Part 5

Once Sibley and the other American telegraph pioneers had spanned the continent, they began plans for spanning the globe. Their idea was to unite America and Europe by a line stretched through British Columbia, Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and Siberia. Siberia had been connected with European Russia, and thus practically the entire line could be stretched on land, only short submarine cables being necessary. It was then seriously doubted that cables long enough to cross the Atlantic were practicable. The expedition started in 1865, a fleet of thirty vessels carrying the men and supplies. Tremendous difficulties had been overcome and a considerable part of the work accomplished when the successful completion of the Atlantic cable made the work useless. Nearly three million dollars had been expended by the Western Union in this attempt. Yet, despite this loss, its affairs were so generally successful and the need for the telegraph so real that it continued to thrive until it reached its present remarkable development.

While the line-builders were busy stretching telegraph wires into almost every city and town in the nation, others were perfecting the apparatus. Alfred Vail was a leading figure in this work. Already he had played a large part in designing and constructing the apparatus to carry out Morse's ideas, and he continued to improve and perfect until practically nothing remained of Morse's original apparatus. The original Morse transmitter had consisted of a porte-rule and movable type. This was cumbersome, and Vail substituted a simple key to make and break the circuit. Vail had also constructed the apparatus to emboss the message upon the moving strip of paper, but this he now improved upon. The receiving apparatus was simplified and the pen was replaced by a disk smeared with ink which marked the dots and dashes upon the paper.

As we have noticed, Morse took particular pride in the fact that the receiving apparatus in his telegraph was self-recording, and considered this as one of the most important parts of his system. But when the telegraph began to come into commercial use the operators at the receiving end noticed that they could read the messages from the long and short periods between the clicks of the receiving mechanism. Thus they were taking the message by ear and the recording mechanism was superfluous. Rules and fines failed to break them of the habit, and Vail, recognizing the utility of the development, constructed a receiver which had no recording device, but from which the messages were read by listening to the clicks as the armature struck against the frame in which it was set. Thus the telegraph returned in its elements to the form of Professor Henry's original bell telegraph.

With his bell telegraph and his relay Henry had the elements of a successful system. He failed, however, to develop them practically or to introduce them to the attention of the public. He was the man of science rather than the practical inventor. Alfred Vail, joining with Morse after the latter had conceived the telegraph, but before his apparatus was in practical form, was a tireless and invaluable mechanical assistant. His inventions of apparatus were of the utmost practical value, and he played a very large part in bringing the telegraph to a form where it could serve man effectively. After success had been won Morse did not extend to Vail the credit which it seems was his due.

Yet, though Morse made free use of the ideas and assistance of others, he was richly deserving of a major portion of the fame and the rewards that came to him as inventor of the telegraph. Morse was the directing genius; he contributed the idea and the leadership, and bore the brunt of the burdens when all was most discouraging.

Honors were heaped upon Morse both at home and abroad as his telegraph established itself in all parts of the world. Orders of knighthood, medals, and decorations were conferred upon him. Though he had failed to secure foreign patents, many of the foreign governments recognized the value of his invention, and France, Austria, Belgium, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, and some smaller nations joined in paying him a testimonial of four hundred thousand francs. It is to be noticed that Great Britain did not join in this testimonial, though Morse's system had been adopted there in preference to the one developed by Wheatstone.

In 1871 a statue of Morse was erected in Central Park, New York City. It was in the spring of the next year that another statue was unveiled, this time one of Benjamin Franklin, and Morse presided at the ceremonies. The venerable man received a tremendous ovation on this occasion, but the cold of the day proved too great a strain upon him. He contracted a cold which eventually resulted in his death on April 2, 1872.

While extended consideration cannot be given here to the telegraphic inventions of Thomas A. Edison, no discussion of the telegraph should close without at least some mention of his work in this field. Edison started his career as a telegrapher, and his first inventions were improvements in the telegraph. His more recent and more wonderful inventions have thrown his telegraphic inventions into the shadow. On the telegraph as invented by Morse but one message could be sent over a single wire at one time. It was later discovered that two messages' could be sent over the single wire in opposite directions at the same time. This was called duplex telegraphy. Edison invented duplex telegraphy by which two messages could be sent over the same wire in the same direction at the same time. Later he succeeded in combining the two, which resulted in the quadruplex, by which four messages may be sent over one wire at one time. Though Edison received comparatively little for this invention, its commercial value may be estimated from the statement by the president of the Western Union that it saved that company half a million dollars in a single year. Edison's quadruplex system was also adopted by the British lines.

Before this he had perfected an automatic telegraph, work on which had been begun by George Little, an Englishman. Little could make the apparatus effective only over a short line and attained no very great speed. Edison improved the apparatus until it transmitted thirty-five hundred words a minute between New York and Philadelphia. Such is the perfection to which Morse's marvel has been brought in the hands of the most able of modern inventors.

VIII

TELEGRAPHING BENEATH THE SEA

Early Efforts at Underwater Telegraphy--Cable Construction and Experimentation--The First Cables--The Atlantic Cable Projected--Cyrus W. Field Becomes Interested--Organizes Atlantic Telegraph Company--Professor Thomson as Scientific Adviser--His Early Life and Attainments.

The idea of laying telegraph wires beneath the sea was discussed long before a practical telegraph for use on land had been attained. It is recorded that a Spaniard suggested submarine telegraphy in 1795. Experiments were conducted early in the nineteenth century with various materials in an effort to find a covering for the wires which would be both a non-conductor of electricity and impervious to water. An employee of the East India Company made an effort to lay a cable across the river Hugli as early as 1838. His method was to coat the wire with pitch inclose it in split rattan, and then wrap the whole with tarred yarn. Wheatstone discussed a Calais-Dover cable in 1840, but it remained for Morse to actually lay an experimental cable. We have already heard of his experiments in New York Harbor in 1842. His insulation was tarred hemp and India rubber. Wheatstone performed a similar experiment in the Bay of Swansea a few months later.

Perhaps the first practical submarine cable was laid by Ezra Cornell, one of Morse's associates, in 1845. He laid twelve miles of cable in the Hudson River, connecting Fort Lee with New York City. The cable consisted of two cotton-covered wires inclosed in rubber, and the whole incased in a lead pipe. This cable was in use for several months until it was carried away by the ice in the winter of 1846.

These early experimenters found the greatest difficulty in incasing their wires in rubber, practical methods of working that substance being then unknown. The discovery of gutta-percha by a Scotch surveyor of the East India Company in 1842, and the invention of a machine for applying it to a wire, by Dr. Werner Siemens, proved a great aid to the cable-makers. These gutta-percha-covered wires were used for underground telegraphy both in England and on the Continent. Tests were made with such a cable for submarine work off Dover in 1849, and, proving successful, the first cable across the English Channel was laid the next year by John Watkins Brett. The cable was weighted with pieces of lead fastened on every hundred yards. A few incoherent signals were exchanged and the communication ceased. A Boulogne fisherman had caught the new cable in his trawl, and, raising it, had cut a section away. This he had borne to port as a great treasure, believing the copper to be gold in some new form of deposit. This experience taught the need of greater protection for a cable, and the next year another was laid across the Channel, which was protected by hemp and wire wrappings. This proved successful. In 1852 England and Ireland were joined by cable, and the next year a cable was laid across the North Sea to Holland. The success of these short cables might have promised success in an attempt to cross the Atlantic had not failures in the deep water of the Mediterranean made it seem an impossibility.

We have noted that Morse suggested the possibility of uniting Europe and America by cable. The same thought had occurred to others, but the undertaking was so vast and the problems so little understood that for many years none were bold enough to undertake the project. A telegraph from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland, was planned, however, which was to lessen the time of communication between the continents. News brought by boats from England could be landed at St. John's and telegraphed to New York, thus saving two days. F.N. Gisborne secured the concession for such a line in 1852, and began the construction. Cables were required to connect Newfoundland with the continent, and to cross the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but the rest of the line was to be strung through the forests.

Before much had been accomplished, Gisborne had run out of funds, and work was suspended. In 1854 Gisborne met Cyrus West Field, of New York, a retired merchant of means. Field became interested in Gisborne's project, and as he examined the globe in his library the thought occurred to him that the line to St. John's was but a start on the way to England. The idea aroused his enthusiasm, and he determined to embark upon the gigantic enterprise. He knew nothing of telegraph cables or of the sea-bottom, and so sought expert information on the subject.

One important question was as to the condition of the sea-bottom on which the cable must rest. Lieutenant Berryman of the United States Navy had taken a series of soundings and stated that the sea-bottom between Newfoundland and Ireland was a comparatively level plateau covered with soft ooze, and at a depth of about two thousand fathoms. This seemed to the investigators to have been provided for the especial purpose of receiving a submarine cable, so admirably was it suited to this purpose. Morse was consulted, and assured Field that the project was entirely feasible, and that a submarine cable once laid between the continents could be operated successfully.

Field thereupon adopted the plans of Gisborne as the first step in the larger undertaking. In 1855 an attempt was made to lay a cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but a storm arose, and the cable had to be cut to save the ship from which it was being laid. Another attempt was made the following summer with better equipment, and the cable was successfully completed. Other parts of the line had been finished, the telegraph now stretched a thousand miles toward England, and New York was connected with St. John's.

Desiring more detailed information of the ocean-bed along the proposed route, Field secured the assistance of the United States and British governments. Lieutenant Berryman, U.S.N., in the _Arctic_, and Lieutenant Dayman, R.N., in the _Cyclops_, made a careful survey. Their soundings revealed a ridge near the Irish coast, but the slope was gradual and the general conditions seemed especially favorable.

The preliminary work had been done by an American company with Field at the head and Morse as electrician. Now Field went to England to secure capital sufficient for the larger enterprise. With the assistance of Mr. J.W. Brett he organized the Atlantic Telegraph Company, Field himself supplying a quarter of the capital. Associated with Field and Brett in the leadership of the enterprise was Charles Tiltson Bright, a young Englishman who became engineer for the new company.

Besides the enormous engineering difficulties of producing a cable long enough and strong enough, and laying it at the bottom of the Atlantic, there were electrical problems involved far greater than Morse seems to have realized. It had been discovered that the passage of a current through a submarine cable is seriously retarded. The retarding of the current as it passes through the water is a difficulty that does not exist with the land telegraph stretched on poles. Faraday had demonstrated that this retarding was caused by induction between the electricity in the wire and the water about the cable. The passage of the current through the wire induces currents in the water, and these moving in the opposite direction act as a drag on the passage of the message through the wire. What the effect of this phenomenon would be on a cable long enough to cross the Atlantic wan a serious problem that required deep study by the company's engineers. It seemed entirely possible that the messages would move so slowly that the operation of the cable, once it was laid, would not pay.

Faraday failed to give any definite information on the subject, but Professor William Thomson worked out the law of retardation accurately and furnished to the cable-builders the accurate information which was required. Doctor Whitehouse, electrician for the Atlantic Company, conducted some experiments of his own and questioned the accuracy of Thomson's statements. Thomson maintained his position so ably, and proved himself so thoroughly a master of the subject that Field and his associates decided to enlist him in the enterprise. This addition to the forces was one of the utmost importance. William Thomson, later to become Lord Kelvin, was probably the ablest scientist of his generation, and was destined to prove his great abilities in his early work with the Atlantic cable.

William Thomson was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1824. His father was a teacher and took an especially keen interest in the affairs of his boys because their mother had died while William was very young. When William was eight years of age his father removed to Glasgow, Scotland, where he had secured the chair of mathematics in Glasgow University. His early education he secured from his father, and this training, coupled with his natural brilliancy, enabled him to develop genuine precocity. At the age of eight he attended his father's university lectures as a visitor, and it is reported that on one occasion he answered his father's questions when all of the class had failed. At the age of ten he entered the university, together with his brother James, who was but two years older. The brothers displayed marked interest in science and invention, eagerly pursued their studies in these branches, and performed many electrical experiments together.

James took the degrees B.A. and M.A. in successive years. Though William also passed the examinations, he did not take the degrees, because he had decided to go to Cambridge, and it was thought best that he take all his degrees from that great school. In writing to his older brother at this time, William was accustomed to sign himself "B.A.T.A.I.A.P.," which signified "B.A. to all intents and purposes." After finishing their work at Glasgow the boys traveled extensively on the Continent.

At seventeen William entered St. Peter's College, Cambridge University, taking courses in advanced mathematics and continuing to distinguish himself. He took an active part in the life of the university, making something of a record us an athlete, winning the silver sculls, and rowing on a 'varsity crew which took the measure of Oxford in the great annual boat-race. He also interested himself in literature and music, but his real passion was science. Already he had written many learned essays on mathematical electricity and was accomplishing valuable research work. On the completion of his work at Cambridge he secured a fellowship which brought him an income of a thousand dollars a year and enabled him to pursue his studies in Paris.

When he was but twenty-two years of age he was made professor of natural philosophy at the University of Glasgow. Though young, he proved entirely successful, and wan immensely popular with his students. At that time the university had no experimental laboratory, and Professor Thomson and his pupils performed their experiments in the professor's room and in an abandoned coal-cellar, slowly developing a laboratory for themselves. His development continued until, when at the age of thirty-three he was called upon to assist with the work of laying an Atlantic cable, he was possessed of scientific attainments which made him invaluable among the cable pioneers.

IX

THE PIONEER ATLANTIC CABLE

Making the Cable--The First Attempt at Laying--Another Effort Checked by Storm--The Cable Laid at Last--Messages Cross the Ocean--The Cable Fails--Professor Thomson's Inventions and Discoveries--Their Part in Designing and Constructing an Improved Cable and Apparatus.

Field and his business associates were extremely anxious that the cable be laid with all possible speed, and little time was allowed the engineers and electricians for experimentation. The work of building the cable was begun early in 1857 by two English firms. It consisted of seven copper wires covered with gutta-percha and wound with tarred hemp. Over this were wound heavy iron wires to give protection and added strength. The whole weighed about a ton to the mile, and was both strong and flexible. The distance from the west coast of Ireland to Newfoundland being 1,640 nautical miles, it was decided to supply 2,500 miles of cable, an extra length being, of course, necessary to allow for the inequalities at the bottom of the sea, and the possibility of accident.

The British and American governments had already provided subsidies, and they now supplied war-ships for use in the work of laying the cable. The _Agamemnon_, one of the largest of England's war-ships, and the _Niagara_, giant of the United States Navy, were to do the actual work of cable-laying, the cable being divided between them. They were accompanied by the United States frigate _Susquehanna_ and the British war-ships _Leopard_ and _Cyclops_. In August of 1857 the fleet assembled on the Irish coast for the start, and the American sailors landed the end of the cable amid great ceremony.

The work of cable-laying was begun by the _Niagara_, which steamed slowly away, accompanied by the fleet. The great cable payed out smoothly as the Irish coast was left behind and the frigate increased her speed. The submarine hill with its dangerous slopes was safely passed, and it was felt that the greatest danger was past. The paying-out machinery seemed to be working perfectly. Telegraphic communication was constantly maintained with the shore end. For six days all went well and nearly four hundred miles of cable had been laid.

With the cable dropping to the bottom two miles down it was found that it was flowing out at the rate of six miles an hour while the _Niagara_ was steaming but four. It was evident that the cable was being wasted, and to prevent its running out too fast at this great depth the brake controlling the flow of the cable was tightened. The stern of the vessel rising suddenly on a wave, the strain proved too great and the cable parted and was lost. Instant grief swept over the ship and squadron, for the heart of every one was in the great enterprise. It was felt that it would be useless to attempt to grapple the cable at this great depth, and there seemed nothing to do but abandon it and return.

The loss of the cable and of a year's time--since another attempt could not be made until the next season--resulted in a total loss to the company of half a million dollars. Public realization of the magnitude of the task had been awakened by the failure of the first expedition and Field found it far from easy to raise additional capital. It was finally accomplished, however, and a new supply of cable was constructed.

Professor Thomson had been studying the problems of submarine telegraphy with growing enthusiasm, and had now arrived at the conclusion that the conductivity of the cable depended very largely upon the purity of the copper employed. He accordingly saw to it that in the construction of the new section all the wires were carefully tested and such as did not prove perfect were discarded. In the mean time the engineers were busy improving the paying-out machinery. They designed an automatic brake which would release the cable instantly upon the strain becoming too great. It was thus hoped to avoid a recurrence of the former accident. Chief-Engineer Bright also arranged a trial trip for the purpose of drilling the staff in their various duties.

The same vessels were provided to lay the cable on the second attempt and the fleet sailed in June of 1858, this time without celebration or public ceremony. On this occasion the recommendation of Chief-Engineer Bright was followed, and it was arranged that the _Niagara_ and _Agamemnon_ should meet in mid-ocean, there splice the cable together and proceed in opposite directions, laying the cable simultaneously. On this expedition Professor Thomson was to assume the real scientific leadership, Professor Morse, though he retained his position with the company, taking no active part.

The ships had not proceeded any great distance before they ran into a terrible gale. The _Agamemnon_ had an especially difficult time of it, her great load of cable overbalancing the ship and threatening to break loose again and again and carry the great vessel and her precious cargo to the bottom. The storm continued for over a week, and when at last it had blown itself out the _Agamemnon_ resembled a wreck and many of her crew had been seriously injured. But the cable had been saved and the expedition was enabled to proceed to the rendezvous. The _Niagara_, a larger ship, had weathered the storm without mishap.