RED SEA LINE. 179 



When in the same year -- 1857 - - Messrs. Newall 

 & Co. laid a cable -line from Cagliari to Malta and 

 Corfu, I furnished the stations of this line with such 

 induction writing telegraphs. A translation station was 

 erected on the island of Malta, which made it possible 

 to correspond by the thin cable direct between Cagliari 

 and Corfu with satisfactory speed. In order to secure 

 the good insulation of this as well as of other lines, 

 which were to be laid in the eastern part of the Medi- 

 terranean, my firm undertook the electrical testing of 

 the insulated conductors in the cable-works of Messrs. 

 Newall & Co. at Birkenhead. A talented young man, 

 Mr. F. Jenkin, who afterwards made a name as an 

 electrician, was assigned me as assistant. 



The cable-line through the Red Sea and Indian 

 Ocean from Suez to Kurrachee in India, the execution of 

 which had been intrusted to the firm of Newall & Co., 

 brought me a very interesting task. My firm under- 

 took for the latter the electrical supervision of the 

 laying of this cable, as well as the furnishing and 

 setting up of the necessary instruments. The most 

 important of the cable-lines laid up to that time, that 

 from Sardinia to Corfu, about 700 nautical miles long, 

 hardly afforded a standard for the construction and 

 working of a line of 3500 nautical miles in length, 

 such as the proposed cable-line to India. According 

 to previous experience it was possible by intermittent 

 currents to work lines 700 nautical miles in length 

 with safety and sufficient power. 



There were accordingly four or five intermediate 



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