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The Successful Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable

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On the afternoon of the 5 th inst. the Associated Press of this city received a telegram from Cyrus W. Field, informing them of the above startling and pleasant fact. It was as follows :— " TRINITY BAY, August 5, 1858. " To THE ASSOCIATED PRESS.—The Atlantic telegraph fleet sailed from Queenstown on Saturday, July 17th; met at mid-ocean on Wednesday, the 28th, and made the splice at 1 P. M. on Thursday, the 29th, and then separated—the Agamemnon and Valorous bound to Valentia, Ireland, anrl the Niagara and Gorgon for this place, where they arrived yesterday, and this morning the end of the cable will be landed. It is sixteen hundred and ninety-eight nautical, or nineteen "hundred and fifty statute miles from the telegraph house at the head of Valentia harbor to the telegraph house, Bay of Bull's Arm, Trinity Bay ; and for more than two-thirds of this distance the water is over two miles in depth. The cable' has been paid out from the Agamemnon at about the same speed as from the Niagara. The electrical signals sent and received through the whole cable are perfect. The machinery for paying out the cable worked in the most satisfactory manner, and was not stopped for a single moment from the time the splice was made until we arrived here. Captain Hudson, Messrs. Everett and Woodhouse, the engineers, the electricians, and officers of the ships, and, in fact, every man on board the telegraph fleet, has exerted himself to the utmost to make the expedition successful, and by the blessing of Divine Providence it has succeeded. After the end of the cable is landed and connected with the land line of telegraph, and the Niagara has discharged some cargo belonging to the Telegraph Company, she will go to St. John's for coal, and then proceed at once to New York. CYRDS W. FIELD." The next day he telegraphed the President, the Mayor of New York, and other officials, all of whom sent corresponding answers of congratulation. The telegram of Captain Hudson, of the Niagara, to his family is good. Here it is :— " TRINITY BAY, August 5, 1858. " God has been with us. The telegraph is laid without accident, and to Him be all the the glory. We are all well. Yours, affectionately, WM. L. HUDSON." There is now no doubt that both ends have been successfully laid, but owing to the vessels having no instruments for transmitting messages on board, it may be several days before the Queen's message to the President can be* sent through. Up to the hour of our going to press there was no further news, as the land line on Newfoundland had stopped working from some unforeseen cause, which, however, was quickly being repaired. As many of our readers may not remember the illustration we published on page 216, Vol. XII., we now give another engraving of a section and side view of the cable which stretches from Valentia Bay, Ireland, to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, of the actual size, and another showing the method of its construction. 1. Wire.—Eighteen strands of seven inch wire. 2. Six strands of yarn. 3. Gutta percha.—Three coats. Telegraph wires.—Seven in number. The flexibility of this cable is so great that it is as manageable as a small rope, and it is capable of being tied around the arm without injury. Its weight is but 1,860 pounds to the mile, and its strength such that it will bear in water over six miles of its own length if suspended vertically. Some doubts being entertained as to its sinking to the bottom, it is enough to know that it is heavier than those shells which have been taken up from the bed of the ocean by Commander Berryman while engaged in sounding along the line of the telegraphic plateau. Thus the great work of the nineteenth century is accomplished, and hourly it nears a perfect completion; and ere this paper gets into the hands of many of our readers, we expect that the Royal Message and Presidential reply will be in every one's mouth throughout Britain and America.

Scientific American Magazine Vol 13 Issue 49This article was published with the title “The Successful Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable” in Scientific American Magazine Vol. 13 No. 49 (), p. 390
doi:10.1038/scientificamerican08141858-390c

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