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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
283
"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,
astonishing
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
ship
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.
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