufacturers was therefore at once accepted by the Directors, and the work was instantly begun. Thus hopeful was the state of affairs when Mr.

Field returned to America in September.

But he was never easy to be long out of sight of his beloved cable, and so three months after he went back to England, reaching London on the twenty-fourth of December. He came at just the right moment, for the Atlantic Telegraph was once more in extremity. Only two days before the Attorney-General of England had given a written opinion that the Company _had no legal right_ to issue new twelve per cent. preference shares, and that such issue could only be authorized by an express act of Parliament. This was a fatal decree to the Company. It was the more unexpected, as, before offering the twelve per cent. capital, they had been fortified by the opinions of several eminent lawyers and solicitors in favor of the legality of their proceedings. It invalidated not only what they were going to do, but what they had done already. Hence, as the effect of this decision, all the works were stopped, and the money which had been paid in was returned to the subscribers.

This was a new dilemma, out of which it was not easy to find a way of relief. Parliament was not in session, Lords and Commons being away in the country keeping the Christmas holidays. Even if it had been, the time for applying to it had pa.s.sed, as a notice of any private bill to be introduced must be given before the thirtieth of November, which was gone a month ago. To wait for an act of Parliament, therefore, would inevitably postpone the laying of the cable for another year. So disheartening was the prospect at the close of 1865.

But they had seen dark days before, and were not to give it up without a new effort. Happily, the cause had strong friends to stand by it even in this crisis of suspended animation.

One of these to whom Mr. Field now went for counsel, was Mr. (afterward Sir) Daniel Gooch, M.P., a gentleman well known in London, as one of the cla.s.s of engineers formed in the school of Stephenson and Brunel, who had risen to the position of great capitalists, and who, by their enterprise and wealth, had done so much to develop the resources of England. He was Chairman of the Great Western Railway, and had more faith in enterprises on the land than on the sea. It was a long time before he could believe in the possibility of an Atlantic Telegraph.

Though a man of large fortune, and a personal friend of Mr. Field, the latter had never prevailed on him to subscribe a single pound. But he went out on the expedition of '65, as chairman of the company that owned the Great Eastern; and what he then saw convinced him. He came back fully satisfied; he knew it could be done, and was ready to prove his faith by his works. Consulting on the present difficulty, he suggested that the only relief was to organize a new Company, which should a.s.sume the work, and which could issue its own shares and raise its own capital. This opinion was confirmed by the eminent legal authority of Mr. John Horatio Lloyd. To such a Company Mr. Gooch said he would subscribe 20,000; Mr. Field put down 10,000.

Next, he betook himself to that prince of English capitalists, Mr.

Thomas Bra.s.sey, who heard from his lips for the first time, that the affairs of the Atlantic Telegraph Company had suddenly come to a standstill. At this he was much surprised, but instantly cheered his informer by saying: "Don't be discouraged; go down to the Company, and tell them to go ahead, and whatever the cost, I will bear one tenth of the whole." Who _could_ be discouraged with such a Richard the Lion-hearted to cheer him on?

Meetings were called of the Directors of both the Atlantic Company and the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company; and frequent conferences were held between them. The result was the formation of a new company called the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, with a capital of 600,000, which contracted with the Atlantic Company to manufacture and lay down a cable in the summer of 1866, for doing which it was to be ent.i.tled to what virtually amounted to a preference dividend of twenty-five per cent: as a first claim was secured to them by the latter company upon the revenue of the cable or cables (after the working expenses had been provided for) to the extent of 125,000 per annum; and the New-York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company undertook to contribute from its revenue a further annual sum of 25,000, on condition that a cable should be at work during 1866; an agreement to this effect having been signed by Mr. Field, subject to ratification by the Company in New York, which was obtained as soon as the steamer could cross the ocean and bring back the reply.

The terms being settled, it remained only to raise the capital. The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company led off with a subscription of 100,000. This was followed by the names of ten gentlemen, who put down 10,000 apiece. Of these Mr. Gooch declared his willingness to increase his subscription of 10,000 to 20,000, while Mr. Bra.s.sey would put down 60,000, if it were needed. Mr. Henry Bewley, of Dublin also, who was already a large owner of the Atlantic stock, declared his readiness to add 20,000 more. But this was not necessary: and so they all stood at 10,000. The names of these ten subscribers deserve to be given, as showing who stood forward to save the cause in this crisis of its fate. They were: Henry Ford Barclay, Henry Bewley, Thomas Bra.s.sey, A. H. Campbell, M.P., George Elliot, Cyrus W. Field, Richard Atwood Gla.s.s, Daniel Gooch, M.P., John Pender, M.P., and John Smith. There were four subscriptions of 5,000: by Thomas Bolton and Sons, James Horsfall, A Friend of Mr. Daniel Gooch, M.P., and John and Edwin Wright; one of 2,500 by John Wilkes and Sons; three of 2,000 by C. M. Lampson, J. Morison, and Ebenezer Pike; and two of 1,000 by Edward Cropper, and Joseph Robinson,--making in all 230,500.

These were all private subscriptions made before even the prospectus was issued, or the books opened to the public. After such a manifestation of confidence, the whole capital was secured within fourteen days. This was a great triumph, especially at a time of general depression in commercial affairs in England.

And now once more the work began. No time was to be lost. It was already the first of March, and but four months remained to manufacture sixteen hundred and sixty nautical miles of cable, and to prepare for sea. But the obstacles once cleared away, all sprang to their work with new hope and vigor.

In the cable to be made for the new line, there was but little change from that of the last year, which had proved nearly perfect. Experience, however, was constantly suggesting some improvement; and while the general form and size were retained, a slight change in the outer covering was found to make the cable both lighter and stronger. The iron wires were _galvanized_, which secured them perfectly from rust or corrosion by salt water. Thus protected, they could dispense with the preservative mixture of the former year. This left the cable much cleaner and whiter. Instead of its black coat, it had the fresh, bright appearance of new rope. It had another advantage. As the tarry coating was sticky, slight fragments of wire might adhere to it, and do injury, a danger to which the new cable was not exposed. At the same time, galvanizing the wires gave them greater ductility, so that in the case of a heavy strain the cable would stretch longer without breaking. By this alteration it was rendered more than four hundred-weight lighter per mile, and would bear a strain of nearly half a ton more than the one laid the year before.

The machinery also was perfected in every part, to withstand the great strain which might be brought upon it in grappling and lifting the cable from the great depths of the Atlantic. This necessitated almost a reconstruction of the machinery, together with engines of greater power, applied both to the gear for hauling in forward and that for paying out aft. Thus, in case of a fault, the motion of the s.h.i.+p could be easily reversed, and the cable hauled back by the paying-out machinery, without waiting for the long and tedious process of bringing the cable round from the stern to the bow of the s.h.i.+p.

But the most marvellous improvement had been in the method of testing the cable for the discovery of faults. In the last expedition, a grave omission had been in the long intervals during which the cable was left without a test of its insulation. Thus, from thirty to thirty-five minutes in each hour it was occupied with tests of minor importance, which would not indicate the existence of a fault, so that, if a fault occurred on s.h.i.+p-board, it might pa.s.s over the stern, and be miles away before it was discovered. But now a new and ingenious method was devised by Mr. Willoughby Smith, by which the cable will be tested _every instant_. The current will not cease to flow any more than the blood ceases to flow in human veins. The cord is vital in every part, and if touched at any point it reveals the wound as instinctively as the nerves of a living man flash to the brain a wound in any part of the human frame.

The process of detecting faults is too scientific to be detailed in these pages. We can only stand in silent wonder at the result, when we hear it stated by Mr. Varley, that the system of testing is brought to such a degree of perfection, that skilful electricians can point out minute faults with an unerring accuracy "even when they are so small that they would not weaken the signals through the Atlantic cable one millionth part!"

Another marvellous result of science was the exact report obtained of the state of that portion of the cable now lying in the sea. The electricians at Valentia were daily experimenting on the line which lay stretched twelve hundred and thirteen miles on the bottom of the deep, and p.r.o.nounced it intact. Not a fault could be found from one end to the other. As when a master of the organ runs his hands over the keys, and tells in an instant if it be in perfect tune, so did these skilful manipulators, fingering at the end of this mightier instrument, declare it to be in perfect tone, ready to whisper its harmonies through the seas. At the same time, the ten hundred and seventy miles of cable left on board the Great Eastern were p.r.o.nounced as faultless as the day they had been s.h.i.+pped on board.

With such conclusions of science to animate and inspire them, the great task of manufacturing nearly seventeen hundred miles of cable once more began. And while this work went on, the Great Eastern, that had done her part so well before, again opened her sides, and the mysterious cord was drawn into her vast, dark, silent womb, from which it was to issue only into the darker and more silent bosom of the deep.

CHAPTER XVI.

VICTORY AT LAST.

In these pages we have led our readers through twelve long years, and have had to tell many a tale of disaster and defeat. It is now our privilege to tell of triumphant success. Victory has come at last, but not by the chance of fortune, but by the utmost efforts of man, by the union of science and skill with indomitable perseverance. The failure of the last year was a sad disappointment; but so far from damping the courage of those embarked in the enterprise, it only roused them to a more gigantic effort. They were now to prepare for a fifth expedition.

In this they set themselves to antic.i.p.ate every possible emergency, and to combine the elements of success so as to render failure impossible.

The Great Eastern herself, which they had come to regard with a kind of fondness, a feeling of affection and pride, as the ark that was to bear their fortunes across the deep, was made ready for her crowning achievement. For months Captain Anderson and Mr. Halpin, his chief officer, worked day and night to get her into perfect trim. She had become sadly fouled in her many voyages. As she swam the seas, a thousand things clung to her as to a floating island, till her hull was encrusted with mussels and barnacles two feet thick, and long seaweed flaunted from her sides. Like a brave old war-horse, long neglected, she needed a thorough grooming, to have her hair combed and her limbs well rubbed down, to fit her to take the field. But it was not an easy matter to get under the huge creature, to give her such a dressing. Yet Captain Anderson was equal to the emergency. He contrived a simple instrument by which every part of her bottom was raked and scrubbed. Getting rid of this rough, shapeless ma.s.s would make her feel easy and comfortable at sea, and add at least a knot an hour to her speed.

The boilers too were thoroughly cleansed and repaired in every part, and the paddle-engines were so arranged that in five minutes they could be disconnected, so that by going ahead with one and backing with the other, the s.h.i.+p could be held perfectly at rest or be turned around in her own length, a very important matter when they should come to fish in deep waters for the broken end of the cable. To prepare for this, she was armed with chains and ropes and irons of the most formidable kind.

For grappling the cable, she took on board twenty miles of rope, which would bear a strain of thirty tons, probably the largest fis.h.i.+ng-line used since the days of Noah!

The cable was manufactured at the rate of twenty miles a day, and as fast as delivered and found perfect, was coiled on board. And now the electricians tried their skill to outdo all that they had done before.

As Captain Anderson observed, it seemed as if never had so much brain power been concentrated on the problem of success. The cable itself furnished the grandest subject of experiment. As every week added more than a hundred miles to its length, there was constant opportunity to try the electric current on longer distances and with new conditions.

The results obtained showed the rapid and marvellous progress of electrical science. Said The Times:

"The science of making, testing, and laying cables has so much improved that an undetected fault in an insulated wire has now become literally impossible, while so much are the instruments for signalling improved, that not only can a slight fault be disregarded if necessary, but it is even easy _to work through a submarine wire with a foot of its copper conductor stripped and bare to the water_. This latter result, astonis.h.i.+ng as it may appear, has actually been achieved for some days past with the whole Atlantic cable on board the Great Eastern. Out of a length of more than one thousand seven hundred miles, a coil has been taken from the centre, the copper conductor stripped clean of its insulation for a foot in length, and in this condition lowered over the vessel's side till it rested on the ground. Yet through this the clearest signals have been sent--so clear, indeed, as at one time to raise the question whether it would not be worth while to grapple for the first old Atlantic cable ever laid, and with these new instruments working gently through it for a year or so, at least make it pay cost."

As other things were on the same gigantic scale, by the time the big s.h.i.+p had her cargo and stores on board, she was well laden. Of the cable alone there were two thousand four hundred miles, coiled in three immense tanks as the year before. Of this seven hundred and forty-eight miles were a part of the cable of the last expedition. The tanks alone, with the water in them, weighed over a thousand tons; and the cable which they held, four thousand tons more; besides which she had to carry eight thousand five hundred tons of coal and five hundred tons of telegraph stores, making fourteen thousand tons, besides engines, rigging, etc., which made nearly as much more. So enormous was the burden, that it was thought prudent not to take on board all her coal before she left the Medway, especially as the channel was winding and shallow. It was therefore arranged that about a third of her coal should be taken in at Berehaven, on the south-west coast of Ireland. With this exception, her lading was complete.

The time for departure had been fixed for the last day of June, and so admirable had been the arrangements, and such the diligence of all concerned, that exactly at the hour of noon, she loosened from her moorings, and began to move. It was well that she had not on board her whole cargo; for as it was, she drew nearly thirty-two feet. Never had any keel pressed so deep in those waters. It required skilful handling to get her safely to the sea. Gently and softly she floated down, over bars where she almost grazed the sand, where but a few inches lifted her enormous hull above the river's bed. But at length the rising tide bears her safely over, and she is afloat in the deeper waters of the Channel.

At first the sea did not give her a very gracious welcome. The wind was dead ahead, and the waves dashed furiously against her; but she kept steadily on, tossing their spray on high, as if they had struck against the rocks of Eddystone lighthouse. In four or five days she had pa.s.sed down the Irish coast, and was quietly anch.o.r.ed in the harbor at Berehaven, where she was soon joined by the other vessels of the squadron.

The Telegraph fleet was not the same as that of the last year. The Government could spare but a single s.h.i.+p; but the Terrible, which had accompanied the Great Eastern on the former expedition, was still there to represent the majesty of England. The William Corry, a vessel of two thousand tons, bore the ponderous sh.o.r.e end, which was to be laid out thirty miles from the Irish coast, while the Albany and the Medway were s.h.i.+ps chartered by the Company. The latter carried several hundred miles of the last year's cable, besides one of heavier proportions, ninety miles long, to be stretched across the mouth of the Gulf of St.