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to the country would, of course, be valuable in the interest of our manufacturers. The principal exports would be raw produce, such as gold dust, hides, and silk. Extensive coal seams are believed to exist in the country. The Coreans should be made to understand that their existence as a nation, and their best safe- guard against Russian aggression, depends upon their opening the country to other Powers (4418). Several unsuccessful attempts to establish trading relations have been made. Further attempts would be attended with risk. An American tried it, and the Coreans. burnt his ship and murdered the crew. An Italian ship did lately succeed in communicating with Corean officers direct (4435). They must be dealt with straight. A short time ago they treated a wrecked British ship well and rescued the crew. This occurrence seemed to offer a favourable opportunity of opening relations, and the attempt was made, but the Coreans would not accept any acknowledgment (4431-4433). They are less bar- barous than formerly, and have engaged by their Treaty with Japan to give up shipwrecked foreigners (4366).
Sir H. Parkes has no instructions at present to attempt to open relations. If he had, something might be done (4415, 4416). The best way to proceed would be to communicate direct, and send an intimation to China. A British Mission and a Chinese Mission might be dispatched at the same time. In 1875 there
was
a probability of war, instigated by Russia, between Corea and Japan. As it turned out, instead of war a Commercial Treaty was negotiated (4364), by which three ports in Corea were opened to the Japanese (4417). Japan has given up all idea of war (4434),
but the relations between the two countries are not cordial (4377).
The line of telegraph runs past Port Hamilton, from Pousiette through the Japanese sea to Shanghae, and is under Russian control, though nominally in the hands of a Danish Company (4386).
Japanese coal is cheap, but not very good. Our ships coal at Nagasaki, which is 200 miles from Port Hamilton. New South Wales coal is brought to Japan, and costs 27. a ton (4392–4394).
Sir CHARLES BRIGHT.
May 3, 1881.
Most commercial transactions of any importance are now effected by telegraph and confirmed by letter (4442, 4443), and the maintenance of ocean telegraphs would be no less important in time of war than in time of peace (4441). Interruption of communication would, for a time, partly paralyze trade, but before the commencement of any great war, the loss of communi- cation would probably be discounted by the commercial world, and arrangements would be made beforehand to do without it as much as possible (4444, 4445).
Most of the important lines are now duplicated, but not many years ago interruptions used to be of fre- quent occurrence. The line between Singapore and Hong Kong has been stopped, and so has the line from Havana to Florida. In such cases the quickest avail- able steamer has been employed to carry the messages while the cable was under repair (4446). Cables are often damaged by anchors, especially in the Channel (4457).
In almost every part of the world, where there is a large system of submarine telegraphs, there are specially arranged vessels always ready, with supplies of cable, the necessary appliances, and a skilled staff, for carry- ing out repairs (4447). All but two or three are British ships (4467-4470, 4563). Almost any com- mercial steamer would be more or less adaptable, if the apparatus and stores were near at hand (4448).
A cable can be cut under water by means of cutting grapnels. The operation is so simple that it requires no particular skill or experience. Any naval officer would be competent to undertake such a duty. It is always advisable to heave the cable up before cutting, to make sure of having caught it (4449, 4450, 4512). It is more difficnlt to lift a cable in deep than in
shallow water. In the former case a special ship is required, powerful machinery, and a great length of grappling-rope, which takes up much room (4451- 4454, 4585). For a depth of 40 or 50 fathoms special appliances are not required. Auy ship of war, or large merchant-ship would be able to sever a telegraph cable with her ordinary stores in 40 fathoms (4454, 4455, 4536). The heavy shore ends, which generally go down to about this depth, and the deep sea cable, which, for the most part, lies at great depths, would both be harder to raise than the cable of intermediate thickness which would be found in from 60 to 150 fathoms (4456, 4520, 4533, 4546).
A cable is easy to find near the shore, but difficult to lift owing to the weight of the shore end. It is not always easy to find a cable in mid-ocean, especially if the bottom is rocky or the weather bad (4458, 4462). There is no published chart showing the real positions of the cables. They are laid down exactly upon private charts, and with these a cable could be picked up almost certainly within a day or two in fine weather (4507). The positions of the Atlantic cables are well known, and are shown in the Companies' maps with sufficient accuracy to enable them to be picked up without great loss of time (4459). The positions of the lines would probably be known in a general way to foreign officers on the stations (4509).
Duplicate cables are laid in most cases not less than 30 or 40 miles apart, so that in case of repairs being needed, the wrong cable should not be hooked in grap- pling (4498-4450). In the Red Sea they are neces- sarily close in the narrow parts (4501). Some of the published charts show duplicate lines (4506).
The vulnerable points of the telegraph system are very numerous (4471-4473). The Atlantic lines are perhaps the safest, owing to the difficulty of insuring the destruction of all. The most dangerous section would be on or near the Banks of Newfound and (4474-4477, 4550). The most exposed lines of com- munication would be those with China and Australia, which lie to a large extent in shallow water, and the West Indian cables, which have many shore ends (4478, 4479).
Except in deep water, a cable can be quickly severed, even at night. In bad weather the grappling tackle sustains great damage, and the operation is uncertain, owing to the motion of the ship (4463– 4467). During the war in 1857, Hobart Pasha picked up the cable near Odessa, buoyed it, and communicated through it from time to time with Constantinople (4481). In the war between Chile and Peru, the Chileans fished up and used the cables between Val- paraiso and Callao (4482, 44883). In both instances the cables were raised with the ordinary appliances of a man-of war (4484). In 1878, the Russians were making arrangements for cutting cables, and for equip- ping vessels for that special purpose (4485-4490). The necessary machinery and fittings are not complí- cated, and could be speedily supplied (4564, 4505). It is believed that the Russians intended to destroy the Australian cables, with the object of cutting off the ships coming home before we could telegraph out. There are many places where such an operation could be carried out; nearly all this line beyond Singapore is in shallow water (4491, 4494-4497). Russian ships coming out from Vladivostock could easily destroy a large portion of our submarine telegraph system in the Eastern seas (4492, 4493).
The only mode of securing the cables would be by patrolling with ships of war at places where they were most likely to be destroyed, which would always be in shallow water (4461). It would be advisable to keep large depôts of cable in places where the lines centre, so that not only could a line be repaired at short notice, but an alternative line could be laid over a route un- known to the enemy (4521-4528, 4529). general depth of different seas is fairly well known, but near the landing-places, where the ground is often rocky and the changes of depth sudden it would be necessary to take some survey which could be done while the ship was taking in cable (4522, 4532).
The
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