and, according to the conclusions amved at by the most eminent of the jury, three faults were found in the cable, one at a distance from Valentia varying between 245 and 300 miles, another at 650 miles, and a third near the coast of Newfoundland. It is observable that the first, and supposed to be the greatest, fault appears to exist at a spot where a ridge of slate rocks is known to crop up in the bed of the Atlantic. Before the cable was laid, very careful soundings had been made of the Atlantic in the path along which it was determined it should go, and it was found that a bank of fine shells extended the whole distance; but it has been objected that these soundings were made at intervals of twenty miles, between which deep ravines and precipices might exist. Let us suppose, for instance, that Sussex and Kent formed the bottom of some ocean soundings taken between Brighton and the Thames at intervals of twenty miles. Such soundings would entirely miss the tremendous irregularities of the Devil’s Dyke and the precipitous sides of the Brighton Downs. A submarine cable falling into precipices such as these, edged by rocks, would be pretty certain to be destroyed by friction: hence the necessity of forming an estimate, as far as possible, of the profile of the sea-bed where a submarine cable has to rest. Probably soundings taken at intervals of five miles would be sufficient for this purpose. The problem of laying a cable between England and America has, however, been settled in the affirmative by this attempt. So much scientific attention has been directed to the subject by the magnitude of the interests involved and the stupendous nature of the results that must arise from its accomplishment, that we may say that all the causes of its failure are now known, and can easily be avoided in future—a result which certainly is cheaply obtained at the loss of the 387,000l. which it cost. For a while, at least, we must be content to defer the accomplishment of this great undertaking, as capitalists will not just yet be inclined to venture their money; but we have no manner of doub that they will eventually do so. Meanwhile, a substitute for the submarine cable is about to be given us in an overland route. Russia will ere very long complete her land line of telegraph to the mouth of the Amoor; when this is completed, a short cable thrown across Behring’s Straits will connect this line with the American wire already extending between California and Cape Race on the Atlantic, a distance of 5000 miles. England will thus be put in communication with America by an eastern instead of a western route—a roundabout way without doubt, and presenting just sufficient difficulties to stimulate the two countries to the completion of the direct ocean path. The Red Sea cable, intended to put England in communication with her Indian Empire, was laid after the final failure of the Atlantic cable, and one would have thought its engineers would have profited by the errors of the former undertaking. Every circumstance was in favour of this scheme. The Government gave an unconditional guarantee of 4½ per cent. for fifty years upon the whole capital required for its construction. It is the longest cable yet manufactured, being 3043 nautical miles in length; but then it has the great advantage of being divided into several sections. The portion between Suez and Aden was laid in three sections. The first, between Suez and Cossire, is 255 nautical miles in length; the second, between Cossire and Suaken, is 474 miles; the third, between Suaken and Aden, is 629 miles in length. The second portion, between Aden and Kurrachee, our most north-western port in India, is also divided into three parts. The whole of this line was finished early in 1860; but unfortunately one section after another failed, and at the present moment the Red Sea cable is as mute as the Atlantic cable. Within these last few weeks a new company has been formed to restore the communication, and it is intended first to complete that portion of the cable which runs between Aden and Kurrachee. The successful laying of the Malta and Alexandria cable, just announced, will thus bring us within five days of India. The failure of the original cable is, we think, justly ascribed by the Submarine Telegraph Committee to the fact of its having been designed without regard to the conditions of the climate, or the character of the bottom of the sea over which it had to be laid.
It has been well said that all our experience with regard to submarine telegraphy has been gained by a tentative process. No experience of land lines has been of any avail whilst traversing the ocean depths with the electric spark. The submarine cable has to contend with scores of difficulties and obstructions which no previous knowledge could have avoided; and our present experience has been purchased at the cost of upwards of eight thousand miles of cable! It was perhaps an unfortunate thing that the first submarine cable laid between Dover and Calais in 1851 should have been such an entire success, inasmuch as in subsequent cables the method of its manufacture and the proceedings of its engineers were servilely copied, even where nearly every condition was altered. It cannot be doubted that the conditions of each cable should form a separate study,—the form, the weight, and the size, being entirely dependent upon a hundred varying circumstances of sea, air, and land.
Thus it was found that the light cables submerged in the shallow sea between this and Holland were continually being dragged and broken by anchors, and a steamer and staff were constantly employed in repairing the breakages thus produced. Since a heavy cable, containing four conducting wires, has been substituted for the four single cables, used of old, ships moor to the cable without injuring it. On the other hand, there is a limit to the laying of very bulky cables, especially in great depths, from the fact that there is a difficulty in finding shipping to carry them. Thus the Atlantic cable, though a particularly light one, employed two of the largest vessels that could be found to carry it—the Niagara, of 5000 tons, and the Agamemnon, of 3200 tons. No single vessel but the Great Eastern could have accomplished the task single-handed. Had the cable been as thick as it should have been, no steam vessel, or two vessels at present built would have been of sufficient tonnage to carry it. Again, a cable once sunk in these depths is irrecoverable;
