The conclusions finally arrived at by the Scientific Committee appointed to report as to the causes of the failure of the Cable were, first, that it had been manufactured too hastily; secondly, that a great and unequal strain was brought on it by the machinery; and thirdly, that the repeated coilings and uncoilings it underwent served to injure it. To such causes was the failure to be attributed, not to any original defect in the gutta percha.
Mr. Varley stated his opinion that there must have been a fault in the Cable while on board the Agamemnon, and before it was submerged; but none of the theories accounted for the destruction of a Cable on which half a million of money had been expended, and which (if successful) two governments had contracted to subsidise to the gross amount of 28,000l. yearly. Thus were annihilated, silently and mysteriously, all those hopes which had survived so many disappointments, and which for a moment had been so abundantly realised.
But in England, as no ebullitions of joy had been indulged in when success seemed certain, neither was there now any yielding to despair.
In the month of April, 1860, the Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company sent out Captain Kell and Mr. Varley to Newfoundland to endeavour to recover some portion of the Cable; their efforts showed that the survey which had been taken must have been very insufficient, and the ground was much worse than was expected. They recovered five miles of the Cable, and ascertained two facts, namely, that the gutta percha was in no degree deteriorated, and that the electrical condition of the core had been improved by three years’ submersion. In 1862 several attempts were also made to recover some of the Cable from the Irish side, but with no practical advantage; and in consequence of violent storms the attempt was abandoned.
The great Civil War in America stimulated capitalists to renew the attempt; the public mind became alive to the importance of the project, and to the increased facilities which promised a successful issue. Mr. Field, who compassed land and sea incessantly, pressed his friends on both sides of the Atlantic for aid, and agitated the question in London and New York.
On the 20th of December, 1862, the Atlantic Company issued its prospectus, setting forth the valuable privileges it had acquired—amongst others, the exclusive right to land telegraph wires on the Atlantic coast of Labrador, Newfoundland, Prince Edward’s Island, and the State of Maine—and invited public subscriptions. The firm of Glass, Elliot, & Co., sent in tenders to provide a Cable at a cost of £700,000; a sum of £137,000, being 20 per cent. upon the capital of the Company, to be paid to them in old unguaranteed shares of the Company, provided they were successful.
On the 4th of March, 1863, a large number of the leading merchants in New York assembled in the Chamber of Commerce in that city, for the purpose of hearing some new and interesting facts relative to the Atlantic Telegraph enterprise. The many advantages which would arise to America were apparent, and, among others, was the improvement of the agricultural position of the country by extending to it the facilities, already enjoyed by England and France, of commanding the foreign grain markets; as well as the avoidance of misunderstandings between America and other countries.[2]
Since 1858, what was a mere experiment had become a practical reality. The Gutta Percha Company had prepared no less than forty-four submarine Cables, enclosing 9000 miles of conducting wire, which were in daily use, and not one of which had required to be repaired, except at the shore end, where they were exposed to ships’ anchors. At the meeting in New York, Mr. Field read a letter from Glass, Elliot, & Co., in which they offered to undertake to lay the Cable between Ireland and Newfoundland on the most liberal conditions. The terms which they proposed were,—First, that all actual disbursements for work and material should be recouped each week: secondly, that when the Cable was in full working order, 20 per cent. on the actual profits of the Company should be paid in shares to be delivered monthly, while at the same time they offered to subscribe £25,000 towards the ordinary capital of the Company. The English Government also agreed to guarantee interest on the capital at 8 per cent., during the operation and working of the Cable, and to grant a yearly subsidy of £14,000. Mr. Field further directed the attention of the meeting to the line to San Francisco (a single State), as evidence of what business might be expected. The estimated power of the Cable was a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 18 words per minute. If it were to be worked for sixteen hours per day for 300 days in each year, at a charge of 2s. 6d. per word, the income would amount to £413,000 a year, which would be a return of 40 per cent. upon a single Cable. After the failure of the last Cable a Commission of Inquiry, consisting of nine members, had sat for two years, and, by their report, afforded valuable information. The British Government had also dispatched surveying expeditions, which reported most favourably as to Newfoundland. In reference to the objection, that in case of war the Cable would be under the sole control of the English Government, it was to be remembered that it would be laid under treaty stipulations.
After a lengthened discussion on various matters connected with the project, it was proposed by Mr. A. Low, and unanimously resolved, “That, in the opinion of this meeting, a Cable can, in the present state of telegraphic science, be laid between Newfoundland and Ireland with almost absolute certainty of success, and will when laid prove the greatest benefit to the people of the two hemispheres, and also profitable to the shareholders. It is, therefore, recommended to the public to aid the undertaking.”
