9§ 
THE TELEGRAPH. 
of cable was made for Sir Joseph Paxton, the architect of the 
Crystal Palace, and Charles Dickens, the well-known novelist. 
West and Taylor seem about this time to have sought for 
authority to lay cables to Ireland and in the Mediterranean. 
The French government granted the required authorization, 
but under certain conditions which it appears West was unable 
to fulfil. When Brett obtained his concession in 1847, West 
seemed to have given up the idea of availing himself of the 
permission granted to him. He renewed his request, however, 
in 1858, for power to lay cables in France, beginning in 1862, 
at which period Brett’s concession would expire. 
In a small work he published in 1850, Charles V. Walker, 
superintendent of the telegraphs on the South Eastern Railway, 
describes the first experiment in submarine telegraphy that had 
been made since those of Schilling described above. Gutta¬ 
percha had just been introduced into England. Mr. Walker 
having obtained the authorization of the administrative com¬ 
mission, 44 on the day appointed a steam-boat was placed at my 
disposal, and the directors issued cards of invitation including 
a free passage from Folkestone to Calais or Boulogne and 
oack. 
44 1 had selected two miles of copper wire No. 16, covered 
with gutta-percha, and had myself tested it under water, piece 
by piece, as well as the joinings. Then I had the wife wound 
on a reel and brought to Folkestone. 
44 The sketch of the port of Folkestone (Fig. 35) will explain 
the details of our experiments. A branch from the main line 
of the railway, of about a mile in length, goes down to the port 
and enters the station across the moveable bridge shown in the 
figure. The telegraph office is the last of the lower range of 
buildings beyond the station. At 9 o’clock in the evening, I 
tested for the last time the continuity of the wire by placing 
the reel on the sand and connecting the covered wire with the 
wire proceeding from London; then with the water at our feet 
and by the light of the lamps, in the midst of a group of won¬ 
dering fishermen, sailors and others, we found by holding a 
conversation with London that the circuit was good. 
44 It was our intention to take next day the reel into the boat, 
move nearly in a line with the shore, and unwinding the wire, 
sink it as we went along, and then remain at anchor until the 
