The above was published in the American papers the same day.
{151}Further, as exemplifying the aid the cable afforded to the British Government, mention may be made of two messages sent from the commander-in-chief at the Horse Guards, on August 31st. Following the quelling of the Indian mutiny, they were despatched for the purpose of canceling previous orders which had already gone by mail to Canada.
The first, to General Trollope, Halifax, ran as follows: “The Sixty-second Regiment is not to return to England.” The other, to the officer in command at Montreal: “The Thirty-ninth Regiment is not to return to England.” From £50,000 to £60,000 was estimated by the authorities to have been saved, in the unnecessary transportation of troops, by these two cable communications.
But the insulation of the precious wire had, unhappily, been giving way. The high-potential currents from Mr. Whitehouse’s enormous induction-coils were too much for it; and the diminished flashes of light proved to be only the flickering of the flame that was soon to be extinguished in the external darkness of the waters. After a period of confused signals, the line ultimately breathed its last on October 20th, after 732 messages in all had been conveyed during a period of three months.[47] The last word uttered—and which may be said to have come from beyond the sea—was “forward.”
The line had been subject to frequent interruptions throughout. The wonder is that it did so much, when we consider the lack of experience at that period in the manufacture of deep-sea cables, the short time allowed, and, more than all, the{152} treatment received after being laid. It is, indeed, extremely doubtful whether any cable, even of the present day, would long stand a trial with currents so generated, and of such intensity.[48] An unusually violent lightning-storm occurred at Newfoundland shortly after the cable had been laid. This was considered a part cause of the actual failure of the line.
When all the efforts of the electricians failed to draw more than a few faint whispers—a dying gasp from the depths of the sea—there ensued, in the public mind, a feeling of profound discouragement. But what a bitter disappointment for those officially concerned in the enterprise! In all the experience of life there are no sadder moments than those in which, after much anxious toil in striving for a great object, and after a glorious triumph, the achievement that seemed complete becomes a wreck.
Engineering Demonstration.—Still the engineer of this great undertaking had the satisfaction of knowing that he had demonstrated (1) the possibility of laying over 2,000 miles of cable in one continuous length across a by no means calm ocean at depths of two to three miles; and (2) that, by the agency of an electric current, distinct and regular signals could be transmitted and received throughout an insulated conductor, even when at such a depth beneath the sea, across this{153} vast distance. The feasibility of either of these had been scouted at on all sides.[49]
Of course the gutta-percha coverings as then applied can not be compared with the methods and materials of later days, though a great advance on that of previous cables. It was a pity that—owing to the precipitation with which the undertaking was rushed through, and the fear of failure for want of capital—more time was not given to the consideration of Bright’s recommendation for a conductor four times larger, with a corresponding increase in the gutta-percha insulator. Under such conditions, it is highly improbable that high potentials would have ever been applied to the line. Unhappily—besides Faraday and Whitehouse—Professor Morse (when advising the Board in this matter) promulgated views directly opposed to the above, as has already been shown. In the course of his report Morse had said:
That by the use of comparatively small-coated wires, and of electro-magnetic induction-coils for the exciting-magnets, telegraphic signals can be transmitted through{154} two thousand miles, with a speed amply sufficient for all commercial and economical purposes.
Still the cable, inadequately constructed as it was from an electrical point of view, would probably have worked for years—though slowly, of course—had the fairly reasonable battery-power employed between the ships and up to the successful termination of the expeditions been continued in connection with Professor Thomson’s delicate reflecting-apparatus. The electrician, however, not only used much higher power immediately he took the cable in hand—for working his specially devised relay and Morse electromagnetic recording-instrument in connection with his enormous induction-coils—but actually increased the power from time to time up to nearly 500 cells, till the five-foot coils yielded a current urged by a potential of something like 2,000 volts. Hence, when signaling was resumed, as shown by the comparatively mild voltaic currents, for actuating the Thomson apparatus, a fault (or faults) had been already developed, necessitating a far higher battery-power than had been employed during the continuous communication between the ships while paying out.