"Thus I Ask Your Indulgence To Make Reference To A Question Which Is
Decidedly Irish, But Is Also Imperial, In
The sense that it affects the
lives of large numbers of persons, especially of the emigrant class,
and is interesting
To all the navigation and commerce of necessity
passing the north-west extremity of Ireland.
"If your readers will refer to the map they will see, outside the
north-west corner of the mainland of Ireland, Tory Island. It was on
Tory Island that 'The Wasp' and her gallant captain were lost, without
hope of rescue, for want of cable communication; and Tory Island itself
has excited the interest of the philanthropist on many occasions. On
Tory Island there is a lighthouse, with a fixed light, which can be
seen sixteen miles. Not long ago, as I learn, a deputation from the
Board of Irish Lighthouses went all the way to England to beg the Board
of Trade, at Whitehall, to sanction the expenditure of eight hundred
pounds, with a view to double the power of the light on Tory Island.
Perhaps the Board of Trade, after some interval of time, may see their
way to do what any man of business would decide upon in five minutes as
obvious and essential. But that is not the point I wish to lay before
you. My point is, that while the lighthouse on Tory Island is good for
warning ships, and may, as above, be made more effective, no use is
made of it in the way of transmitting ship intelligence.
"I ask, therefore, to be allowed to advocate the connection of Tory
Island, by telegraph cable, with the mainland of Ireland and its
telegraph system. The cost of doing this one way would, as I estimate,
be two thousand five hundred pounds; the cost of doing it another way
would be about six thousand pounds.
"The first way would be by a cable from the lighthouse on Tory Island,
leaving either Portdoon Bay, on the east end of Tory Island, or leaving
Camusmore Bay on the south of it, and landing either on the sandy beach
at Drumnafinny Point, or at Tramore Bay, where there is a similarly
favourable beach. The distance in the former case is six and a half, in
the latter seven and a half miles, the distance being slightly affected
by the starting point selected. Adopting this route at a cost of two
thousand five hundred pounds, which would include about twenty miles of
cheap land telegraphs, available for postal and other local purposes,
would be the shortest and cheapest mode.
"The second way would be to lay a cable from Tory Island to Malin Head,
where the Allan Steamship Company have a signal station. The distance
is twenty-nine miles; the cost, as I estimate, about six thousand
pounds. I should, however, prefer the former and cheaper plan, as I
think it would serve a larger number of purposes and interests.
"From Portdoon Bay, on Tory Island, to Tramore Bay the sea-bottom is
composed of sand and shells, very good for cable-laying; and there is a
depth of water of from seventeen to nineteen fathoms.
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