Chapter I: Front Matter

_Frontispiece._]

THE STORY OF THE
ATLANTIC CABLE

BY
CHARLES BRIGHT
F. R. S. E., A. M. INST. C. E., M. I. E. E.

AUTHOR OF SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHS, SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
DURING THE VICTORIAN ERA, THE EVOLUTION OF THE
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH, 1837-1897, THE LIFE STORY
OF SIR CHARLES TILSTON BRIGHT

_WITH FIFTY-FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS_

NEW YORK
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY
1903

COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

_Published November, 1903_

PREFATORY NOTE

The jubilee of Submarine Telegraphy having lately been achieved, and that connected with the Atlantic cable being somewhat close at hand, it has been thought a suitable moment for the appearance of this little volume.

In these days when the substitution of submarine cables by wireless telegraphy systems is a subject of common talk, it may be well to pause for a moment and contemplate the period of time covered by the gradual evolution of old and existing methods which at length achieved the result we now enjoy--a practical commercial telegraphic system between all the nations of the world, and notably between the United Kingdom and America.

By a somewhat curious coincidence the engineer of the first Atlantic cable accomplished his achievement at practically the same youthful age (twenty-six) as Mr. Marconi when first transmitting signals across the Atlantic without any intervening wires.

C. B.

21 OLD QUEEN STREET, WESTMINSTER, S. W., _October, 1903_.

CONTENTS

_PART I_

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY 13

_PART II_

THE PIONEER LINE

CHAP.

I. EVOLUTION OF ATLANTIC TELEGRAPHY IN AMERICA AND ENGLAND 27

II. THE MANUFACTURE OF THE LINE 46

III. THE FIRST START 61

IV. PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER ATTEMPT 74

V. THE TRIAL TRIP 84

VI. THE STORM 89

VII. THE RENEWED EFFORT 105

VIII. "FINIS CORONAT OPUS" 115

IX. THE CELEBRATION 137

X. WORKING THE LINE 144

XI. THE INQUEST 155

_PART III_

INTERMEDIATE KNOWLEDGE AND ADVANCE

XII. OTHER PROPOSED ROUTES 161

XIII. EXPERIENCE, INVESTIGATION, AND PROGRESS 169

_PART IV_

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

XIV. THE 1865 CABLE AND EXPEDITION 177

XV. SECOND AND SUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT 188

XVI. RECOVERY AND COMPLETION OF THE 1865 CABLE 197

XVII. JUBILATIONS 208

XVIII. SUBSEQUENT ATLANTIC LINES 212

XIX. ATLANTIC CABLE SYSTEMS OF TO-DAY 219

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

H.M.S. Agamemnon entering Valentia Bay with first Atlantic Cable _Frontispiece_

FIG. PAGE

1. Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1855 29

2. The Brooke "Sounder" 32

3. Specimen of the Ocean Bed 34

4. John Watkins Brett, Charles Tilston Bright, Cyrus West Field--Projectors 38

5. Manufacture of the Core 49

6. Serving the Core with Hemp-Yarn 50

7. Applying the Iron Sheathing 51

8. The Deep-Sea Cable 52

9. The Shore-End Cable 52

10. Coiling the Finished Cable into the Factory Tanks 54

11. U.S.N.S. Niagara 55

12. The Paying-out Machine, 1857 57

13. Coiling the Cable on Board 58

14. Landing the Irish End of the Cable 63

15. Reshipment of the Cable aboard H.M.S. Agamemnon and U.S.N.S. Niagara in Keyham Basin 75

16. The Self-Releasing Brake 77

17. The Principle of the Brake 78

18. Bright's Paying-out Gear, 1858 80

19. The Reflecting Magnet 82

20. Reflecting Galvanometer and Speaker 83

21. Principle of the Reflecting Instrument 83

22. Deck of H.M.S. Agamemnon with Paying-out Apparatus 84

23. Stowage of the Cable Coil on the Niagara 85

24. The Loading of the Agamemnon 85

25. Experimental Maneuvers in the Bay of Biscay 88

26. H.M.S. Agamemnon in a Storm 96

27. The Agamemnon Storm: Coals Adrift 103

28. In Collision with a Whale while Cable-Laying 123

29. Landing the American End 133

30. Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1858 135

31. Facsimile of the First Public News Message Received through the Atlantic Cable 150

32. The North Atlantic Telegraph Project, 1860 162

33. The North Atlantic Exploring Expedition, 1860 167

34. The Main Cable, 1865-'66 180

35. The Great Eastern at Sea 183

36. Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern 185

37. The Picking-up Machine, 1866 191

38. Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms--and Men 193

39. "Foul in Tank" while Paying-out 196

40. S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second Atlantic Cable 199

41. Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics Adopted for Picking up the 1865 Cable 203

42. S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows 205

43. Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea type 217

44. Shore-End of the 1894 "Anglo" Cable 217

45. Atlantic Cable Systems, 1903 221