From the electrician’s point of view, these subdivisions were extremely favorable as compared with the long continuous length entailed by an Atlantic cable between Ireland and Newfoundland. Then, again, the soundings (except for a section between Greenland and Labrador) did not yield anything approaching the more southern depths. But against these obvious advantages there was the engineering objection—which at first seemed insurmountable—that the Greenland coast was bound up by ice for a great part of the year, in addition to the risk of injury to the cable from the grounding of icebergs. This latter was of less moment, for it could be provided against by keeping the cable when approaching shore in the middle of any inlet, and thus away from the shallow sides where the icebergs “ground.” There was also the probable difficulty of obtaining a trained staff to work a line when laid to such inhospitable regions. However, having regard to the anxiety exhibited by many to get to the North Pole, this did not present an insuperable obstacle.
This bold project, with a route across the coldest and iciest regions of the Atlantic, was originally brought to the notice of the Danish Government by Mr. Wyld, the geographer, even before the Atlantic Telegraph Company had been established. It was again introduced in a different form by Colonel T. P. Shaffner, an American electrician of some note. Colonel Shaffner made a strong case of the series of short stages geographically afforded by the North Atlantic deviation. After the 1858 cable had ceased working, to back up his belief in the advantages of the route, which he characterized as having “natural{164} stepping-stones which Providence had placed across the ocean in the north,” he actually chartered a small sailing vessel, and, with his family on board, put forth from Boston on August 29th, 1859, for the purpose of making the preliminary survey. He landed in Glasgow in November of that year, and presented to the public the results of his voyage. During the voyage, Colonel Shaffner sounded the deep seas to be traversed between Labrador and Greenland and between Greenland and Iceland. His first object was to convince the public that there were no insuperable difficulties in the way. He found a warm supporter in Mr. J. Rodney Croskey, of London, who advanced the “caution” money to the Danish Government for the concessions requisite in the Faroes, Iceland, and Greenland.[51]
On May 15th, Lord Palmerston granted an audience to an influential deputation, headed by the Right Honorable Milner Gibson, M.P., and four other members of the House of Commons, to solicit the assistance of Government in sending out ships and officers to make the necessary official survey for ascertaining the practicability of the proposed route. The Premier appeared fully to appreciate the advantages of the north-about scheme, and in a very short time the Admiralty were directed to send out an expedition for the purpose of making the required survey.
The Admiralty selected for this duty Captain M’Clintock, R. N.,[52] an officer of great experience{165} in the navigation of the Arctic seas, and H.M.S. Bulldog was placed under his command. This distinguished officer was directed to take the deep-sea soundings, and he sailed from Portsmouth on his mission in June, 1860. In the meantime, the promoters of the enterprise purchased the Fox, the steam-yacht formerly employed in the successful search for the remains of the Franklin expedition, and fitted her out for the purpose of making surveys of the landing-places of the respective cables. The Fox was placed under the command of Captain Young,[53] of the mercantile marine, an officer well known for his distinguished labors under M’Clintock in the Franklin search. At the same time, Dr. John Rae, F.R.G.S., an intrepid Arctic explorer, volunteered his services to join the Fox, and take charge of the overland expeditions in the Faroe Isles, Iceland, and Greenland. Colonel Shaffner, as concessionaire—besides two delegates on the part of the Danish Government, Lieutenant von Zeilau and Arnljot Olafsson—also accompanied the Fox expedition, to take part in the necessary surveys.
Before the departure of the Fox, which sailed on July 18, 1860, her Majesty Queen Victoria, the Prince Consort, and other members of the royal family, honored the enterprise by a visit to that vessel, while lying off Osborne, and showed a lively interest in the details of the expedition.
On the return of the expedition, Sir Leopold M’Clintock wrote a full report to Sir Charles Bright, the consulting engineer of the project.{166} In this, Sir Leopold favored the route as perfectly practicable, pointing out that the ice would not really prove a difficulty, and strongly approving of the original intention of a land-line across Iceland to Faxe Bay, “as by so doing you will avoid the only part of the sea where submarine volcanic disturbances may be suspected.”
The results of the voyages of H.M.S. Bulldog and the steam-yacht Fox were brought before a crowded meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on January 28, 1861. Sir Leopold M’Clintock then gave the first public account of his numerous and careful soundings along, and in the vicinity of, the proposed course of the cable, interspersed with many useful remarks and hints as to ice, the best time for laying the line, etc., as well as the probable sphere of volcanic action in and off the south of Iceland. The above was followed by an exhaustive paper by Sir Charles Bright, giving a synopsis of Captain Young’s report on his voyage in the Fox, including the examination of various estuaries and harbors, so as to enable a decision to be arrived at as to the best landing-places, the climatic conditions, etc.
From both sets of soundings it was shown that, as a rule, the bottom was of ooze. Dr. Wallich, the naturalist of the expedition, had brought up brightly colored starfish from depths of over a mile, whereas it had previously been believed that nothing could possibly live under such an enormous pressure of water.