CEAN- CABLES. 43 



Every word of this can be written at the present moment, that is, 

 ten years later, with exactly the same significance. All cables which 

 have been manufactured and laid upon the principles which were es- 

 tablished in 1859 are yet in good working order, and every divergence 

 from these principles has been at best but a costly experiment or utter 

 failure. There is no instance yet of a well-manufactured heavy cable 

 breaking or giving out in deep water after it has been carefully laid 

 free from defects ; but there may be much due to the external cover- 

 ing keeping it quiet ; there has assuredly been a great deal due to the 

 external covering in the successful submerging, and there is no expe- 

 rience whatever to justify the assumption that an unprotected core 

 would last, even if laid. 



It has been urged that an iron-covered cable, suspended from one 

 point to another, gradually becomes weaker, that rust and marine 

 growth or deposit accumulate and break the cable with their weight ; 

 but I do not know of any instance in support of the assumption, nor is 

 it at all certain that a simple unprotected core would exist for any 

 length of time, or be in any way better adapted for the supposed con- 

 ditions. Mr. Latimer Clark, in his evidence, says : " You want a cer- 

 tain degree of weight to enable your cable to sink steadily to the bot- 

 tom, especially when it has to fall into hollows and cavities, and not 

 lie loosely across elevations." 



Again, it is urged that experiments with light cables have been 

 tried in factories or sheds, and the result proves that there are many 

 advantages in their favor ; but I am of opinion that no experiments 

 which can be made on shore will sufficiently resemble the exigencies 

 which may occur over a period of several days and nights at sea in 

 storms and darkness, and still less will they prove their fitness for the 

 unknown conditions which may exist at great ocean-depths. I desire to 

 write with great respect for the opinions of the talented men who urge 

 the adoption of light cables ; it is my special duty to weigh well and 

 without prejudice all they have to advance ; but I think a careful in- 

 vestigation into the experience and practice of the last twenty years 

 establishes conclusively that all light cables have been short-lived, and 

 that all heavy cables have continued working, often under most ad- 

 verse conditions. It is my own opinion, and I am authorized to say 

 that it is also the opinion of my friend Captain Halpin, who has laid 

 all the cables from Suez to Australia, besides the French Atlantic 

 cable (11,000 miles), and has also recovered and repaired cables from 

 a great variety of depths, that a cable should be as heavy as it can be 

 laid with safety, and admit of being recovered in case of accident. 

 Multiply every precaution which shall increase the strength and keep 

 that strength intact as long as possible. 



The best form of light cable I have seen is the copper-covered core 

 invented by Mr. Siemens (No. 8). I should have anticipated that, if 

 any light cable could have been successful, this one would have met 



