SUBMARINE CABLES. 



TMcr ^" 



passed several times round a large 



brake-wheel, by means of which the 



cable was kept from going out too 



fast, and its motion maintained so as 



to be equal to the progress of the 



vessel. Men are represented in the 



figure applying the brake to the 



wheel. 



On arriving off Middlekerke, on 



the Belgian coast, a boat sent from 



shore took from 500 to 700 yards of 



the cable on board, for the purpose of 



landing it. The boats of the British 



vessels taking her in tow, the end of 



the cable was safely landed, and 



deposited in a guard-house of the 



Custom House, where the telegraphic 



instruments brought in the " Hutt " 



being erected, and the communica- 

 tions made, the following despatch 



was transmitted direct to London : 

 Union of Belgium and England, 



twenty minutes before one, p.m. Qth 



May 1853. 



85. The next submarine cable laid, 



was that of the Magnetic Telegraph 

 Company, connecting Donaghadee 



with Port Patrick, also manufactured 

 by Messrs. Newall and Co. 



This cable, which contains six con- 

 ducting wires, is represented in its 

 proper size in figs. 35, 36, and corres- 

 ponds in weight and form to the 

 Belgian cable. But in the details of 

 its construction and composition, some 

 improvements were introduced. This 

 rope was manufactured in 24 days, 

 and cost about 13,0007. 



The cable laid down by the British 

 Telegraph Company between the same 

 points, is precisely similar to this. 



86. It is proposed to connect Or- 

 fordness, on the Suffolk coast, with 

 the Hague, by seven separate sub- 

 marine Cables, each containing a Fig 36 ._ D onaghadee and Portpatrick. 



159 



(Magnetic Telegraph Company.) 



