34 



IRISH SUBMAEINE TELEGRAPH. 



[1852, 



more propriety as the shield of the fragile highway on which that 

 messenirer travels. Even scientific men do not always perceive 

 the more obvious facts connected with the matter on which they 

 operate; and, in the first instance, subaqueous telegTaphs were 

 proposed of wire, coated with gutta pereha alone. That material 

 possesses great powew of resistance ; but yet, placed beneath the 

 ocean, sunk a hundred fathoms, or any other number of fathoms 

 deep, and chafed against rocks, even the wrecte of vessels, or 

 many other substances, it would fail. The wire coated with gutta 

 pereha was even, we believe, thrown over the British channel, but 

 it did not maintain the communication for more than twenty-foiu' 

 houi-s. It was now clear that the gutta pereha would protect the 

 wires of the subaqueous telegraph, if it could be itself secured 

 against the rough handlingwhich all invadingsubstances experience 

 at times from the ocean. The latter object has been effected by 

 galvanized wires twisted in a spiral form round the gutta pereha 

 case, in which a copper wire is enclosed. The telegraph across 

 the channel to the French coast was put down in the month of 

 September last. It has now been in operation from ten to eleven 

 months, and the insulation of the wiro is so complete that the 

 communication has been steadily maintained. In June last, a 

 teleo-raph line was thrown over the Irish channel from Holyhead 

 to Howth. The distance between these points is full sixty miles, 

 and the coast on both sides " rocky and rough." The agitation 

 in favour of an Irish Atlantic steam-packet port caused considerable 

 excitement on telegraphic matters. Wires could easily be suspended 

 from Dublin to Gal way along the line of railway ; and the difficulties 

 of the channel once overcome, intelligence received on the west 

 coast of Ireland might be transmitted to London with great 

 rapidity. The absolute transmission, if the line were not broken 

 by intervening stations, can scarcely be measured by time. The 

 messenger would not require a second on the way over the wild 



nel is narrowed to little more than ten miles between the western 

 corner of Arg3'leshire and the eastern extemity of Antrim ; but 

 the telegraphic wire would have to be carrricd by land for maBv 

 miles from Glasgow to the point nearest to Ireland on the 

 Argyleshire coast, and again on the Irish coast towards Belfast 

 for a shorter distance, but still one more considerable than from 

 Donaghadee. A company was therefore formed to connect the 

 British and Iiish coast fi-om Portpatriek. They have adopted the 

 subterrraneous system from Dumfries onwards through a great 

 breadth of country, foi-ming the south-western shoulder of Scot- 

 laud onwards to tlie coast. Upon the Irish shore the BuKist and 

 County Down Railway does not come within ten miles of Don- 

 aghadee, and for that distance the railway will render no aid to 

 the telegraph. These operations necessarily occupied considera- 

 ble time, and, although now completed, yet other parties, by a 

 decided step, telegraphed the wider channel between Holyhead 

 and Howth, while the northern company were digging trenches. 

 One day a gentleman called at the Gutta Pereha Oompanj-'s 

 works, in London, and inquired if they could supply him with 

 one wire, double covered with gutt;i peroha, and eighty miles 

 long, within two weeks. The question was somewhat starthng, 

 for the order, taken in connexion with the time for its perform- 

 ance, was out of the common line of business. It was however, 

 accepted, and it was accomphshed. Of couree the company cover 

 telegraphic wires with gutta pereha as part of their business; 

 while their customer probably wished to keep his own secret, and 

 so their department was completed, and the work for some time, 

 and re-covered at works in Newcastle on Tyno, with galvanized 

 wires, before they were made acquainted with its destination. 

 This was the first telegraphic wire which crossed the Irish chan- 

 nel and it wrought well for some time. We have learned, how- 

 ever, that it has been broken, and is ireeparable. The report has 



Irish bogs, which are to be converted i:ito gold, and over the 

 wilder fertile lands of that country, which require no such 

 conveiision ; for they are already more valuable tlian gold itself — 

 down bene.ath that deep and riften stormy channel — past the busy 

 towns of the north-west of England, and over all the breadth of 

 the land from Holyhead to Lothbury or Chariug-cross. The 

 Irish telegraph would bo formed, — that fact was unquestionable 

 after the completion of the French lino. Rival companies were, 

 therefore, anxious for the work, and those who carried oxev the 

 fii-st intelligence were likely to be successful in preserving the 

 business. 



The ehaimel between IIol\hoad and Howth is o\cr sixty miles 

 in lireadth, and Howth itself is at a considei'ablo distance from 

 Duljlin. The cost of prepared wires nnist lie very heavy; and 

 where a choice can be readily obtained, tlie narrow cro.ssing nf 

 any channel will probably bo adopted. T]u'. cro.S'^ing between 

 Pcrtpatrick on the Scottish coast, and Donaghadee in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Belfast, is not nuuh over twenty iiiilc'^. The clian- 



causerl conside;able anxiety among commei'cial men in reference 

 to sub-marine telegraphs ; but the circumstances show nothing 

 against them. Even if wires of the descri]itiiin employed should 

 be altogether unsuccessfnl, the communications will still be formed 

 and maintained. The first engraving shows aceui-ately the form 

 and size of the wire from Holyhead to Howth. 



The telegraph wire is insulated within a double covering of 

 gutta pereha, and the latter is protected by twelve very small 

 galvanised wires twisted around it in a spiral form. The rope is 

 only of the thiekne-s ropi'esented in the engraving, and has a 

 fragile or rather weak apjiearance for the rough kind of work 

 between Hoi)- head and Howth. 



The villagers of Donaghadee and Portpatriek had long been 

 interested in the intercoui-se between the two islands. Neither of 

 tlii'se ]ilaees had a natural harboui'. The shelter atforded by 

 them for shipping had been almost entirely cut out of rocks. The 

 cun-eut ill their great ferry rescmblod "a mill race." The water 

 seeiuoi.l ever to be in haste to get in, or else to get out au'.l awav 



