cloud flew over the surface of the sea, and set men talking of icebergs
and Arctic storms; but towards evening the wind fell, and a cold clammy
vapour settled down on ship and sea, bringing with it a leaden calm; so
that the waves lost their tumbled crests, and slept at last in almost
unmurmuring slumber. But the big ship slept not. The clank and beat of
machinery ceased never, and the dull mill-like clatter of Cable
apparatus seemed to become more active as the night wore on. The forge
fires glared on her decks, and there, out in the midst of the Atlantic,
anvils rang and sparks flew; and the spectator thought of some village
far away, where the blacksmith worked, unvexed by Cable anxieties and
greed of speedy news. As the blaze shot up, ruddy, mellow, and strong,
and flung arms of light aloft and along the glistening decks, and then
died into a red centre, masts, spars, and ropes were for the instant
touched with a golden gleaming, and strange figures and faces were
called out from the darkness--vanished--glinted out again--rushed
suddenly into foreground of bright pictures, which faded soon
away--flickered--went out--as they were called to life by its warm
breath, or were buried in the outer darkness! Outside us all was
obscurity; but now and then vast shadows, which moved across the arc of
lighted fogbank, were projected far away by the flare; and one might
well pardon the passing mariner whose bark drifted him in the night
across the track of the great ship, if, crossing himself and praying
with shuddering lips, he fancied he beheld a phantom ship freighted with
an evil crew, and ever after told how he had seen the workshops of the
Inferno floating on the bosom of the ocean. It was indeed a most
wondrous and unearthly sight! The very vanes on the mastheads, the
ring-bolts in the bulwarks and decks, the blocks and the cordage, were
touched with such brightness that they shone as if on fire; whilst the
whole of the fore part of the ship was in darkness; and on looking aft,
it appeared as though the stern were on fire, or that blue lights were
being burned every moment. For hour after hour, the work of “picking-up”
went on. The term is objectionable; it rather indicates a brisk, lively
process--a bird picks up a worm--a lady picks up a pin--a sharper picks
up a flat--but the machine working at the bows of the Great Eastern
assuredly was not in any one way engaged in brisk or lively work. Most
doggedly at times did the Cable yield. As if it knew its home was deep
in the bed of the Atlantic, and that its insulation and all the objects
of its existence would be gained and bettered by remaining there, it
strained against the power which sought to pull it forth; and the
dynamometer showed that the resistance of the rigid cord was equivalent
to 2½ tons. At times, again, it came up merely with coy reluctance,
and again became sullen as though it were already troubled by the whims
of two worlds and partook of their fancies. No trace was visible of its
having touched the bottom for the 2½ miles which were hauled in, but
the men observed signs of animal life on it, and certain creatures which
they called “worms” were detached and fell on deck, a specimen of which
I sought for in vain. As the Cable was hauled in, the men who coiled it
aft, and guided it through the machinery, felt it carefully with their
hands to detect any “fault” or injured part, and the line of large
ship’s lanterns hung up along the deck showed how carefully they did
their work. It was 5·40 p.m., Greenwich time, or about 3·40 p.m., ship’s
time, when the end of the Cable came in board; but it was not till six
hours and ten minutes had elapsed (9·50 p.m., ship’s time) that the part
of the Cable where the mischief lay was picked up. The defective portion
was found at the very part of the Cable which was going over the stern
when the ocean galvanometer indicated “dead earth.” It was at once cut
out, and reserved to be examined by Mr. Canning. The necessary steps
were next taken to test the rest of the Cable. The shore end was spliced
and jointed to a fresh end of the Cable from the after tank. These
operations were finished before midnight; but it was not judged
expedient to resume the process of paying-out till the morning. As yet
no one knew the nature of the injury to the Cable. No one could account
for the hitch; but it certainly did not affect any one’s belief in
success. Mr. Field, to whom such accidents are never discouraging,
remarked pleasantly during the crisis of picking-up, “I have often known
Cables to stop working for two hours, no one knew why, and then begin
again. Most likely it’s some mistake on shore.” What can discourage a
believer? It was even comfort to him to remember that this very day
eight years ago, a splice was made in the first Atlantic Cable, very
much in the same place. But to all it had been a most trying day. And
when night came, and some retired to the rest they had won so well,
there, constant on the paddle-box, stood Captain Anderson, watching the
course and conduct of his ship.
If the paying-out could have been stopped at once, and the Cable taken
in over the stern, the delay would have been very trifling; but that was
impossible. The picking-up (necessarily slow under the most favourable
circumstances) was rendered unusually tedious by the inefficiency of the
boilers. An interval of 19 hours had occurred, and these faults and
stoppages had caused so much labour and anxiety that Captain Anderson
was obliged to remain on deck for 26 hours, whilst Mr. Halpin, Mr.
Clifford, Mr. Canning, the electricians, and the whole staff, were
exposed to an equal strain till the Cable was over the paying-out wheels
again.
_July 30th (Sunday)._--The weather was exceedingly thick all night--a
fog hung round the ship, and the drizzling rain was so cold as to give
an impression there was ice close at hand, but the water showed it was
erroneous, as the temperature was 58°. It was a dead calm, and the Great
Eastern seemed to float on a grey and polished surface of cloud. The
preparations for paying-out were completed and tested. There would have
been a better result had not an accident occurred this morning as the
Cable was being passed aft from the bow, in order to transfer it from
the picking-up to the paying-out machinery. Owing to a sudden jar it
flew off from the drum, and before the machinery could be stopped
several fathoms had become entangled amid the wheels, and were so much
injured that it was necessary to cut out the pieces, and make two new
splices and joints. At 10·8 a.m. (ship’s time being 8·10 a.m.) the Cable
was veered out astern once more, our communications with Valentia being
most satisfactory. The Cable electrically was all that could be desired,
its condition being represented by 1,500,000,000 British Association
units. At noon our position was Lat. 52° 30´, Long. 28° 17´; distance
from Valentia, 650·6 miles; Cable payed-out, 745 miles.
The Cable which was recovered yesterday was strained, and lay twisted in
hard curves, presenting a very different appearance from the easy
ductile lines in which it lay in the tank. The defective portion of the
Cable was not examined to-day, and divine service was postponed till
2·30, in order to give some time for sleep and rest to the exhausted and
hard-worked staff and workers of all kinds on board the ship. The
weather continued thick and hazy, a fresh breeze from the N.N.W. not
dispersing the cold grey clouds and mist. The Terrible alone was in
sight, and it was conjectured that the Sphinx must have passed on during
the night, and that she would arrive in Heart’s Content before us. The
sound and sight of the wheels and drums revolving again after so long a
rest were very gratifying, and it was fondly hoped that this fault or
dead earth would be the last, as it was now evident nothing else was to
be feared, and nothing else humanly speaking could prevent the Cable
being laid. In the Cable itself lay all the sources of mischief. If
there were no faults or dead earth, the paying-out was a matter of the
most easy routine and most positive certainty. When the operation had to
be reversed, the whole condition of affairs was reversed also. A swerve
of the helm, a rolling billow, an unseen weakness, a moment’s neglect,
the accident of an instant, and down went the thread of thought between
two continents, with all which depended on it, to rest and rust in the
depths of the sea. My mind could never get rid of the image of the Great
Eastern pulling at the Cable as if she were animated by a malevolent
desire, when she caught some one off the watch, to use her giant’s
strength to tear it asunder. Captain Anderson only expressed the
feelings of all who watched the struggle whilst Cable and Ship were
adjusting their mutual relations, when--admitting the task was more
difficult than he had anticipated, in consequence of the obstacles to
the management of the ship, arising from want of steerage way as soon as
the engines were stopped--he said, “One feels so powerless--one can do
so little to govern events while the affair of picking-up is going on.”
The weather was favourable, the ship perfection, and yet here were these
delays arising from causes no one could foresee or prevent or remedy in
any but the one way, and that a way fraught with danger. A visit to the
stern, where the Cable was rolling away into 2000 fathoms water as
easily as the thread flies from the reel in a lady’s workbasket, always
created a conviction that the enterprise must be carried out; and it was
not till the machinery stopped and the words “another fault” recalled us
to a sense of the contingencies on which it depended, that we could
entertain a doubt of its speedy consummation. For the most indifferent
somehow or another became soon interested in the undertaking. There was
a wonderful sense of power in the Great Ship and in her work; it was
gratifying to human pride to feel that man was mastering space, and
triumphing over the winds and waves; that from his hands down in the
eternal night of waters there was trailing a slender channel through
which the obedient lightning would flash for ever instinct with the
sympathies, passions, and interests of two mighty nations, and binding
together the very ends of the earth. And then came “a fault”--or “dead
earth” spoke to us.
_Monday, July 31st._--We have been passing over the valley in the
Atlantic which is more than two miles deep. With the morning came the
news that all had gone well during the night. Some had got up an hour
after midnight to watch the transfer of the coil from the after to the
fore tank, which was looked forward to with interest, as it was supposed
to be attended with some little difficulty. But they were agreeably
disappointed; the operation was effected with the utmost facility. At
3·30 o’clock a.m. the ship was stopped, to permit the transfer to be
made. At 3·50 a.m. the Cable was running out of the fore hold, passing
down the trough, and going out over the stern as she steamed ahead
again. The Great Eastern was now near a fatal spot--somewhere below us
lay the bones of three Atlantic Cables.
But all during the forenoon, engineers and electricians, agreed in the
most favourable statements respecting the Cable and its progress. At 9
a.m. (Greenwich time) 868 miles had been run out, and 770 miles made
from land. In the forenoon Mr. Canning brought to trial the coils in
which the peccant part that had wrought such mischief existed. The Court
was held at the door of the Testing-Room. Mr. de Sauty acted as judge.
The jury consisted of cells, wires, and galvanometers. The accused
cable, cut in junks, was subjected to a silent examination, and many
fathoms were pronounced not guilty, flake by flake, till at last the
criminal was detected and at once carried off by Mr. Canning. The
process of examination was conducted in Mr. Clifford’s cabin, to which a
few anxious spectators were admitted. The core was laid bare by
untwisting the strands of Manilla covered with iron, and before a foot
of it was uncovered an exclamation literally of horror escaped our lips!
There, driven right through the centre of the coil so as to touch the
inner wires, was a piece of iron wire, bright as if cut with nippers at
one end and broken off short at the other. It was tried with the gauge,
and found to be of the same thickness as the wire used in making the
protecting cover of the Cable. On examining the strands a mark of a cut
was perceived on the Manilla where the wire had entered, but it did not
come through on the other side. In fact, it corresponded in length
exactly with the diameter of the Cable, so that the ends did not project
beyond the outer surface of the covering. Now here was at once, we
thought, demonstration of a villanous design. No man who saw it could
doubt that the wire had been driven in by a skilful hand. And as that
was so, was it not likely that the former fault had been caused in a
similar manner, and that it was not the result of accident? Then, again,
it was curious that the former fault occurred when the same gang of men
were at work in the tank. It was known there were enemies to the
manufacturers of the Cable; whispers went about that one of the cablemen
had expressed gratification when the first fault occurred. It was a
very solicitous moment, and Mr. Canning felt a great responsibility. He
could not tell who was guilty, and in trying to punish them or him he
might disgust the good men on whom so much depended. He at once accepted
an offer made by the gentlemen on board the ship to take turn about in
doing duty in the tank and superintending the men engaged in paying-out
the Cable. Then he caused the cablemen to be summoned at the bows, and
showed them the coil and the wire. After they had examined it curiously,
he asked the men what they thought of the injury, and they one and all,
without hesitation, expressed their opinion that it must have been done
on purpose by some one in the tanks. Lynch law was talked of, and if the
man could have been pounced upon, and left to the mercy of his fellows,
he would have fared ill that day. Nor was the feeling of anger and
indignation diminished by the knowledge that the punishment awarded by
law for offences of such a character was a paltry fine and short
imprisonment. The men who were engaged in the tank at the time of the
occurrence were transferred to other duties, and the volunteer
inspectors established a roster, and began their course of duty--one
going on for two hours at a time, and being relieved in order, so that
night and day the men engaged in paying-out the Cable were under the
eyes of very vigilant watchmen. It was a painful thing to have to do,
but the men admitted it was not only justifiable but necessary, and
declared they were very glad the measure was adopted. It was fondly
hoped that this surveillance would save us from a recurrence of the
delay to which the expedition had been subjected, and ulterior steps
were postponed till the shore was reached, when it was intended to
institute a rigid inquiry. At noon our position was, Lat. 52° 9´ 20´´,
Long. 31° 53´. Length of Cable payed-out since yesterday 134 miles:
total length paid out, 903 miles. Distance, from Valentia, 793 miles;
from Heart’s Content, 871·9 miles. We had crossed the centre of the arc
of the great circle.
[Illustration: From a drawing by R. Dudley
London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.
SEARCHING FOR FAULT AFTER RECOVERY OF THE CABLE FROM THE BED OF THE
ATLANTIC. JULY 31st.]
[Illustration: From a drawing by R. Dudley
London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.
IN THE BOWS AUGUST 2nd. THE CABLE BROKEN AND LOST PREPARING TO GRAPPLE.]
_Tuesday, August 1st._--The Great Eastern continued on her way without
let or hindrance all night and early morning, increasing her speed to 7
knots an hour, although there was a strong breeze at times. The sea
continued to favour us greatly, and the ship’s deck scarcely ever varied
from a horizontal plane. At noon our position was, Lat. 51° 52´ 30´´,
Long. 36° 3´ 30´´: making 155 miles run since yesterday. Cable paid out
1081·55 miles. Distance from Valentia, 948 miles: distance from Heart’s
Content, 717 miles. We were without soundings; but it was supposed we
were passing over the line on the chart where they varied from 1975 to
2250 fathoms. The Terrible was at her usual station, about two miles
away; but we gave up all hopes of seeing the Sphinx till we reached
Heart’s Content. It was calculated that at our present rate we would
see land on Friday evening, or first thing on Saturday morning. In
preparation for our arrival the crew were employed in transferring the
shore end of the Cable from the main to the after tank. It would be
painful to dwell on the tenour of our conversation. The wisest men
forgot the lessons of the past few days. It seemed quite certain that
the right step had been taken, and that the man, or men, who had caused
the previous mishaps had been effectually checkmated. The praises of the
Great Eastern were on every tongue. Had no fault occurred, our task
would have been nearly ended by this time. Her mission is undoubtedly
the laying of Atlantic Cables, and she did it nobly as far as in her lay
on this occasion.
_Wednesday, August 2nd._--In the course of the night the wind,
accompanied by a dense fog, rose from the westward. Then it suddenly
shifted to N.N.W.; but although the sea was high, there was no rolling
or pitching, and none of the sleepers were aroused from slumber, which
was favoured by the ceaseless rumble of the machinery. They were,
however, awakened but too speedily. Again the great enterprise on which
so much depended, and on which so many hearts and eyes were fixed, was
rudely checked.
As I have said, the gale did not in the least affect the ship. She went
on through the heavy sea steady as an island, running out the Cable at
the rate of 7 knots an hour; and when the wind shifted to N.N.W. our
course was altered to N.W. by W. ½ W., through a sea which fell as
rapidly as it had risen. The crisis was now at hand. I was aroused about
8 o’clock a.m., Greenwich time (ship’s time being more than two hours
earlier), by the slowing of the engines, and on looking out of my port
saw, from the foam of the paddles passing ahead, that the ship was
moving astern. In a moment afterwards I stood in the Testing-Room, where
Mr. de Sauty, the centre of a small group of electricians, among whom
was Professor Thomson, was bending over the instruments, surrounded by
his anxious staff. The chronometer marked 8·6 a.m., Greenwich time. In
reply to my question as to what was wrong, Professor Thomson whispered,
“Another bad fault.” This was indeed surprising and distressing.
In order to make the history of the day consecutive, I will relate as
closely as possible what occurred. Mr. Field went on duty in the tank in
the early morning, relieving M. Jules Despescher. Some twenty minutes
before the fault was noticed, whilst Mr. Field was watching, a grating
noise was heard in the tank as the coil flew out over the flakes. One of
the men exclaimed, “There goes a piece of wire.” The word was passed up
through the crinoline shaft to the watcher. But he either did not hear
what was said, or neglected to give any intimation, as the warning never
reached Mr. Temple, who was on duty at the stern at the time. At 8 a.m.,
Greenwich time, being the beginning of an hour, and therefore the time
when in regular series the electricians on board the Great Eastern began
to send currents to the shore, the gentleman engaged in watching the
galvanometer, saw the unerring index light quiver for an instant and
glide off the scale. The fact was established that instead of meeting
with the proper resistance, and traversing the whole length of the Cable
to the shore, a large portion of the stream was escaping through a
breach in the gutta percha into the sea. If the quantity of the current
escaping had been uniform, the electricians could calculate very nearly
the distance of the spot where the injury had taken place. In the
present instance, however, the tests varied greatly, and showed a
varying fault. When the current is sent through a wire from one pole it
produces an electro-chemical action on the wire, and at the place of the
injury, which leads to a deposit of a salt of copper in the breach, and
impedes the escape of electricity; and when the opposite current is
returned, the deposit is reduced, and hydrogen gas formed, a globule of
which may rest in the chink, and, by its non-conducting power, restore
the insulation of the Cable for a time. The fault in the present
instance was so grave that it was resolved to pick up the Cable once
more, till we cut it out, and re-spliced it. How far away it was no one
could tell precisely; but from a comparison of time it was imagined that
the faulty part was not far astern, and that it was in the portion of
Cable which went over at 8 o’clock in the morning, or a little before
it; and although the time was not accurately fixed when Mr. Field heard
it, the grating noise was supposed to arise from some cause connected
with the fault. Had the engineers foreseen what subsequently occurred
they might have resolved to go on, and take the chance of working
through the fault. Professor Thomson has since given it as his opinion
that the fault could have been worked through, and that the Cable could
have transmitted messages for a long time at the rate of four words a
minute--making an amply remunerative return. Mr. de Sauty also
entertained the belief that the Cable could have worked for several
months, at all events. But it does not appear that Mr. Canning had any
reason to act on the views of these gentlemen, and it was quite sure,
when the end was landed in Heart’s Content, Mr. Varley could not have
given his certificate that the Cable was of the contract standard.
Neither Mr. Varley nor Mr. Professor Thomson had any power to interfere,
or even to express their opinions, and electricians and engineers are
generally inclined to regard with exclusive attention their own
department in the united task, and to look to it solely.
Nothing was left but to pick up the cable. Steam was got up in the
boilers for the picking-up machinery, the shackles and wire rope were
prepared, and, meantime, as the ship drifted the Cable was let run out,
and the brakes were regulated to reduce the strain below 30 cwt. As
they were cutting the Cable near the top of the tank in the forenoon to
make a test, one of the foremen perceived in the flake underneath that
which had passed out with the grating noise when the fault was declared,
a piece of wire projecting from the Cable, and when he took it in his
fingers to prevent it catching in the passing coil, the wire broke short
off. I saw it a few minutes afterwards. It was a piece of the wire of
the Cable itself, not quite three inches long; one end rather sharp, the
other with a clean bright fracture, and bent very much in the same way
as the piece of wire which caused the first fault. This was a very
serious discovery. It gave a new turn to men’s thoughts at once. After
all, the Cable might carry the source of deadly mischief within itself.
What we had taken for assassination might have been suicide. The piece
of wire in this case was evidently bad and brittle, and had started
through the Manilla in the tank. How many similar pieces might have
broken without being detected or causing loss of insulation? The marks
of design in the second fault were very striking; but the freaks of
machinery in motion are extraordinary, and what looked so like purposed
malice might, after all, be the effect of accidental mechanical agency.
There were thenceforth for the day two parties in the ship--those who
believed in malice, and those who attributed all our disasters to
accident. In the end the latter school included nearly all on board the
ship, and it was generally thought that in the Cable, or, rather, in
what had been intended as its protection, was the source of its weakness
and ruin.