ENGINEERING. 



251 



under the control of the Anglo-American Com- 

 pany, the pioneer association, which in spite 

 of doubts and disasters first linked the conti- 

 nents of both hemispheres with two cables in 

 1865 and 1866. The initial capital of that com- 

 pany was $8,400,000. The large profits acquired 

 by the Anglo-American Company, during the 

 first two years, when it possessed the monopoly 

 of cable communication and fixed the tariff at 

 its own discretion, first at $20 a word, then at 

 $5, and afterward at $2.50, induced French 

 capitalists under the lead of Baron Erlanger 

 to start a rival line. In 1869 the French At- 

 lantic Cable was laid between Brest and the 

 French island of St. Pierre, adjacent to New- 

 foundland, and thence to Duxbury, near Bos- 

 ton. The competition was not severe enough, 

 though one line would have been sufficient for 

 the business, to prevent the new company 

 from obtaining good revenue. The situation 

 of the French cable was particularly favorable 

 for the distribution of messages. Competition 

 ended in a combination ; botli companies pooled 

 their earnings, establishing a uniform tariff, on 

 the condition of the French company's having 

 36 per cent, of the joint gross receipts. To 

 obtain a complete control over the traffic, 

 the English company afterward bought out 

 the French company, paying by agreement 

 1,044 francs for every share of 500 francs. A 

 new rival sprang up immediately in the Direct 

 United States Cable. The single cable of this 

 company was carried from Ireland to Torbay 

 in Nova Scotia. This new company, which 

 immediately acquired 30 per cent, of the 

 business, was also merged in the Anglo- Amer- 

 ican, leasing its line to that company for twen- 

 ty-five years. The new French cable, recently 

 completed, entered the field as the sole rival 

 of the original company. Its published aim 

 was to establish a complete double-cable line 

 between the continents, and to efficiently com- 

 pete with the British cable combination. The 

 leading promoter of the second French cable 

 was M. Pouyer-Quertier. One of the cables 

 was to connect France with the United States 

 directly without touching foreign territory, 

 the other to unite England with her American 

 colonies. The total length of both lines is a 

 little over 6,000 geographical miles. The first 

 cable, from Brest to Louisburg, on the Island of 

 St. Pierre, 2,430 miles long, has been laid; and 

 the continuation from St. Pierre to Rye Beach, 

 in New Hampshire, 880 miles. Of the Brit- 

 ish cable, only the section which was to con- 

 nect it with the Continental land lines, running 

 from Penzance, on the Scilly Isles, to Brest, 

 151 miles, was put down. The total length of 

 cable laid by the French company is, there- 

 fore, 3,461 miles. The cable which was to 

 connect the Scilly Isles with St. Pierre would 

 have a length of 2,285 miles, and the exten- 

 sion to Torbay of 270 miles. From the latter 

 terminus lines would have to be constructed to 

 connect the cable with the Canadian land sys- 

 tem. This cable was to have a double termi- 



nation on the European side, a cable 30 miles 

 long from Penzance to Land's End, connecting 

 it with the British lines, and the one already 

 laid joining it to the Continental land system at 

 Brest. The company was already provided 

 with a repairing-ship before the cable was laid. 

 The communication has been interrupted twice, 

 once by a break in the main cable, which oc- 

 curred May 22d near the Island of St. Pierre, 

 which was repaired the same month, and a 

 second time by a break in the section between 

 St. Pierre and Cape Cod, which occurred No- 

 vember 21st. 



A cable connecting England and Norway has 

 been laid between New biggin and Groderig, 

 near Arendal, Norway, a distance of 424 miles, 

 and thence to Marstrand, Sweden, a distance 

 of 99 miles. The core is 120 pounds of cop- 

 per and 200 of gutta-percha per mile. It is 

 sheathed with 12 wires, for a part of the dis- 

 tance No. 6, and for a part No. 8. Both sec- 

 tions have heavy doubled shore-ends. 



The third cable of the triplicate line be- 

 tween Marseilles and Algiers has been laid. 

 It has a length of 525 miles, and is of the same 

 type as the new Australian cable, described 

 below. 



A cable, 525 miles in length, has been made 

 by the India Rubber Telegraph Works in Eng- 

 land, for the Mexican Telegraph Company of 

 the United States, to be laid in the Gulf of 

 Mexico between Vera Cruz and one of the 

 coast islands in Texas, near the mouth of the 

 Kio Grande. It has a core with 107 pounds 

 of copper and 166 of gutta-percha per mile. 

 The main portion is sheathed with 12 No. 6, 

 and the shore-ends with 14 No. 1 galvanized 

 iron wires. The whole cable is thoroughly 

 protected by compounds and tapes. The line 

 is to run from Brazos Santiago to Tarapico, 

 and thence to Vera Cruz, 505 miles in all. By 

 arrangement with the Mexican Government it 

 will transmit all the foreign messages of the 

 Mexican lines. This cable will reduce the dis- 

 tance between the United States and Brazil, 

 or the west coast of South America, by over 

 6,000 miles, and the cost in proportion, as all 

 messages must now be S3nt by way of Lisbon 

 and the Madeira Islands. 



The duplicate Australian submarine cable 

 consists of four sections : Penang and Malacca, 

 275 miles; Malacca and Singapore, 116 miles; 

 Singapore to Banjoewangie, 920 miles; Ban- 

 joewangie to Port Darwin, 1,131 miles. The 

 cable was all laid but the last section in 1879. 

 The core of this cable is 107 pounds of copper 

 and 140 pounds of gutta-percha per mile. The 

 deep-sea portion has eleven No. 13 homogene- 

 ous wires covered with two layers of protecting 

 tapes. In the intermediate and shore-end por- 

 tions the core is protected from insects by 

 being wound round with brass tape. The ca- 

 ble was all down on January 28th. 



A cable between Hong-Kong and Manila, 

 which was put down in April, has a similar 

 core to the above in the deep-sea section, cov- 



