But the
public had lost confidence in the scheme, and all his efforts to revive
the company were futile. It was not until 1864 that with the assistance
of Mr. Thomas (afterwards Lord) Brassey, and Mr. (now Sir) John Fender,
that he succeeded in raising the necessary capital. The Glass, Elliot,
and Gutta-Percha Companies were united to form the well-known Telegraph
Construction and Maintenance Company, which undertook to manufacture and
lay the new cable.
Much experience had been gained in the meanwhile. Long cables had been
submerged in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The Board of Trade in
1859 had appointed a committee of experts, including Professor
Wheatstone, to investigate the whole subject, and the results were
published in a Blue-book. Profiting by these aids, an improved type of
cable was designed. The core consisted of a strand of seven very pure
copper wires weighing 300 lbs. a knot, coated with Chatterton's
compound, which is impervious to water, then covered with four layers of
gutta-percha alternating with four thin layers of the compound
cementing the whole, and bringing the weight of the insulator to 400
lbs. per knot. This core was served with hemp saturated in a
preservative solution, and on the hemp as a padding were spirally wound
eighteen single wires of soft steel, each covered with fine strands of
Manilla yam steeped in the preservative.
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