enveloped the Great Eastern from stem to stern, blanket-like as sleep
itself. The haze--for so it was rather than a fog--got lighter soon
after 12 o’clock, but it was quite out of the question to attempt an
observation of a longitudinal character. The steam-whistles pierced the
fog-banks miles away. Shoals of grampuses, black fish, porpoises, came
out of the obscure to investigate the source of such dread clamour, and
blew, spouted, and rolled on the tops of the smooth unctuous-looking
folds of water that undulated in broad sweeping billows on our beam. Our
great object was to get sight of the buoy, and by that means make a
guess at our position. At 12·30 p.m. the Terrible was sighted on the
port beam, and our fog music was hushed. At 2·30 o’clock, p.m., the
Terrible signalled that the buoy was three miles distant from her. This
was quite an agreeable incident. Every eye was strained in search of the
missing buoy, and at last the small red flag at the top of the staff was
made out on the horizon. At 3·45 o’clock, p.m., the Great Eastern was
abreast of the buoy, which was hailed with much satisfaction. It bore
itself bravely, though rather more depressed than we had anticipated,
and it was like meeting an old friend, to see it bobbing at us up and
down in the ocean. It was resolved to steer N.W. by N. for 5 or 6 miles,
so as to pass some miles beyond the Cable, and then, if the wind
answered, to drift down and grapple. The Great Eastern signalled to the
Terrible, “Please watch the buoy;” and, under her trusty watch and ward,
we left the sole mark of the expedition fixed on the surface of the sea,
and stood towards the northward. The wind, however, did not answer, and
the grapnel was not thrown overboard.
_Aug. 6th, Sunday._--It was very thick all through the night--fog, rain,
drizzle alternately, and all together. When morning broke, the Terrible
was visible for a moment in a lift of the veil of grey vapour which
hung down from the sky on the face of the waters. The buoy was of course
quite lost to view, nor did we see it all day. At 10·45 a.m. Captain
Anderson read prayers in the saloon. At noon it was quite hopeless to
form a conjecture respecting the position of the sun or of the horizon,
but Captain Moriarty and Captain Anderson were ready to pounce upon
either, and as the least gleam of light came forth, sextants in hand,
like the figures which indicate fine weather in the German hygrometers.
The sea was calm, rolling in lazy folds under the ship, which scarcely
condescended to notice them. She is a wonder! In default of anything
else, it was something to lie on a sofa in the ladies’ saloon, and try
to think you really were on the bosom of the Atlantic,--not a bulkhead
creaking, not a lamp moving, not a glass jingling. Under the influence
of an unknown current, the Great Eastern was drifting steadily against
the wind. When the circumstance was noticed, it could only be referred
to the “Gulf Stream,” which is held answerable for a good many things
all over the world. At 4 p.m. the buoy was supposed to be 15 miles N.W.
½ N. of us, the wind being E.S.E., but it was only out of many
calculations Captain Moriarty and Captain Anderson created a
hypothetical position. There had been no good observation for three
days, and until we could determine the ship’s position exactly, and get
a good wind to drift down on the Cable, it would be quite useless to put
down the grapnel.
The buoy was supposed to be some 12 miles distant from the end of the
Cable, and not far from the slack made by the Great Eastern. If we got
this slack, the Cable would come up more easily on the grapnel. Of
course, if the buoy had been ready when the Cable broke, it would have
been cast loose at the spot where the wire rope and grapnel sank. If the
Cable could be caught, it was proposed either to place a breaking strain
upon it, so as to get a loose end and a portion of slack, and then to
grapple for it a second time within a mile or so of the end, or to try
and take it inboard without breaking. Some suggested that the Great
Eastern should steam at once to Trinity Bay, where the fleet was lying,
and ask the admiral for a couple of men-of-war to help us in grappling;
but those acquainted with our naval resources declared that it would be
useless, as the ships would have no tackle aboard fit for the work, and
could not get it even at Halifax. Others recommended an immediate return
to England for a similar purpose, to get a complete outfit for grappling
before the season was advanced, and to return to the end of the Cable,
or to a spot 100 miles east of it, where the water is not so deep. What
was positive was, that more than 1,100 miles of the most perfect Cable
ever laid, as regards electrical conditions, was now lying
three-quarters of the way across from Valentia to Newfoundland.
_Monday, Aug. 7th._--During the night it was raining, fogging,
drizzling, clouding over and under, doing anything but blowing, and of
course as we drifted hither and thither,--the largest float that
currents and waves ever toyed with,--we had no notion of any particular
value of our whereabouts. But at 4 a.m. a glimpse was caught of the
Terrible lying-to about 6 miles distant, and we steered gently towards
her and found that she was keeping watch over the buoy, which was
floating apparently 2 miles away from her. Our course was W.N.W. till we
came nearly abreast of the buoy shortly before 9 a.m., when it was
altered to N.W. The wind was light and from the northward, and the Great
Eastern steamed quietly onwards that she might heave over the grapnel
and drift down on the line of the Cable when the fog cleared and the
wind favoured.
The feat of seamanship which was accomplished, and the work so nearly
consummated, was so marvellous as to render its abrupt and profitless
termination all the more bitter. The remarkable difficulty of such a
task as Staff-Commander Moriarty and Captain Anderson executed cannot be
understood without some sort of appreciation of the obstacles before
them. The Atlantic Cable, as we sadly remember, dropped into the unknown
abyss on Aug. 2. We had no soundings. In the night the Great Eastern
drifted and steamed 25 miles from the end of the Cable--then bore away
with a grapnel overboard, and 2,500 fathoms of wire rope attached, and
steered so as to come across the course of the Cable at the bottom. On
the morning of Aug. 3rd, the increasing strain on the line which towed
the grapnel gave rise to hope at first, and finally to the certainty,
that the ship had caught the Cable. At 3·20 o’clock, p.m., Greenwich
time, when about 900 fathoms of grapnel line had been hauled in, the
head of a swivel pin broke, and 1,400 fathoms of line, with grapnels and
Atlantic Cable, went down to the bottom. Then the Great Eastern drifted
again in a fog whilst preparing for another trial to drag the Cable up
from the sea, and on 4th August, with an apparatus devised on board, got
doubtful soundings, from which it was estimated that the water was about
2½ miles deep. A buoy placed on a raft, which sunk so deep that only
a small flagstaff and black bulb were visible, was let go, with a
mushroom anchor and 2½ miles of Cable attached to it, into this
profound; but as it was not ready when the Cable broke, the buoy was
slipped over at the distance of some miles from the place where the
fatal fracture took place, in the hope and belief that the anchor would
come up somewhere near the slack caused by the picking-up operations.
Still in fog, which shut the Terrible out of sight, the Great Eastern
prepared for another attempt. Next day (August 5), with the assistance
of the Terrible, she came upon the buoy, and having steamed away to a
favourable position, so as to come down on the course of the Cable
again, remained drifting and steaming gently, on the look-out for the
buoy, which it was very difficult to discover owing to the fog and to
the current and winds acting on the ship. The weather did not permit any
observations for longitude to be made during the whole of this period.
On Aug. 7th we passed the buoy and steered N.W., and at 11·10 a.m.,
ship’s time, 1·47 p.m., Greenwich time, another grapnel, with 2,500
fathoms of wire rope, was thrown over, and the Great Eastern, with a
favourable wind, was let drift down on the course of the Cable, about
half way between the buoy and the broken end. At 12·5 ship’s time, the
grapnel touched the bottom in 2,500 fathoms water, having sunk, owing to
improved apparatus, in half the time consumed in the first operation. In
six hours afterwards, the eyes which were watching every motion of the
ship so anxiously, perceived the slightest possible indication that the
grapnel was holding on at the bottom, and that the ship’s head was
coming up towards the northward. It is not possible to describe the
joyous excitement which diffused itself over the Great Eastern as, with
slowly-increasing certitude, she yielded to the strain from the grapnel
and its prize, and in an hour and a-half canted her head from E. by S.
½ S., to E. ¾ North. The screw was used to bring up her bow to the
strain, and the machinery of the picking-up apparatus, much improved and
strengthened, was set in motion to draw in the grapnel by means of the
capstan and its steam power. The strain shown by the indicator increased
from 48 cwt. to 66 cwt. in a short time; but the engines did their work
steadily till 8·10, when one of the wheels was broken by a jerk, which
caused a slight delay. The grapnel-rope was, however, hauled in by the
capstan at a uniform rate of 100 fathoms in 40 minutes; but the strain
went on gradually increasing till it reached 70 cwt. to 75 cwt. At 11·30
p.m., ship’s time, or 2·5 a.m., Greenwich, 300 fathoms were aboard, and
at midnight all those who were not engaged on duty connected with the
operation retired to rest, thankful and encouraged. In the words of our
signal to the Terrible, all was going on “hopefully.” Throughout our
slumbers the clank of the machinery, the shrill whistles to go on ahead,
or turn astern, sounded till morning came, and when one by one the
citizens of our little world turned up on deck, each felt, as he saw the
wheels revolving and the wire rope uncoiling from the drums, that he was
assisting at an attempt of singular audacity and success. A moonlight of
great brightness, a night of quiet loveliness had favoured the
enterprise, and the links of rope had come in one after another at a
speed which furnished grounds for hope that if the end of the day
witnessed similar progress, the Cable would be at the surface before
nightfall.
[Illustration: G. McCulloch, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London,
Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.
INTERIOR OF ONE OF THE TANKS ON BOARD THE GREAT EASTERN. CABLE PASSING
OUT.]
[Illustration: E. Walker, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley
London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith.
LAUNCHING BUOY ON AUGUST 8TH IN LAT 51° 25´ 30´´ LONG. 38° 56´ (MARKING
SPOT WHERE CABLE HAD BEEN GRAPPLED).]
_August 8th._--This morning, about 7·30, one mile--one thousand
fathoms--had been recovered, and was coiled on deck. The Cable, however,
put out a little more vigour in its resistance, and the strain went up
to 80 cwt., having touched 90 cwt. once or twice previously. No matter
what happened, the perseverance of the engineers and seamen had been so
far rewarded by a very extraordinary result. They had caught up a thin
Cable from a depth of 2,500 fathoms, and had hauled it up through a mile
of water. They were hauling at it still, and all might be recovered. But
it was not so to be. Our speculations were summarily disposed of--our
hopes sent to rest in the Atlantic. Shortly before 8 o’clock, an iron
shackle and swivel at the end of a length of wire rope came over the
bow, passed over the drums, and had been wound three times round the
capstan, when the head of the swivel bolt “drew,” exactly as the swivel
before it had done, and the rope, parting at once, flew round the
capstan, over the drums, through the stops, with the irresistible force
on it of a strain, indicated at the time or a little previously, of 90
cwt. It is wonderful no one was hurt. The end of the rope flourished its
iron fist in the air, and struck out with it right and left, as though
it were animated by a desire to destroy those who might arrest its
progress. It passed through the line of cablemen with an impatient
sweep, dashed at one man’s head, was only balked by his sudden stoop,
and menacing from side to side the men at the bow, who fortunately were
few in number, and were warned of the danger of their position, splashed
overboard. All had been done that the means at the disposal of engineers
and officers allowed. The machinery had been altered, improved,
tested--every shackle and swivel had been separately examined, and
several which looked faulty had been knocked off and replaced, but in
every instance the metal was found to be of superior quality. It was
7·43 a.m., ship’s time, exactly, when the rope parted. The sad news was
signalled to the Terrible, which had been following our progress
anxiously and hopefully during the night. Her flags in return soon said,
“Very sorry,” and she steamed towards the Great Eastern immediately. Mr.
Canning and Mr. Gooch, and others, consulted what was best to be done,
and meantime the buoy and raft which had been prepared in anticipation
of such a catastrophe as had occurred, were lowered over the bows with a
mooring rope of 2,500 fathoms long, attached to a broken spur-wheel. The
buoy was surmounted by a rod with a black ball at the top over a flag
red, white, and red, in three alternate horizontal stripes, and on it
were the words and letters:--“Telegraph, No. 3.” It floated rather low
on a strong raft of timber, with corks lashed at the corners, and by
observation and reckoning it was lowered in Lat. 51° 25´ 30´´, Long. 38°
56´. The old buoy at the time it was slipped bore S.E. by E. 13 miles
from the Great Eastern. As there were still nearly 1,900 fathoms of
wire rope on board, and some 500 fathoms of Manilla hawser, Mr. Canning
resolved to make a third and last attempt ere he returned to Sheerness.
Captain Anderson warned Mr. Canning that from the indications of the
weather, it was not likely he could renew his search for two or three
days, but that was of the less consequence, inasmuch as it needed nearly
that time for Mr. Canning’s men to secure the shackles and prepare the
apparatus for the third trial.
At 9·40 a.m., just as the buoy had gone over, a boat came alongside from
the Terrible, and Mr. Prowse, the First Lieutenant, boarded us to know
what we were going to do, to compare latitude and longitude, and to
report to Captain Napier the decision arrived at by the gentlemen
connected with the management of the Expedition. The Great Eastern had
still about 3,500 tons of coal remaining, and the Terrible could wait
three days more, and still keep coal enough to enable her to reach St.
John’s. At 11·30 the Great Eastern stood down to the second buoy, for
the purpose of fixing its exact locality by observation. Soon afterwards
the weather grew threatening, and at 2 p.m. we were obliged to put her
head to the sea, which gradually increased till the Great Eastern began
for the first time to give signs and tokens that she was not a fixture.
The Terrible stood on ahead on our port side, and for some time we kept
the buoy equi-distant between us. At night, the wind increased to half a
gale, and it was agreed on all sides that though the Great Eastern could
have paid out the Cable with the utmost ease, she could not have picked
up, and certainly could not have kept the grapnel line and Cable under
her bows in such weather. But the steadiness of the vessel was the
constant theme of praise. During the night she just kept her head to the
sea. The Terrible, which got on our port and then on our starboard bow,
signalled to us not to come too close, and before midnight her lights
were invisible on our port quarter--one funnel down.
_Aug. 9th._--Our course was W.N.W. during the night; weather thick and
rainy--strong southerly wind; sea running moderately high. At 6 a.m.,
having run by reckoning 35 miles from the buoy, our course was altered
to E.S.E., so as to bring us back to it. The state of the weather
delayed the artificers in their work. It rained heavily, the deck was by
no means a horizontal plane, and it was doubtful if Mr. Canning and Mr.
Clifford, using all possible diligence, could get tackle and machinery
in order before the following forenoon, so that it was not necessary to
make any great speed. The reputation of the ship was enhanced in the
eyes and feelings of her passengers by the manner in which she had
behaved in the undoubtedly high breeze and heavy sea. The former was
admitted by sailors to be a “gale,” though they seemed to think the
force of the wind was affected by the addition of the prefix “summer,”
as if it mattered much at what time of the year a gale blows. The
latter, when we turned tail and went before it, soon developed a latent
tendency in the Great Eastern to obey the rules governing bodies
floating on liquids under the action of summer gales. She rolled with a
gravity and grandeur becoming so large a ship once in every 11 or 12
seconds; but on descending from the high decks to the saloon, one found
no difficulty in walking along from end to end of it without gratuitous
balancings or unpremeditated halts and progresses. It was a grey,
gloomy, cloudy sea and sky--not a sail or a bird visible. In the
forenoon the Terrible came in sight, lying-to with her topsail set, and
it was hoped she was somewhere near the buoy. At noon our position was
ascertained by observation to be Lat. 51° 29´ 30´, Long. 39° 6´ 0´´.
Great Eastern, as soon as she was near enough, asked the Terrible, “Do
you see the buoy?” After a time, the answer flew out, “No.” Then she
added that she was “waiting for her position,” and that she “believes
the buoy to be S.S.E.” of us. Our course was altered S. by E. ½ E, and
the look-out men in the top swept the sea on all sides. The Terrible
also started on the search. At 3·20 p.m. the two ships were within
signalling distance again--sea decreasing, wind falling fast. The
Terrible asked, “Did you see buoy?” which was answered in negative, and
then inquired if the Great Eastern was going to grapple again, which was
replied to in the affirmative--Captain Anderson busy in one cabin and
Staff-Commander Moriarty busy in another, working diagrams and
calculations, and coming nearer and nearer to the little speck which
fancies it is hidden in the ocean: with very good reason, too, for the
search after such an object on such a field as the Atlantic, ruffled by
a gale of wind, might well be esteemed of very doubtful success. But the
merchant captain and the naval staff-commander were not men to be
beaten, and in keen friendly competition ran a race with pencils and
charts to see who could determine the ship’s position with the greatest
accuracy, being rarely a mile apart from each other in the result. The
only dubious point related to the buoy itself, for it might have drifted
in the gale, it might have gone down at its moorings, or the Cable might
have parted. There were strong currents, as well as winds and waves. The
moment the weather moderated in the forenoon, the whole body of smiths
and carpenters, and workers in iron, metal, and wood, were set to work
at the alterations in the machinery for letting out the grapnel and
taking it in again. A little army of skilled mechanics were exercising
on deck; workshops and forges were established, and some of the many
chimneys which rise above the bulwarks of the Great Eastern, and put one
in mind of the roofs of the streets seen from the railway approaches to
London, began to smoke. The smiths forged new pins for the swivels, and
made new shackles and swivels; the carpenters made casings for capstan;
ropemakers examined and secured the lengths of wire rope, and a new
hawser was bent on to make up for the deficiency of buoy rope. At last,
the much-sought-for object was discovered--the buoy was visible some 2
miles distant. The Great Eastern made haste to announce the news to the
Terrible, and just as her flags were going aloft, a fluttering of
bunting was visible in the rigging of the Terrible, and the signalman
read her brief statement that the buoy was where we saw it was, thus
proving that both vessels dropped on it at the same time. The finding of
the little black point on the face of the Atlantic was a feat of
navigation which gave great satisfaction to the worthy performers and
the spectators. A little before 5 o’clock the Great Eastern was abreast
of the buoy. The Terrible came up on the other side of it, and the Great
Eastern and the man-of-war lay-to watching the tiny black ball, which
bobbed up and down on the Atlantic swell, intending to stay by it as
closely as possible till morning. By dint of energetic exertion, Mr.
Canning hoped to have his grapnel and tackle quite ready the moment the
ship was in position on the morrow. It was a sight to behold the deck at
night--bare-armed Vulcans wielding the sledge--Brontes, Steropes, and
Pyracmon at bellows, forge, and anvil--fires blazing--hailing sparks
flashing along the decks--incandescent masses of iron growing into shape
under the fierce blows--amateurs and artists admiring--the sea keeping
watch and ward outside, and the hum of voices from its myriad of sentry
waves rising above the clank of hammers which were closing the rivets up
of the mail in which we were to do battle with old ocean for the captive
he holds in his dismal dungeons below. Will he yield up his prisoner?
_Aug. 10th._ A more lovely morning could not be desired--sea, wind,
position--all were auspicious for the renewed attempt, which must also
be the last if our tackle break. A light breeze from the west succeeded
to the gale, and a strong current setting to the eastward prevailed over
it, and carried the Great Eastern nearly 7 miles dead against the wind
from 9 p.m. last night till 4 a.m. this morning, thus taking her away
from the buoy. The swell subsided, and such wind as there was favoured
the plan to drift across the course of the Cable about a mile to
westward of the place where the last grapnel was lost. Without much
trouble the Great Eastern, having come upon the first buoy, caught the
second buoy, and both were in sight at the same moment. Authorities
differed concerning their distance. One maintained they were 7½
miles, the other that they were 10 miles apart. At 10·30, Greenwich
time, when we were between 1½ and 1¾ mile distant from the course
of the Cable, the buoy bearing S.S.E., the grapnel was thrown over, and
2,460 fathoms of wire rope and hawser were paid out in 48 minutes.
As there was a current still setting against the easterly wind, which
had increased in strength, Captain Anderson at first got all
fore-and-aft canvas on the ship, to which were added afterwards her fore
and maintopsails; her course was set N.W. by N., but she made little
headway, and drifted to S.W. At 11·10 a.m., ship’s time, an increased
strain on the grapnel line was shown by the dynamometer, and at the same
time the head of the Great Eastern began to turn slowly northwards from
her true course.
The square-sails were at once taken in. Great animation prevailed at the
prospect of a third grapple with the Cable. But in a few moments the
hope proved delusive, and the ship continued to drift to S. and W., the
buoy bearing S.E. The bow swept round, varying from W. and by N. to N.
W. and by N. At noon the Great Eastern, if all reckonings were right,
was but half a mile from the Cable, and the officers hoped she would
come across it about half a mile west of the spot where she last hooked
it. But at 3·30 p.m. the last hope vanished. The ship must by that time
have long passed the course of the Cable. Captain Anderson had an idea
that we grappled it for a moment soon after noon, when the ship’s head
came 3 points to the N., and the strain increased for a moment to 60
cwt. The buoy was now 2½ to 3 miles E.--ship’s head being W.N.W. All
that could be done was to take up grapnel, and make another cast for the
Cable. The wind increased from eastward. At 4·15 p.m. ship’s head was
set N. by E. by screw, in order to enable the grapnel line to be taken
in, and the capstan was set to haul up the grapnel. The wire rope came
over the bows unstranded, and in very bad condition. Much controversy
arose respecting the cause of this mischief. Some, the practical men,
maintaining it was because there were not swivels enough on it; others,
the theoretical men, demonstrating that the swivels had nothing to do
with the torsion or detorsion; and both arguing as keenly with respect
to what was happening 2 miles below them in the sea as if they were on
the spot. The process of pulling up such a length of wire is tedious,
and although no one had expressed much confidence in the experiment,
every one was chagrined at the aspect of the tortured wire as it came
curling and twisting inboard from its abortive mission. At midnight 1000
fathoms had been hauled in.
_August 11th._--Nothing to record of the night and early morning, save
that both were fine, and that the capstan took in the iron fishing-line
easily till 5·20 a.m., ship’s time, when the grapnel came up to the
bows. The cause of the failure was at once explained: the grapnel could
not have caught the Cable, because in going down, or in dragging at the
bottom, the chain of the shank had caught round one of the flukes. From
the condition of the rope it was calculated that we were in only 1,950
fathoms of water, for nearly 500 fathoms of it were covered with the
grey ooze of the bottom. The collectors scraped away at the precious
gathering all the morning, and for a time forgot their sorrows.
It was now a dead calm, and Mr. Canning mustered his forces for another
attempt for the Cable! He overhauled the wire rope, and exorcised
hawsers out of crypts all over the ship.
“Hope lives eternal in the human breast.”