The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

In the Siphon Recorder (a view of which is shown in), the indicator consists of a light rectangular signal-coil of fine wire, suspended between the poles of a powerful electro-magnet, so as to be free to move about its longer axis which is vertical, and so joined up that the electric currents constituting the signals through the cable, pass through it. A fine glass siphon-tube is suitably suspended, so as to have only one degree of freedom to move, and is connected to the signal-coil so as to move with it. The short leg of the siphon-tube dips into an insulated ink-bottle, which permits of the ink contained by it being electrified, while the long leg is situated so that its open end is at a very small distance from a brass table, placed with its surface parallel to the plane in which the mouth of this leg moves, and over which a slip of paper may be passed at a uniform rate as in the Spark Recorder. The effect of electrifying the ink is to cause it to be projected in very minute drops from the open end of the siphon-tube, towards the brass table or on the paper-slip passing over it. Thus when the signal-coil moves in obedience to the electric signal currents passed through it, the motion then communicated to the siphon, is recorded on the moving slip of paper by a wavy line of ink marks very close together. The interpretation of the signals is according to the Morse code; the dot and dash being represented by deflections of the line to one side or the other of the centre line of the paper.

Perfect as this instrument seemed, yet after further years of study and experiment, Sir William Thomson was able, at the close of 1883, to present to the world the Siphon Recorder, greatly improved, because in a very much simpler form. In this form of the instrument, instead of the electro-magnets, he used two bundles of long bar-magnets of square section and made up of square bars of glass-hard steel. The two bundles are supported vertically on a cast-iron socket, and on the upper end of each is fitted a soft iron shoe, so shaped as to concentrate the lines of force and thus produce a strong magnetic field in the space within which the signal-coil is suspended. He made instruments of this kind to work both with and without electrification of the ink. Without electrification the instrument, as shown in, is exceedingly simple and compact, and in this form is capable of doing good work on cables of lengths up to 500 or 600 miles. When constructed for electrification of the ink, as shown in, it is of course available for much longer lengths of cable, but for cables such as the Atlantic cables, the original form of the Siphon Recorder is that still chiefly used. The strongest magnetic field hitherto obtained by permanent magnets (of glass-hard steel) is about 3000 c. g. s. With the electro-magnets of the original form of Siphon Recorder as in ordinary use a magnetic field of about or over 5000 c. g. s. is easily attained. In is shown a fac simile of part of a message received and recorded by a Siphon Recorder, such as is shown in, from one of the Eastern Telegraph Co.'s Cables of about 830 miles length.

1

"On the fourth day of December, I accomplished the survey through three hundred and fifty miles of wood and wilderness. It was an arduous undertaking. My original party, consisting of six white men, were exchanged for four Indians; of the latter party, two deserted, one died a few days after my return, and the other, 'Joe Paul,' has ever since proclaimed himself an ailing man." —Letter of Mr. Gisborne.

2

Horace B. Tebbets and Darius B. Holbrook.

3

Born November 30, 1819, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, the son of a Congregational minister, of whom three sons are still living: Mr. David Dudley Field, of New York; Mr. Justice Stephen J. Field, of the Supreme Court of the United States; and the writer of the present volume.

4

From Cape Freels, Newfoundland, to Erris Head, Ireland, the distance is sixteen hundred and eleven miles; from Cape Charles, or Cape St. Lewis, Labrador, to the same point, the distance is sixteen hundred and one miles.

5

Although it is anticipating a year in time, I cannot resist the pleasure of adding here the name of another eminent merchant, who afterward joined this little Company, Mr. Wilson G. Hunt. Mr. Hunt is one of the old merchants of New York who, through his whole career, has maintained the highest reputation for commercial integrity, and whose fortune is the reward of a long life of honorable industry. He joined the Company in 1855, and was a strong and steady friend through all its troubles till the final success.

6

One or two exceptions there were, not to be forgotten. Professor William Thomson, of the University of Glasgow, then a young man, but full of the enthusiasm of science, was already prepared to welcome such a project, with confidence of success. As early as October and November, 1854, he wrote to the Secretary of the Royal Society of London, declaring his belief in its practicability. The letters are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society for 1855. Such faith was not visionary, for it was based on clearer knowledge and more thorough investigation, and gave promise of those eminent services which this gentleman was afterwards to render to the cause of electrical science. Mr. C. F. Varley, also, was one of the first to perceive the possibility of an ocean telegraph, as he was to contribute greatly to its final success.

7

The letters of Mr. Taylor, which first appeared in The New York Tribune have been since collected in one of his volumes of travel. Mr. O'Brien, a very brilliant writer, who afterward fell in our civil war, fighting bravely for his adopted country, furnished some spirited letters to The Times. But Mr. Mullaly, who appeared for The Herald, was the most persevering attendant on the Telegraph, and the most indefatigable correspondent. He accompanied not only this expedition, but several others. He was on board the Niagara in 1857, and again in both the expeditions of 1858; and on the final success of the cable, prepared a volume, which was published by the Appletons, giving a history of the enterprise. This contains the fullest account of all those expeditions which has been given to the public. I have had frequent occasion to refer to his book, and can bear witness to the interest of the narrative. It is written with spirit, and doubtless would have had a longer life, if the cable itself had not come to an untimely end.

8

"The ocean bed of the North Atlantic is a curious study; in some parts furrowed by currents, in others presenting banks, the accumulations perhaps of the débris of these ocean rivers during countless ages. To the west, the Gulf Stream pours along in a bed from one mile to a mile and a half in depth. To the east of this, and south of the Great Banks, is a basin, eight or ten degrees square, where the bottom attains a greater depression than perhaps the highest peaks of the Andes or Himalayas – six miles of line have failed to reach the bottom! Taking a profile of the Atlantic basin in our own latitude, we find a far greater depression than any mountain elevation on our own continent. Four or five Alleghanies would have to be piled on each other, and on them added Fremont's Peak, before their point would show itself above the surface. Between the Azores and the mouth of the Tagus this decreases to about three miles."

9

The results obtained are thus summed up in the London Times:

"The dangerous part of this course has hitherto been supposed to be the sudden dip or bank which occurs off the west coast of Ireland, where the water was supposed to deepen in the course of a few miles from about three hundred fathoms to nearly two thousand. Such a rapid descent has naturally been regarded with alarm by telegraphic engineers, and this alarm has led to a most careful sounding survey of the whole supposed bank by Captain Dayman, acting under the instructions of the Admiralty. The result of this shows that the supposed precipitous bank, or submarine cliff, is a gradual slope of nearly sixty miles. Over this long slope the difference between its greatest height and greatest depth is only eighty-seven hundred and sixty feet; so that the average incline is, in round numbers, about one hundred and forty-five feet per mile. A good gradient on a railway is now generally considered to be one in one hundred feet, or about fifty-three in a mile; so that the incline on this supposed bank is only about three times that of an ordinary railway. In fact, as far as soundings can demonstrate any thing, there are few slopes in the bed of the Atlantic as steep as that of Holborn Hill. In no part is the bottom rocky, and with the exception of a few miles, which are shingly, only ooze, mud, or sand is to be found."

10

Professor Morse was fond of the distinction between the words practical and practicable. A thing might be practicable, that is, possible of accomplishment, when it was not a practical enterprise, that is, one which could be worked to advantage. He here argues that the Atlantic Telegraph is both practicable, (or possible,) and at the same time a wise, practical undertaking.

11

On his return to America, many inquiries were addressed to Mr. Field in regard to the form and structure of the cable, in answer to which he wrote a letter of explanation in which he said: "No particular connected with this great project has been the subject of so much comment through the press as the form and structure of the telegraph cable. It may be well believed that the Directors have not decided upon a matter so all-important to success, without availing themselves of the most eminent talent and experience which could be commanded. The practical history of submarine telegraphs dates from the successful submersion of the cable between Dover and Calais in 1851, and advantage has been taken of whatever instruction this history could furnish or suggest. Of the submarine cables heretofore laid down, without enumerating others, the one between Dover and Calais weighs six tons to the mile; that between Spezzia and Corsica, eight tons to the mile; that laid from Varna to Balaklava, and used during the war in the Crimea, less than three hundred pounds to the mile; while the weight of the cable for the Atlantic Telegraph is between nineteen hundred pounds and one ton to the mile. This cable, to use the words of Dr. Whitehouse, 'is the result of many months thought, experiment, and trial. Hundreds of specimens have been made, comprising every variety of form, size, and structure, and most severely tested as to their powers and capabilities; and the result has been the adoption of this, which we know to possess all the properties required, and in a far higher degree than any cable that has yet been laid. Its flexibility is such as to make it as manageable as a small line, and its strength such that it will bear, in water, over six miles of its own weight suspended vertically.' The conducting medium consists not of one single straight copper-wire, but of seven wires of copper of the best quality, twisted round each other spirally, and capable of undergoing great tension without injury. This conductor is then enveloped in three separate coverings of gutta-percha, of the best quality, forming the core of the cable, round which tarred hemp is wrapped, and over this, the outside covering, consisting of eighteen strands of the best quality of iron-wire; each strand composed of seven distinct wires, twisted spirally, in the most approved manner, by machinery specially adapted to the purpose. The attempt to insulate more than one conducting-wire or medium would not only have increased the chances of failure of all of them, but would have necessitated the adoption of a proportionably heavier and more cumbrous cable. The tensile power of the outer or wire covering of the cable, being very much less than that of the conductor within it, the latter is protected from any such strain as can possibly rupture it or endanger its insulation without an entire fracture of the cable."

12

It is worthy of notice, that when the Bill granting a charter to the Atlantic Telegraph Company was offered in the British Parliament, at least one nobleman found fault with it on this very ground, that it gave away important advantages which properly belonged to England, and which she ought to reserve to herself:

"In the House of Lords, on the twentieth of July, 1857, on the motion for the third reading of the Telegraph Company's bill,

"Lord Redesdale called attention to the fact that, although the termini of the proposed telegraph were both in her Majesty's dominions, namely, in Ireland and Newfoundland, the American Government were to enjoy the same priority as the British Government with regard to the transmission of messages. It was said that this equal right was owing to the fact that a joint guarantee had been given by the two Governments. He thought, however, it would have been far better policy on the part of her Majesty's Government if they had either undertaken the whole guarantee themselves, and thus had obtained free and sole control over the connecting line of telegraph, or had invited our own colonies to participate in that guarantee, rather than have allowed a foreign government to join in making it. At the same time, if the clause in question had the sanction of her Majesty's ministry, it was not his intention to object to it.

"Earl Granville said this telegraph was intended to connect two great countries, and, as the two Governments had gone hand in hand with regard to the guarantee, it seemed only reasonable that both should have the same rights as to transmitting messages.

"The bill was then read a third time and passed."

13

Mr. Field was detained by illness at Valentia, and several of the ships had not arrived.

14

It should be said, however, in justice to Mr. Bright, that most of these defects he had himself perceived on seeing it in operation. On his return from the expedition of 1857, he sent in a report, pointing out the defects of the machinery, and how to remedy them. These suggestions were approved by the Scientific Committee, and carried out by Mr. Everett. The recognition of this fact, while it takes nothing from the practical skill shown by the American engineer, is but just to his predecessor, who, as the pioneer in this work, might easily fall into mistakes, which it needed only time and experience to correct.

15

As there is no trouble without a compensation, it is something that this voyage, fearful as it was, furnished a subject for a description of marvellous power. The letter to the London Times, written by Mr. Woods, its correspondent on board the Agamemnon, is one of the finest descriptions of a storm at sea we know of in the language. It is a wonderful specimen of "word-painting," and brings the scene before us with a vividness like that of the marine paintings of Stanfield or Turner.

16

The spot chosen as the terminus of the Atlantic cable, with the views around it – both on the water and on land – is thus described by a correspondent:

"All who have visited Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, with one consent allow it to be one of the most beautiful sheets of water they ever set eyes upon. Its color is very peculiar – an inexpressible mingling of the pure blue ocean with the deep evergreen woodlands and the serene blue sky. Its extreme length is about eighty miles, its breadth about thirty miles, opening boldly into the Atlantic on the northern side of the island. At its south-western shore it branches into the Bay of Bull's Arm, which is a quiet, safe, and beautiful harbor, about two miles in breadth, and nine or ten in length, running in a direction north-west.

"The depth of water is sufficient for the largest vessels. The tide rises seven or eight feet, and the bay terminates in a beautiful sand-beach. The shore is clothed with dark green fir-trees, which, mixed with birch and mountain-ash, present a pleasing contrast. The land rises gradually from the water all around, so as to afford one of the most agreeable town sites in the island. You ascend only about a quarter of a mile from the water, and there are no longer trees, but wild grass like an open prairie. Here are found at this season myriads of the upland cranberries, upon which unnumbered ptarmigan, or the northern partridge, feed.

"The raspberry, bake-apple berry, and the whortleberry are also common. Numerous little lakes may be seen in the open, elevated ground, from which flow rivulets, affording abundance of fine trout. After ascending for about a mile and a half, you are then probably three hundred or four hundred feet above the tide, and nothing can exceed the beauty of the scene when, at one view, you behold the placid waters of both Trinity and Placentia Bays – the latter sprinkled with clusters of verdant islands.

"You can now descend westward as gradually as you came up from the Telegraph landing, to the shores of Placentia Bay, where there is an excellent harbor and admirable fisheries, skirting the shore, and the accompanying road of the land Telegraph line leading from St. John's westward through the island, to Cape Ray. At this season of the year game is very abundant. Reindeer in great numbers, bears, wolves – others very numerous, the large northern hare, foxes, wild geese, ducks, etc.

"About four miles southward of the entrance of the bay of Bull's Arm, on the shore of Placentia Bay, is situated the extraordinary La Manche lead mine, the property of the Telegraph Company, already yielding a rich supply of remarkably pure galena. The place where the cable is landed is memorable in the history of the island as the naval battle-ground between the French and English in their early struggle for the exclusive occupancy of the valuable fisheries along the coast."

17

This is an error, as we learn on the high authority of Professor Thomson himself. It was defective insulation, not any "want of continuity," that caused the weak signals. Want of continuity would have stopped the signals altogether, and given quite different indications on the testing instruments from those he observed.

18

The Niagara had sixty miles farther to run than the Agamemnon, to land the cable at the head of Trinity Bay.

19

A name that occurs several times in this history, and one never to be mentioned but with honor. The Knight of Kerry was Lord of the Isles on that part of the Irish coast; and from the beginning showed the deepest interest in this enterprise; and by his generous hospitality to all connected with it made many friends by whom he was gratefully remembered on both sides of the Atlantic.

20

Such a curiosity exists, prepared by the industry of a gentleman who was one of the most careful collectors of the events of his time – by which he gathered up the materials of future history – Mr. John R. Bartlett, formerly Secretary of State of Rhode Island. This gentleman kept files of all the papers referring to the Atlantic Telegraph, from which he compiled a very unique volume. It is in the form of a scrap-book, but on a gigantic scale, being of a size equal to Webster's large Dictionary. It is made up entirely of newspaper cuttings, classified under different heads, and neatly arranged in double columns on nearly four hundred folio pages. The matter thus compressed would make between three and four octavo volumes of the size of Prescott's Histories, if printed in the style of those works. Every thing is included that could be gathered from European as well as American papers, touching the claims of the inventors and projectors of the electric telegraph in general, and of the Atlantic Telegraph in particular. The historical sketches are set off by illustrations taken from the pictorial papers. Altogether it embraces more of the materials of a history of this subject than any other volume with which we are acquainted, and well deserves the title prefixed to it by the laborious compiler:

"The Atlantic Telegraph. – Its Origin and History, with an Account of the Voyages of the Steamers Niagara and Agamemnon, in Laying the Cable, and of the Celebration of the Great Event in New York, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Montreal, Dublin, Paris, etc.; together with the Discussions, Sermons, Poetry, and Anecdotes relating thereto; also, a History of the Invention of the Electric Telegraph. Illustrated with Maps, Plans, Views, and Portraits, collected from the Newspapers of the Day, and arranged by John Russell Bartlett. 1858."

21

The history of this despatch is curious. Though dated at London, it was sent from a small town in Ireland. The directors were on their way from Dublin to Valentia, on the morning of the first of September, when Mr. Saward remarked: "This is the day of the celebration in New York – we ought to send a despatch to Mr. Field." Accordingly, at the first stopping-place (Mallow Station) the message was written, and forwarded to Valentia, and thence sent across the Atlantic. It was put into Mr. Field's hand as he was getting into his carriage on the Battery.

22

Nearly a year and a half after this, when the cable was safely landed in Newfoundland, Captain Anderson, still on board the Great Eastern, in a letter to a friend, thus referred to his first connection with the Atlantic Telegraph: —

"I cannot tell you how I have felt since our success. It is only seventeen months since I first walked up to the top of the paddle-box of this ship at Sheerness, upon a dark, rainy night – reviewed my past career in my mind, and tried to look into the future, to see what I had undertaken, and realize if possible what this new step would develop. I cannot say I believed much in cables; I rather think I did not; but I did believe Mr. Field was an earnest man, of great force of character, and working under a strong conviction that what he was attempting was thoroughly practicable; and I knew enough of the names with which he had associated himself in the enterprise to feel that it was a real, true, honest effort, worthy of all the energy and application of one's manhood; and come what might in the future, I resolved to do my very utmost, and to do nothing else until it was over. More completely however than my resolve foreshadowed, I dropped inch by inch, or step by step, into the work, until I had no mind, no soul, no sleep, that was not tinged with cable. In a word I accuse Mr. Field of having dragged me into a vortex, that I could not get out of, and did not wish to try – and the sum total of all this is, to lay a thread across an ocean! Dr. Russell compared it to an elephant stretching a cobweb, and there lay its very danger: the more you multiply the mechanism, the more you increase the risk."

23

"All during the night the process of picking up was carefully carried on, the Big Ship behaving beautifully, and hanging lightly over the cable, as if fearful of breaking the slender cord which swayed up and down in the ocean. Indeed, so delicately did she answer her helm, and coil in the film of thread-like cable over her bows, that she put one in mind of an elephant taking up a straw in its proboscis." – Russell.

24

So exquisitely sensitive was the copper strand, that as the Great Eastern rolled, and so made the cable pass across the magnetic meridian, the induced current of electricity, incomprehensibly faint as it must have been, produced nevertheless a perceptible deviation of the ray of light on the mirror galvanometer at Foilhommerum. —London Times.

25

The new method is thus explained by Mr. Deane:

"The fundamental difference between last year's system of testing and that of the present expedition is, that now all the ordinary tests for continuity may be made simultaneously with the test for insulation, which is not interrupted at all; whereas, last year, during half the time spent in laying the cable, the insulation test was wholly neglected.

"Last year, each hour was divided into four parts. The first half of the hour was spent in testing for insulation. During the second half, which was divided into three periods of ten minutes each, tests were made to ascertain the resistance of the conductor and to prove the continuity of the same. All these tests were of such a nature as to afford no criterion whatever of the state of the insulation during their continuance, so that during the half of each hour, or, in other words, during half the time spent in laying the cable, the insulation test was neglected. Also, while the insulation test was being made, there was no means of communicating with the shore, as the observations were taken on board only. This year, a test for insulation is constantly kept on, and, by Mr. Willoughby Smith's arrangement, corresponding observations are made both on ship and shore. At stated times during the hour, the continuity test is made at the shore station by means of a condenser applied to the conductor of the cable. The effect of this is to increase the deflection on the ship's insulation galvanometer, thus serving as a continuity test. Communications from shore to ship are also made by these means. The ship can send signals to the shore by simply reversing the current for certain lengths of time, answering to some understood code, or by increasing and diminishing the tension of the line, according to a preärranged plan. All these operations may be performed without interrupting the insulation test, except for a few seconds while the current is being reversed. So far for the new system in the electrical room as compared with last year."