iv. PREFACE. 



past, 1 think there will ever remain amongst the intelli- 

 gent public feelings of admiration for these great enter- 

 prises of the sea, and more than ordinary interest in 

 the ships and men engaged in the great business of 

 laying and maintaining these lines of human communi- 

 cation between distant portions of the globe. 



The first portions of this work were published as 

 articles in The Electrician, commenced soon after my 

 return from the Cape in 1891. Since that date the 

 continuation of the work has only been possible at very 

 short intervals of leisure, and was laid aside altogether 

 during ten month's professional engagement in America 

 in 1893. The work has, however, generally been 

 brought up to date. 



The improvements in the Thomson Syphon Recorder,, 

 human relay, duplex working, and automatic trans- 

 mitters have not been dealt with in this work, as these 

 matters cover a very wide field, and are more adapted 

 for separate treatment. 



I have now the pleasant duty of thanking the many 

 friends who have rendered me valuable suggestions and 

 assistance in this work, and thus supplemented my own 

 experience in cable work in the Far East, which forms 

 the groundwork of this treatise. I thank most cordially, 

 for their assistance to me in various ways, Sir W. H. 

 Preece, C.B., F.R.S., Mr. A. E. Kennelly, Mr. Edward 

 Stallibrass, F.R.G.S., Mr. F. C. Webb, Mr. A. C M. 

 Weaver, Mr. H. K. C. Fisher, Mr. Geo. E. Cole, Mr. 

 F. C. H. Sinclair, Mr. Robert K. Gray, Mr. Matthew 

 Gray,Mr. E. Raymond-Barker, Mr.Chas. Bright, F.R.S.E., 

 Mr. R. London, Mr. H. Clifford, Mr. Herbert Taylor, Mr. 

 R. H. Tonking, Mr. W. R. Culley, and others whose 

 names are mentioned in the text of the book. I tender my 

 thanks also to the following Companies and Firms for 



