48 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
the greater is the retardation. These opinions induced the 
management to order a rather small cable, not so large in 
diameter as one used in the English channel or one in the 
Mediterranean. | 
Morse and Faraday were wrong in this respect; the engineer 
of the cable enterprise, Charles ‘T. Bright (afterward Sir 
Charles Bright) was right, despite his youth, in advocating a 
heavier cable—as was afterward proved. One argument 
against too stiff a cable was that Brett had recently lost a 
cable in the Mediterranean between Sardinia and Algeria, 
when it became unmanageable in the laying because of its 
weight. 
The cable as finally designed had seven copper wires in a 
strand at the center, each wire about the diameter of a darn- 
ing needle. Around this strand of seven wires was insulation 
of gutta-percha sufficient to give a diameter of three-eighths 
of an inch to the core. Around this core was a layer of hemp 
saturated with a mixture of tar, pitch, linseed oil, and wax. 
All this was sheathed spirally with an armor of iron wires to 
protect against abrasion, and the completed cable was finally 
drawn through another mixture of tar. The diameter of the 
completed cable was between five-eighths and three-quarters 
of an inch. For the extra-heavy ends of the cable at the shore 
terminals, more insulation and heavier sheathing were used 
to protect against rocks and other disturbances. The cost 
of the 2500-mile cable was well over a million dollars. It was 
made in two halves at two separate factories in England, each 
half being taken by a different ship when finished. To test the 
electrical continuity, the halves were connected, when on the 
ships, by a short piece of cable and a current sent through 
the entire length. This test proved satisfactory. 
It was decided to start laying the cable from Valentia bay, 
Ireland. ‘To show Anglo-American good-will, the American 
ships would lay the British end, and the British ships the 
American end. The splendid American frigate, the Niagara, 
