end of the Cable was got in over the bows, and the picking-up engine was
set to work, it was discovered that the locomotive boiler intended to
keep up a head of steam for the machinery, was defective. Steam was then
supplied by one of the boilers of the ship: the drums and wheels of the
picking-up machinery began to revolve, slowly dragging in the Cable over
the bows, with a strain which at times rose from 10 cwt. to 30 cwt.,
leaving a very large margin before the breaking point was reached. The
ship’s bows were kept up to the line of the Cable with great cleverness,
and Mr. Canning and his assistants were perfectly satisfied with their
progress. It would be too much to expect that all on board should be so
easily contented; for in fact the process of picking-up is of the
slowest--a mile an hour was considered to be a fair rate of speed, and a
mile and a-quarter was something to be very thankful for. Still, the
prospect of returning to Ireland and getting back to the shore end, at
the highest of these retrogressive celerities, did not prove attractive.
Our position, by observation at noon, was Lat. 52° 2´ 30´´, Long. 12°
17´ 30´´. As the Cable was in fair working order, Mr. Canning
transmitted a message to Mr. Glass at Knightstown, to send out the
Hawk, in order that he might return in her, and ascertain if the shore
end of the Cable were defective. If that were not the case, he proposed
to sacrifice the portion of Cable already laid, to return and make a new
splice of the main line with the shore end, and to start afresh. In the
course of the evening a message was received from Mr. Glass, informing
Mr. Canning that the Hawk should be sent out as soon as she had coaled
the Caroline. The Terrible sent her First Lieutenant, Mr. Prowse, on
board, to see if she could render us any assistance. The Sphinx was
busied in taking soundings all round the ship, which showed depths
varying from 400 to 480 fathoms. The operation of picking up proceeded
all day and all night--the weather being fine but cloudy.
_Tuesday, July 25th._--The Hawk was observed soon after daybreak coming
towards the Great Eastern. The wind was still light and the sea
moderate. All during the night the process of picking up was carefully
carried on, the Big Ship behaving beautifully, and hanging lightly over
the Cable, as if fearful of breaking the slender cord which swayed up
and down in the ocean. Indeed, so delicately did she answer her helm and
coil in the film of thread-like Cable over her bows, that she put one in
mind of an elephant taking up a straw in its proboscis. At 7·15 a.m.,
Greenwich time, 9½ miles of Cable had been picked up from the sea,
and the thin greyish coating of mud which dropped from it showed that
the bed of the Atlantic here was of a soft ooze. The Cable had been cut
twice on board, to enable the electricians to apply tests separately to
the coils in the tanks. At 9 a.m., ship’s time, when somewhat more than
10¼ miles had been hauled in, to the joy of all the “fault” was
discovered. The Cable came in with flagrant evidence of the mischief.
The cause of so much anxiety, delay, and bitter disappointment turned
out to be a piece of wire of the same kind as that used in the
protecting strands of the Cable itself. It was two inches long or
so--rather bent in the middle, with one end sharp and bright, as if from
a sharp fracture or being cut by a pair of pliers--the other end blunt
and jagged. This piece of wire had been forced through the outer
covering of the Cable into the gutta percha, so as to injure the
insulation, but no one could tell how it got into the tank. The general
impression was, that it was a piece of Cable or other wire which had
been accidently carried into the tank, and forced into the coil by the
pressure of the paying-out machinery as the Cable flew between the
jockey-wheels.
Measures were at once taken to make a new splice and joint, rejecting
the Cable picked up, a good deal of which had been strained in the
process. Signals were made to the fleet that the enemy had been
detected, at 9 a.m., and the Terrible replied, “I congratulate you.”
First a splice was made in the Cable where it had been cut, for the
purpose of testing between the after and fore tanks, and all admired the
neatness and strength with which it was performed--the conducting wires
soldered and lapped over--the gutta percha heated and moulded on the
junction; and, finally, the strands carried over the core and secured.
During the operation the Hawk returned to Valentia with our letters, and
with the good news, which, however, must have been anticipated by the
Cable itself. The splice and joint of the end of Cable towards the shore
and the end from the after tank was next made. Then these splices were
carefully tested and found perfect, and the stream of electricity was
once more sent direct to Valentia. After a detention of some twelve
hours, the paying-out machinery was again put in action, and the Cable
glided out rapidly astern. All seemed to go well. About half a mile of
wire had been paid out, when suddenly all communication between the
shore and ship ceased altogether! From great contentment there was
sudden blank despair! The operators were in consternation. The news
spread from end to end of the ship, which again lay in restless quiet on
the waters. The faces of the most cheerful became overcast--gloomy
forebodings filled men’s minds all at once. Why had the Hawk been sent
back? Why were not more tests made before she left? Away worked the
electricians in their room, connecting and disconnecting, putting in and
taking out stops--intensifying and reducing currents. Not a sign! Not a
shadow of a sign! Mr. de Sauty suggested they had got hold of the wrong
wires, and professors opined that the operators had done wrong in
spending time over the splice between the two tanks at the critical
moment when they should have been watching the signals from the shore.
Anxious groups gathered round the Testing-Room, and the bolder popped in
their heads, as if they could learn anything from the dumb mute wires
and the clicking of the chronometers, or from the silent operators who
bent over the instruments. At 3·15 p.m. the Cable between the two tanks
was again cut, and examination was made to make sure no error had been
made in the communications. Again the wearisome energy of the picking-up
apparatus was to be called into play--once more the Cable was to be
shackled and thrown overboard, and hauled up to the bows and pulled out
of the water. Such a Penelope’s web in 24 hours, all out of this single
thread, was surely disheartening. The Cable in the fore and the main
tanks answered to the tests most perfectly. But that Cable which went
seaward was sullen, and broke not its sulky silence. Even the gentle
equanimity and confidence of Mr. Field were shaken in that supreme hour,
and in his heart he may for a moment have sheltered, though he did not
nurture, the thought that the dream of his life was indeed but a
chimæra. Who could bear up against a life of picking-up? And our
paying-out seemed to have such an undue share of the reverse process
attached to it! But there was a change in the fortunes of the ship and
of its freight. The index light suddenly reappeared on its path in the
Testing-Room, and the wearied watchers were gladdened by the lighting of
the beacon of hope once more. Again there was one of those mutations to
which the flesh of submarine telegraph layers is born heir, and after a
few moments of breathless solicitude, it was announced that the signals
between the ship and the shore had been restored, and that every instant
developed their strength. Mr. de Sauty came out of the Testing-Room to
inform Professor Thomson of the fact, and Mr. Canning’s operations at
the bows of the ship for picking up were most gratefully suspended by
the intelligence that the machinery would not be required. At 4·15 p.m.
the ship steamed on ahead again, and the Terrible and Sphinx were
signalled to come on, 37 hours and 10 minutes having been lost by the
fault, and consequent detentions. Our position, at noon was found to be,
Lat. 51° 58´, Long. 12° 11´; total distance from Valentia, 66½ miles;
total Cable payed-out 74 miles (per centage of slack being 14 miles),
distance from Heart’s Content, 1,596 miles. The communication with shore
continued to improve, and was, in the language of telegraphers, O. K.
The alternations of hope and fear to which we had been exposed were now
pleasantly terminated for the evening, and the saloon became the scene
of joyous and animated conversation, and of a good deal of scientific
discussion, till the approach of midnight.
The cause of the detention was argued fully, but it was not easy to
determine how it came to pass the signalling had been interrupted; it
was generally accounted for by the supposition that the order of the
tests had become deranged whilst the splices were being made on board,
and some of the electricians were inclined to think that the system was
defective, because the intervals were so long that the fault might be
overboard some time before it could be detected.
As the sea and wind rose a little, the speed of the ship was diminished
from 6½ knots to 5 knots, at which rate the Cable ran out beautifully
throughout the night.
_July 26th._--The course of the Cable ran smoothly all throughout the
night. At 8 a.m. the Great Eastern was 150 miles from Valentia, and
161½ miles of Cable, including the shore end, had been laid--the loss
by slack being only 7·63 per cent. The morning was hazy, and a strong
wind from the north-west brought up rather a heavy sea, but the Great
Eastern was as steady as a Thames steamer; indeed the stability of the
vessel was a never-ending theme of admiration. Our consorts were not so
indifferent to the roll of the Atlantic. The Terrible thumped through
the heavy sea, and buried her bows in foam with dogged determination.
The Sphinx gave very unmistakable indications of having a harder enigma
than she bargained for, as she engaged in her task of taking soundings,
which now had become important. We were getting into deep water, having
passed the bank on which there is only 200 fathoms, and had come
suddenly to the slope beginning with 700 fathoms, and running in one
degree to 1,750 fathoms. This slope is not, however, severer than that
of Holborn-hill, though it looks very severe upon the map. Towards noon
the sea and wind increased. The Sphinx, which first sent down topgallant
masts, finally sent down topmasts, but was unable to make head in the
sea way, and dropped further and further astern. At noon our course was
W.N.W. ¾ W., the wind being strong on the port bow, and the weather
thick all round, with drizzling mist. Our position was made out to be
Lat 52° 18´ 42´´, Long. 15° 10´´, distance run 111½ miles, Cable paid
out 125 miles, total distance from Valentia 178 miles. At 1·45 p.m. the
Terrible signalled that the Sphinx was unable to keep up with us, but
the Cable was running so easily it was resolved not to diminish our
speed. Later in the afternoon, the Terrible sent down topgallant masts;
later again, she signalled that we were going too fast for the Sphinx;
but as the Great Eastern was not exceeding 6½ knots an hour, at which
rate the Cable rolled off easily from the drums, the engineers did not
think it advisable to reduce her speed, and so the Sphinx was left
further astern, till at length she was hull down on the grey horizon.
Each hour it became more important to know what depth of water we were
in; and the inconvenience of parting with the Sphinx was felt, as well,
perhaps, as the defective nature of the arrangements with the Admiralty,
which had furnished only one sounding apparatus. The Terrible had got no
deep-sea sounding apparatus. There was none on board of the Great
Eastern. In deep-sea soundings a special apparatus is requisite, and the
leads and the lines ordinarily used by men-of-war only penetrate the
upper strata of the waters of the Atlantic. It was conjectured that we
had passed over the 2,050 fathoms’ soundings, and the Cable proved, by a
slightly increased pressure on the dynamometer, that its trail was
lengthening in the watery waste ere it ruffled the smooth surface of the
ooze two miles below. The insulation tests showed an improvement, and
the transmission of signals between the ship and the shore afforded most
satisfactory indications. At night the wind came round to the
north-west, the sea somewhat decreased, and as evening closed in, the
Terrible drew up on our beam, working two boilers; but when night fell,
the Sphinx was scarcely visible on the distant horizon.
[Illustration: E. Walker, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley
London, Day & Sons. Limited, Lith.
VIEW (LOOKING AFT) FROM THE PORT PADDLE BOX OF GREAT EASTERN SHOWING THE
TROUGH FOR CABLE &c.]
[Illustration: G. McCulloch, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London,
Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.
THE FORGE ON DECK. NIGHT OF AUGUST 9TH PREPARING THE IRON PLATING FOR
CAPSTAN.]
_July 27th._--Morning broke on a bright bounding sea and clear blue sky.
From the Testing-Room came gratifying reports of the improved insulation
of the Cable, which had been caused by the immersion of the Cable in
colder water. We were now approaching an undulation in the bed of the
Atlantic in which the soundings decreased rather abruptly from 2,100 to
1,529 fathoms. The engineers were perfectly satisfied with the manner in
which the machinery was working, and the mode in which the Cable ran
out. The complete success of the enterprise, after this fair start,
appeared to be a matter beyond doubt. The fore tank was now got ready
for the paying-out of the Cable as soon as the coils in the after tank
should be exhausted, and the framework for the crinoline was erected
over the hatchway. At noon, our position by observation was Lat. 52° 34´
30´´, Long. 19° 0´ 30´´, distance run 141 miles, distance from Valentia
320 miles, Cable paid out 158 miles. The Terrible was on our port beam
at some distance, but the Sphinx was nowhere visible, although our speed
had not much exceeded 6 knots an hour. There was in the universal
benevolence of the moment a feeling of sympathy for our lagging
guardians. The conviction grew that the work was nearly accomplished.
Some were planning out journeys through the United States, others
speculated on the probability of sport in Newfoundland: the date of our
arrival was already determined upon. The sound of the piano, a tribute
to our own contentment, rose from the saloon, and now and then the notes
of a violin became entwined in the melodious labyrinth through which the
amateur professors wandered with uncertain fingers. The artists sketched
vigorously. Men stretched their legs lustily along the decks, or
penetrated, with easy curiosity for the first time into the recesses of
the Leviathan that bore them. None of them indeed found out the
hiding-place of the ghost who haunts the ship; but they discovered
crypts under the tanks, and meandered and crept about the shafts and
boilers of the tremendous gloominess--vast and dark as the Halls of
Eblis. The ghost on board the Great Eastern, to which I have alluded, is
believed to be the disembodied essence of a poor plate-riveter, who
disappeared in some aperture of the nascent ship, never to be seen of
mortal eye again, and who was supposed to have been riveted up by the
hammers of preparation so closely that not even his spirit could escape.
And so it, or he, is heard at all hours, with ghostly hammer,
tap-tap-tapping on the iron walls of his prison as incessant as that
cruel Raven, even through the clangour of donkey-engines and the crash
of matter. There was now and then a slight indication of unsteadiness,
which made one uncertain whether the wine was very strong or the Great
Eastern unusually frolicsome; but, as a matter of fact and truth, not a
man aboard could imagine as he sat in the grand saloon that he was at
sea at all. Every hour on board the ship increased our regard for all
her qualities, except her capacity of making noise and producing smoke,
but both of these were tokens and necessary conditions of her high
working energies.
_July 28th._--A night more of joyous progress--all going on most
successfully--not a hitch in Cable, machinery, or ship. It was worth
while to go aft and look at the Cable as, every inch scanned by watchful
eyes, and noted in books, it flew through the whole apparatus of jockeys
and drums and dynamometers, and then in a gentle curve skimmed the
surface of the ocean more than 200 feet astern ere it went “plump,
plunging down amid the assembly of the whales.” Our course was N.W. ½
W., and the wind at W.N.W., not too strong, was just what we desired.
The Terrible kept on our port beam. The Sphinx was not to be seen. Our
position at noon was Lat. 52° 45´, Long. 23° 18´ 4´´ (another reading
gave 23° 15´ 45´´), distance run since yesterday 155½ miles, Cable
paid out 174 miles. Distance from Valentia 474 miles; distance from
Heart’s Content 1,188·5 miles. The water was supposed to vary from 1,529
to 1950 fathoms in depth. There was something almost monotonous in our
success; no ships to be seen, only our severe-looking consort, with her
black hull and two funnels and paddle-boxes, on the round blue shield of
which the Great Eastern was the boss. Even the sea-birds had begun to
leave us, and a whale and a few porpoises which revealed their beauties
to a favoured few were regarded as an envied treat. As the departure of
the Sphinx had left one flank open, and that the most vulnerable, the
Great Eastern signalled to the Terrible to prevent any vessel from the
N.W. crossing our course, and soon afterwards the man-of-war steamed and
took up her station on our starboard quarter, where she remained
throughout the day and night. There was a sense of companionship in
seeing her near us.
_Saturday, July 29th._--“Everything has gone on most admirably during
the night.” Such was the report from electricians, and engineers, and
officers this morning. The electrical condition of the Cable furnished
results most satisfactory to Mr. Varley and to Professor Thomson. The
tests showed that in copper-resistance, insulation, and every other
particular, the Cable was exhibiting an excellence far beyond the
specified standard. Coil after coil whirled off from the tank and passed
away to sea as easily as the lightning flash itself; and Valentia was
joined to us by a lengthening thread, which seemed stronger and more
sentient as it lengthened. In the night the Terrible had vanished, but
she came in sight in the morning, and drew up closer to us. As the sea
was calm, and the Cable ran out so beautifully, the speed of the
steamer, and consequent rate of paying-out of the Cable, were increased;
and it looked as if there was really no limit to the velocity at which
the process could be conducted under favouring circumstances. Yes;
“Heart’s Content” on August 5th was certain. What could prevent it? The
fault which had occurred was caused by an accident most unlikely to
happen again. So we pored over our maps and marked out the soundings in
the little bay in Newfoundland, and imagined what sort of place it was,
as men will do of spots they have never visited.
At noon our position was, Lat. 52° 33´ 30´´ (another reading, 52° 38´
30´´), Long. 27° 40´. Distance run, 160 miles. Distance from Valentia,
634·4 miles. Distance to Heart’s Content, 1,028 miles. The Great Eastern
had passed over the valley in the plateau where the Atlantic deepens to
2,400 fathoms. At 9 a.m. we had shoaled our water to 2000 fathoms, or 2
nautical miles.
Happy is the Cable-laying that has no history. Here might the day’s
record have well been closed. But it was not so to be. At 1·10 p.m.
(ship’s time), an ill-omened activity about the Testing-Room, which had
been visible for some time, reached its climax. The engines were slowed,
in five minutes the great ship was motionless. In an instant afterwards
every one was on deck, and the evil tidings flew from lip to lip.
Something was wrong with the Cable again. But the worst was not known.
“Another fault,” was the word. When I went into the Testing-Room and
found all the electricians so grave, I suspected more serious mischief
than a diminution of insulation; and so it was. They had found “dead
earth”--in other words, a complete destruction of insulation, and an
uninterrupted escape of the current into the sea. About 716 miles
(nautical) had been payed-out when the ship stopped so suddenly. Up to
2·40 o’clock, p.m. (Greenwich time), signals had been received from the
shore in regular routine. At 3 o’clock the electricians on board began
to send the current through to the shore, and in three minutes
afterwards the galvanometer indicated “dead earth.” So it was pretty
clear the injury was close to the ship, and had gone over in the
interval between 2·40 p.m. and 3·4 p.m. At 3^{h} 3´ 30´´ (Greenwich
time), the electrician on duty saw the index light of Thomson’s
galvanometer fly out of bounds whilst he was passing a current to
Valentia. The nature of the injury was so decided as to admit of no
doubt.
But in order to make assurance doubly sure two cuts were made in the
Cable, whilst the steam was being got up forward to be in readiness for
the most retrograde of all backward movements--picking-up. The whole
length of Cable in the tanks was first tested, and found to be in
admirable condition. Then a test outward gave “dead earth” not far
overboard. The next cut at the bottom of the coil in the after tank gave
the same result. The third cut was near the top of the coil in the after
tank, and confirmed the testimony of the other two tests. The usual
preparations were then made to shackle the Cable ere it was cut and
cast overboard with its tow rope of iron wire, an operation which always
caused the gravest misgivings. It was admitted that there was a certain
amount of danger in it, and more in the picking-up; but then, when the
question was asked “What would you do?” the answer was not so easy. At
first it might appear natural to back the ship, and take up the Cable
from the stern; but unfortunately ships in general will not steer stern
foremost, and the Great Eastern certainly would not. It was obvious that
if Cables could not be secured against “faults,” the mode of taking them
in would have to be amended.
This was one of the most harassing days we had yet encountered; but it
proved not to be the most trying we were to endure in our short eventful
history. All our calculations were falsified. Newfoundland was seen at
its true distance, the piano ceased, men discussed various schemes for
avoiding the transfer of the Cable from stern to the bow, on every
occasion of picking-up. But all our difficulty had been overcome with
such certainty, and it was so evident all would go well if no more
faults existed in the Cable, that faith, in the ultimate success of the
enterprise became, strengthened rather than diminished.
Whilst the tests were being made the Cable was running out by its own
weight and the drifting of the ship, at a strain varying from 8 cwt. to
20 cwt., giving at every fathom an increase of labour in the subsequent
picking up. The sailors regarded the process of cutting the Cable with
distrust; but the Cable men, accustomed to it, had no such serious
apprehensions. Still the whole system of iron chains, iron rope,
stoppers, and bights, is very complicated. The Cable cannot be checked
in such cases till an instant before it is cut, and must be let run out
for fear of the ship dragging upon it; and to the inexperienced eye it
looked as if the Great Eastern were bent on snapping the thin black
thread which cut the waves like a knife-blade as she rose and fell on
the swell. When the strain increased, the Cable ran with an edge of
seething foam frittering before it backwards and forwards in the track
of the ship, taut as a bar of steel. It was a relief to see the end cut
at last, and splash over, with shackle chain and wire rope, into the
water. Then began an orderly tumult of men with stoppers and guy ropes
along the bulwarks and in the shrouds, and over the boats, from stern to
stem, as length after length of wire rope flew out after the Cable. The
men under the command of Mr. Canning were skilful in their work; but as
they clamoured and clambered along the sides, and over the boats, and
round the paddle-boxes, hauling at hawsers, and slipping bights, and
holding on and letting go stoppers, the sense of risk and fear for the
Cable could not be got out of one’s head. The chief officer, Mr. Halpin,
by personal exertion, made himself conspicuous, and rendered effectual
assistance; and Capt. Anderson, on the bridge, watched and directed
every movement of the ship with skill and vigilance. But still pitches
and foulings would take place for an instant, and it needed all our
confidence in Mr. Canning and his staff to tolerate this picking-up
system with any temper. Thousands of fathoms down we knew the end of the
cable was dragging along the bottom, fiercely tugged at by the Great
Eastern through its iron line. If line or Cable parted, down sank the
Cable for ever. At last our minds were set at rest by the commencement
of the restorative process. The head of the Great Eastern was got round
slowly, and pointed eastwards. The iron wire rope was at length coming
in over the bows through the picking-up machinery. In due, but in weary
time, the end of the Cable appeared above the surface, and was hauled on
board and passed aft towards the drum. The stern is on these occasions
deserted; the clack of wheels, before so active, ceases; and the forward
part of the vessel is crowded with those engaged in the work, and with
those who have only to look on. The little chimneys of the boilers at
the bows vomit forth clouds of smoke, the two eccentric-looking engines
working the pick-up drums and wheels make as much noise as possible,
brakesmen take their places, indicator and dynamometer play their parts,
and all is life and bustle forwards, as with slow unequal straining the
Cable is dragged up from its watery bed.