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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
321
As
the
attempt
is
now
to
be
renewed
on
a
grand
scale,
the
reader
may
wish
some
further
details
of
the
means
employed
to
insure
success.
As
nothing
in
this
whole
enterprise
has
excited
such
astonishment,
nothing
merits
a
more
careful
history.
When
it
was
first
proposed
to
drag
the
bottom
of
the
Atlantic
for
a
cable
lost
in
waters
two
and
a
half
miles
deep,
the
project
was
so
daring
that
it
seemed
to
be
almost
a
war
of
the
Titans
upon
the
gods.
Yet
never
was
anything
undertaken
less
in
the
spirit
of
reckless
desperation.
The
cable
was
recovered,
as
a
city
is
taken
by
siege--by
slow
approaches,
and
the
sure
and
inevitable
result
of
mathematical
calculation.
Every
point
was
studied
beforehand--the
position
of
the
broken
end,
the
depth
of
the
ocean,
the
length
of
rope
needed
to
reach
the
bottom,
and
the
strength
required
to
lift
the
enormous
weight.
To
find
the
place
was
a
simple
question
of
nautical
astronomy--a
calculation
of
latitude
and
longitude.
It
seemed
providential
that,
when
the
cable
broke
on
the
second
of
August,
1865,
it
was
a
few
minutes
after
noon;
the
sun
was
shining
brightly,
and
they
had
just
taken
a
perfect
observation.
This
made
it
much
easier
to
go
back
to
the
place
again.
The
waters
were
very
deep,
but
that
they
could
touch
bottom,
and
even
grapple
the
cable,
was
proved
by
the
experiments
of
the
year
before.
But
could
any
power
be
applied
which
should
lift
it
without
breaking,
and
bring
it
safely
on
board?
This
was
a
simple
question
of
mechanics.
Prof.
Thomson
had
made
a
calculation
that
in
raising
the
cable
from
a
depth
of
two
and
a
half
miles,
there
would
be
about
ten
miles
of
its
length
suspended
in
the
water.
Of
course,
it
was
a
very
nice
matter
to
graduate
the
strain
so
as
not
to
break
the
cable.
For
this
it
had
been
suggested
that
two
or
three
ships
should
grapple
it
at
once,
and
lifting
it
together,
ease
the
strain
on
any
one
point--a
method
of
meeting
the
danger
that
was
finally
adopted
with
success.
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