May 14, I860.] SHAFFNER ON COMMUNICATION WITH AMERICA. IQl 



The second Paper read was — 



2. Communication with America^ via the Faroes^ Iceland^ and Greenland. 

 By Colonel T. P. Shaffner, u.s. 



The North. Atlantic Telegraph, which has been struggling 

 against formidable rivalry for some years past, is now rapidly 

 assuming a form and proportion commensurate with the grandeur 

 of the enterprise. The route preliminarily proposed for this pro- 

 ject is as follows, viz., first from the North of Scotland to the 

 Bay of Thorshaven, Stromoe Isle, of the Faroe Isles. The length 

 of the cable for this section will be about 250 miles. The next 

 section will run from Westermanshaven, of the same Isle, to 

 about Portland, South Iceland, a distance of about 350 miles. From 

 this landing the line will be constructed across Iceland to Eeijkiavik. 

 From the Bay of Eeijkiavik the next section of cable will be run to 

 some bay on the east coast of Greenland, south of latitude 61° 

 north. This distance will be about 550 or 600 miles. It is pro- 

 posed to run the line across the southern end of Greenland. The 

 fourth section of cable will be run from one of the bays of the west 

 coast, south of the latitude 61° north, to Hamilton's Inlet, on 

 the Labrador coast, a distance of about 600 miles. The aggregate 

 submarine telegraph will be about 1750 miles ; land lines about 

 300 miles ; total, some 2050 ; about the same length as the Atlantic 

 cable from Ireland to Newfoundland. 



The Danish Concession. — The concession for this telegraph has been 

 granted by His Majesty the King of Denmark so far as it may occupy 

 Danish territory. There is no monopoly of the line reserved to the 

 Danish Government, but its impartial use is guaranteed to the 

 whole world. The Government has pledged itself to " bestow all 

 necessary care, vigilance, and means which may be within its com- 

 mand to insure the free, impartial, and unhindered use of the said 

 telegraph line." If, however, the British Government should desire 

 a wire for the transmission of its own despatches, a franchise can 

 be given to it, and the use of that franchise will be defended by 

 the Danish Government " with all the means within its command." 



Telegraphic Manipulation. — There is no submarine telegraph line 

 with an electrical circuit of 1,000 miles, nor have we any practical 

 evidence that a circuit of that length can be worked for commercial 

 purposes. It might be possible to organise a cable to work with 

 some facility on a submarine circuit of that length, but to what 

 extent would be its commerciality remains an unsolved problem. 

 The longest subaqueous circuit now operated is about 750 miles, and 

 the speed of transmission thereon is some seven words per minute. 



