The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph Part 14

"_Cyrus W. Field, Esq., Atlantic Telegraph Company_:

"Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiries, we beg to state, that we are perfectly confident that a good and durable Submarine Cable can be laid from Ireland to Newfoundland, and are willing to undertake the contract upon the following conditions:

"First. That we shall be paid each week our actual disburs.e.m.e.nts for labor and material.

"Second. That when the cable is laid and in working order, we shall receive for our time, services, and profit twenty per cent on the actual cost of the line, in shares of the Company, deliverable to us, in twelve equal monthly instalments, at the end of each successive month whereat the cable shall be found in working order.

"We are so confident that this enterprise can be successfully carried out, that we will make a cash subscription for a sum of twenty-five thousand pounds sterling in the ordinary capital of the Company, and pay the calls on the same when made by the Company.

"Annexed we beg to hand you, for your guidance, a list of all the submarine telegraph cables manufactured and laid by our firm since we commenced this branch of our business, the whole mileage of which, with the exception of the short one between Liverpool and Holyhead, which has been taken up, is at this time in perfect and successful working order. The cable that we had the honor to contract for and lay down for the French Government, connecting France with Algeria, is submerged in water of nearly equal depths to any we should have to encounter between Ireland and Newfoundland.

"You will permit us to suggest that the sh.o.r.e ends of the Atlantic Cable should be composed of very heavy wires, as from our experience the only accidents that have arisen to any of the cables that we have laid have been caused by ships'

anchors, and none of those laid out of anchorage ground have ever cost one shilling for repairs.

"The cable that we would suggest for the Atlantic will be an improvement on all those yet manufactured, and we firmly believe will be imperishable when once laid.

"We remain, sir, yours faithfully,

"Gla.s.s, Elliot & Co."

The summer of this year Mr. Field spent in America, where he applied himself vigorously to raise capital for the new enterprise. To this end he visited Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Albany, and Buffalo--to address meetings of merchants and others. He used to amuse us with the account of his visit to the first city, where he was honored with the attendance of a large array of "the solid men of Boston," who listened with an attention that was most flattering to the pride of the speaker, addressing such an a.s.semblage in the capital of his native State. There was no mistaking the interest they felt in the subject. They went still farther, they pa.s.sed a series of resolutions, in which they applauded the projected telegraph across the ocean as one of the grandest enterprises ever undertaken by man, which they proudly commended to the confidence and support of the American public, after which they went home, feeling that they had done the generous thing in bestowing upon it such a mark of their approbation. _But not a man subscribed a dollar!_ Yet it is not necessary to charge them with meanness or hypocrisy. No doubt they felt just what they said. They could not but admire the courage of their countryman. It was inspiring to hear him talk. Yet these solid men were never lifted off their feet so far as to forget the main chance. What were to be the returns for this magnificent adventure?

Peering into the future, the prospect of dividends was very remote. In fact they looked upon the Atlantic Telegraph as a sort of South Sea Bubble, an airy fancy, which would go up like a balloon, never to return to earth again. So, like the high priest and the Levite, they pa.s.sed by on the other side.

Other cities were equally gracious, equally complimentary, but equally prudent. In New York he succeeded better, but only by indefatigable exertions. He addressed the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Brokers, and the Corn Exchange, and then he went almost literally from door to door, calling on merchants and bankers to enlist their aid. The result was, subscriptions amounting to about seventy thousand pounds, the whole of which was due to persevering personal solicitation. Even of those who subscribed, a large part did so more from sympathy and admiration of his indomitable spirit than from confidence in the success of the enterprise.

In England, however, the subject was better understood. For obvious reasons, the science of submarine telegraphy had made greater advances in that country than in ours. As England is an island, she is obliged to hold all her telegraphic communication with the continent by cables under the sea. She has colonial possessions in all parts of the world. A power that rules so large a part of the earth cannot be shut up in her island home. No one has depicted the extent of her dominion in n.o.bler phrase than our own Webster when he speaks of the imperial sway which "has dotted the face of the whole globe with its possessions and military posts, whose morning drumbeat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, encircles the whole earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." Was it strange that this mother of nations should reach out her long arms to embrace her distant children?

Hence it was that the subject of submarine telegraphs was so much better understood in England than in America, not only by scientific men, but by capitalists. The appeal could be made to them with more a.s.surance of intelligent sympathy. And yet so vast was the undertaking, that it required ceaseless effort to roll the stone to the top of the mountain, and the result was not completely achieved till the beginning of the year 1864.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE EXPEDITION OF 1865.

It is a long night which has no morning. At last the day is breaking.

While weary eyes are watching the East, daylight comes over the sea.

Five years have pa.s.sed away, and though the time seemed long as an Arctic winter, that only made more bright the rising of the sun. Those years of patient experiment, when scientific men were applying tests without number, and submarine lines were feeling their way along the deep-sea floor in all the waters of the world, at last brought forth their fruit in that renewed confidence which is the forerunner of victory.

So strong was this feeling, that as early as August, 1863, although the capital was not raised, the Board advertised for proposals for a cable suitable to be laid across the Atlantic Ocean; and in order to leave invention entirely unfettered, abstained from any dictation as to the form or materials to be adopted, merely stipulating for a working speed of eight words a minute.

To this request they received, in the course of a few weeks, seventeen different proposals from as many companies, many of them firms of large wealth and experience. These different tenders, with the numerous specimens of cable and materials, were at once submitted to a Consulting Committee composed in part of members of the Committee which had already rendered such service by its advice. It consisted of Captain Douglas Galton, William Fairbairn, Professor C. Wheatstone, William Whitworth and Professor William Thomson. There were no more distinguished engineers and electricians in the world. They examined all the proposals, and then, taking up one by one the different samples of cable, caused them in turn to be subjected to the severest tests. This took a long time, as it required a great number of experiments; but the result was highly satisfactory. The Committee were all of one mind, and recommended unanimously that the Board should accept the tender of Messrs. Gla.s.s, Elliot & Co., and the general principle of their proposed cable; but advised that before settling the final specification, every portion of the material to be employed should be tested with the greatest care, both separately and in combination, so as to ascertain what further improvements could be made. To this the manufacturers readily consented, feeling a n.o.ble ambition to justify the confidence of the Committee and the public. They provided abundant materials for fresh experiments. New cables were made and tested in different lengths; and experiments were also tried upon different qualities of wire and hemp, that were to compose its external protection. The result of all these investigations was the selection of a model which seemed to combine every excellence, and to approach absolute perfection.

Such was the cable which this eminent firm offered to manufacture, and to lay across the Atlantic, and that on terms so favorable, that it seemed as if it could not be difficult to raise the capital and proceed with the work. Indeed, a contract was partially made to that effect. So confident was Mr. Field, who was then in London, that an expedition would sail the following summer, that he insured his stock, part of it only against ordinary sea-risks, but part also to be laid and to work!

But hardly had he left England before there was some unforeseen hitch in the arrangements, the money was not forthcoming, or some of the conditions were not complied with, and he had the mortification to receive letters, saying that the whole enterprise was postponed for another year!

This was indeed discouraging. Yet this sudden dropping of the scheme did not imply a loss of interest or of faith on the part of those embarked in it. They believed in it as much as ever. But the general public did not respond to the call for more capital. Alas that the n.o.blest enterprises should so often be delayed or defeated by the want of money!

Capital is always cautious and timid, and follows slowly in the path of great discoveries. If Columbus, instead of the patronage of a Queen full of womanly enthusiasm, had depended on a stock company for the means for his expedition, he might never have sailed from the sh.o.r.es of Spain.

Happy was it for mankind that his faith and patience did not wear out, while going from court to court, and kingdom to kingdom, and almost begging his way from door to door!

But it is not in human nature--least of all in American nature--to despond long. Though ten years of constant defeat would seem to have wrought a lasting discouragement, yet again and again did the baffled spirit of enterprise return to the attempt. In January, 1864, Mr. Field was once more on his way to England. He found the Directors, as before, deeply interested in the enterprise, and wishing it success. With a grateful heart he bore witness to their unfaltering courage. But mere courage and good wishes would not lay the Atlantic Telegraph. Yet what could they do? They could not be expected to advance all the capital themselves. They had already subscribed liberally, and he could not ask them to do more. But with all the efforts that had been made in England and America, not half the capital was yet raised. The machinery was in a dead lock, with little prospect of being able to move. It was the misfortune of the enterprise that there was no one man who made it his sole and exclusive charge. The Board of Directors contained some of the best men in London. But they were, almost without exception, engaged in very large affairs of their own, with no leisure to make a public enterprise their special care. To insure success, it needed a trial of the one-man power--one brain, planning night and day; one agency incessantly at work, stirring up directors, contractors, and engineers; and one will pushing it forward by main strength. This was the force now to be applied.

The first element needed to put life into the old system was an infusion of new blood--new capital and new men. While the enterprise was in this state of collapse, Mr. Field addressed himself to a gentleman with whom, until then, he had no personal acquaintance, but who was well known in London as one of the largest capitalists of Great Britain--Mr. Thomas Bra.s.sey. Their first interview was somewhat remarkable. Referring to it a few months after, Mr. Field said:

"When I arrived in this country, in January last, the Atlantic Telegraph Company trembled in the balance. We were in want of funds, and were in negotiations with the government, and making great exertions to raise the money. At this juncture I was introduced to a gentleman of great integrity and enterprise, who is well known, not only for his wealth, but for his foresight, and in attempting to enlist him in our cause he put me through such a cross-examination as I had never before experienced. I thought I was in the witness-box. He inquired of me the practicability of the scheme--what it would pay, and every thing else connected with it; but before I left him, I had the pleasure of hearing him say that it was a great national enterprise that ought to be carried out, and, he added, I will be one of ten to find the money required for it.

From that day to this he has never hesitated about it, and when I mention his name, you will know him as a man whose word is as good as his bond, and as for his bond, there is no better in England."

Having thus secured one powerful ally, Mr. Field took courage in the hope to find another. He says:

"The words spoken by Mr. Bra.s.sey in the latter part of January, 'Let the Electric Telegraph be laid between England and America,' encouraged us all, and made us believe we should succeed in raising the necessary capital, and I then went to work to find nine other Thomas Bra.s.seys (I did not know whether he was an Englishman, a Scotchman, or an Irishman; but I made up my mind that he combined all the good qualities of every one of them), and after considerable search I met with a rich friend from Manchester, Mr. [now Sir] John Pender, and I asked him if he would second Mr. Bra.s.sey, and walked with him from 28 Pall Mall to the House of Commons, of which he is a member.

Before we reached the House, he expressed his willingness to do so to an equal amount."

This was putting strong arms to the wheel. A few days after, a combination was formed to carry on the whole business of making Submarine Telegraphs, by a union of the Gutta-Percha Company with the firm of Gla.s.s, Elliot & Co., the princ.i.p.al manufacturers of sea cables, making one grand concern, to be called The Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company. These two great capitalists entered into the new organization, of which Mr. Pender was made Chairman. The Gutta-Percha Company brought in still further strength to the joint enterprise, in the person of Mr. Willoughby Smith, their electrician, and of Mr. John Chatterton, the inventor of the insulating material known as Chatterton's Compound. The union of all these men made a combination of practical skill and financial ability, such as could be found in few companies in England or in the world. Mr. R. A. Gla.s.s was chosen Managing Director--a gentleman who seemed born to be a manager, such power had he of gathering about him talent in every department and combining all into one organization. Reenforced by such powerful aid, the new Company now came forward, and offered at one stroke to take all the remaining stock of the Company. This was more than half the whole capital. As yet, of the 600,000 required, but 285,000 had been subscribed. Now this princely Company offered to take the balance themselves--315,000. They did more, they took 100,000 of bonds; and so by one dead lift these stalwart Englishmen took the whole enterprise on their broad shoulders. From that hour the problem was solved. Thus after a dead lock of six months the wheels were unloosed, and the gigantic machinery began to revolve.

This was a triumph worthy to be honored in the way that Englishmen love, by a little festivity; and as it chanced to be now ten years since Mr.

Field had embarked in the enterprise, the pleasant thought occurred to him of getting his friends together to celebrate the anniversary.

Accordingly, on the fifteenth of March, he invited them to dine together at the Buckingham Palace Hotel. It was a joyous occasion, and called forth the usual amount of toasts and speeches. Of the latter, those of Mr. Adams, the American Minister, and of John Bright, were widely copied in the United States. The next day was the annual meeting of the Atlantic Telegraph Company, when the Chairman, the Right Hon. James Stuart Wortley, thus referred to the gathering of the night before:

"Without saying any thing to detract from my deep grat.i.tude to the other Directors, I cannot help especially alluding to Mr.

Cyrus Field, who is present to-day, and who has crossed the Atlantic thirty-one times in the service of this Company, having celebrated at his table yesterday the anniversary of the tenth year of the day when he first left Boston in the service of the Company. Collected round his table last night was a company of distinguished men--members of Parliament, great capitalists, distinguished merchants and manufacturers, engineers and men of science, such as is rarely found together even in the highest house in this great metropolis. It was very agreeable to see an American citizen so surrounded. It was still more gratifying, inasmuch as we were there to celebrate the approaching accomplishment of the Atlantic Telegraph."

This was a congratulation on an escape from death, for their cherished scheme had just pa.s.sed through a critical period of its history. The enterprise had been in great danger of abandonment--at least for years, a peril from which it had been rescued only by the most prompt and vigorous effort.

Thus after infinite toil, the wreck of old disasters was cleared away, and the mighty task begun anew. The works of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company were the largest in the world, and all their resources were now put in requisition. Never did greater care preside over a public enterprise. It was a case in which the motive of interest was seconded or overborne by pride and ambition. A cable was to be made to span the Atlantic Ocean, and to join the hemispheres; and they were determined to produce a work that should be as nearly perfect as human skill could make it. The Scientific Committee, that had so long investigated the subject, had approved a particular form of cable, as "the one most calculated to insure success in the present state of our experimental knowledge respecting deep-sea cables," but at the same time recommended the utmost vigilance at every stage of the manufacture.

These precautions deserve to be noted, as showing with what jealous care science watches over the birth of a great enterprise, and prescribes the conditions of success. They recommended:

That the conductivity of the wire should be fixed at a high standard, certainly not less than eighty-five per cent; that the cable should be at least equal to the best ever made; that the core should be electrically perfect; that it should be tested under hydraulic pressure, and at the highest pressure attainable in the tanks at the Company's works; that after this pressure, the core should be examined again, and before receiving its outer covering, be required to pa.s.s the full electrical test under water; that careful and frequent mechanical tests be made upon the iron wire and hemp as to their strength; that special care be given to the joints, where different lengths of cable were spliced together; and that when completed, the whole be tested under water for some length of time, at a temperature of seventy-five degrees.

This was higher by forty degrees than the temperature of the Atlantic.

The insulation is improved by cold; so that, if it remained perfect in this warm water, it could not fail in the icy depths of the ocean.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD ATLANTIC CABLE, 1858.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: NEW ATLANTIC CABLE, 1865.]

After pa.s.sing through such elaborate tests, all will be glad to see the final product of so much care and skill. As the long line begins to reel off from the great wheels and drums, we may examine it in its completed and more perfect form. It is only necessary to compare it with the cable laid in 1858, to show its immense superiority. A glance at the two as they appear on the preceding page will show that the cable had _grown_ since first it was planted in the ocean, as if it were a living product of the sea. This growth had been in every part, from core to circ.u.mference.

First, the central copper wire, which was the spinal cord, the nerve along which the centre current was to run, was nearly three times as large as before. Prof. Thomson had long seen that this was a condition of success. While joining heartily in the attempts of 1857-58, he felt that an error was committed in the smallness of the cable; that the copper conductors and the gutta-percha covering should both be much larger. The old conductor was a strand consisting of seven fine wires, six laid round one, and weighed only one hundred and seven pounds to the mile. The new was composed of the same number of wires, but weighed three hundred pounds to the mile. As it was made of the finest copper that could be obtained in the world, it was a perfect conductor. Next, to secure insulation, it was first imbedded for solidity in Chatterton's compound, a preparation impervious to water, and then covered with four layers of gutta-percha, which were laid on alternately with four thin layers of Chatterton's compound. The old cable had but three coatings of gutta-percha, with nothing between. Its entire insulation weighed but two hundred and sixty-one pounds to the mile, while that of the new weighed four hundred pounds.

But a conductor ever so perfect, with insulation complete, was useless without proper external protection, to guard it against the dangers which must attend the long and difficult process of laying it across the ocean. The old cable had broken a number of times. The new must be made stronger. To this end it was incased with ten solid wires of the best iron, or rather, of a soft steel, like that used in the making of Whitworth's cannon. This made the cable much heavier than before. The old cable weighed but twenty cwt. to the mile, while the new one reached thirty-five cwt. and three quarters. But mere size and weight were nothing, except as they indicated increased strength. This was secured, not only by the larger iron wires, but by a further coating of rope.

Each wire was surrounded separately with five strands of Manilla yarn, saturated with a preservative compound, and the whole laid spirally round the core, which latter was padded with ordinary hemp, saturated with the same preservative mixture. This rope covering was important in several respects. It kept the wires from coming in contact with the salt water, by which they might be corroded; and while it added greatly to the strength of the cable, it gave it also its own flexibility--so that while it had the strength of an iron chain, it had also the lightness and flexibility of a common ship's rope. This union of two qualities was all-important. The great problem had been to combine strength with flexibility. Mere dead weight was an objection. The new cable, though nearly twice as heavy as the old in air, when immersed in water, weighed but a trifle more; so that it was really much lighter in proportion to its size. This increased lightness was a very important matter in laying the cable, as it caused it to sink slowly. The old cable, though smaller, was heavy almost as a rod of iron, so that, as it ran out, it dropped at an angle which exposed it to great danger in case of a sudden lurch of the ship. Thus in 1857 it was broken by the stern of the Niagara being thrown up on a wave just as the brakes were shut down. Now the cable, being partially buoyed by the rope, would float out to a great distance from the ship, and sink down slowly in the deep waters.

By this combination of rope and iron, a cable was secured two and a half times as strong as the old--the breaking strain of the former having been three tons five cwt., and of the latter seven tons and fifteen cwt. Or, to put it in another form, the contract strain of the former was less than five times its own weight per mile in water; so that if the cable had been laid in some parts of the Atlantic, where the ocean is more than five miles deep, it would have broken under the enormous strain. But the contract strain of the new cable was equal to _eleven_ times its weight per mile in water, which, as the greatest depth of water to be pa.s.sed was but two and a half miles, rendered the cable more than four times as strong as was required.

This great chain which was to bind the sea was to be 2,300 nautical miles long, or nearly 2,700 statute miles! But where could this enormous bulk be stowed? Its weight would sink the Spanish Armada. In 1858, the cable loaded down two of the largest ships of war in the world, the Niagara and the Agamemnon. Yet now one much larger and bulkier was to be taken on board. This might have proved a serious embarra.s.sment, but that a few years before there had been built in England a ship of enormous proportions. The Great Eastern, whose iron walls had been reared by the genius of Brunel, had been for ten years waiting for "a mission." As a specimen of marine architecture she was perfect. She walked the waters in towering pride, scarce bending her imperial head to the waves that broke against her sides, as against the rocks of the sh.o.r.e. But with all her n.o.ble qualities, she was too great for the ordinary demands of commerce. Her very size was against her; and while smaller ships, on which she looked down with contempt, were continually flying to and fro across the sea, this leviathan,