CHAPTER V

NOTES OF TELEGRAPH VOYAGES, 1858-1873

But it is now time to see Jenkin at his life's work. I have before me

certain imperfect series of letters written, as he says, "at hazard, for

one does not know at the time what is important and what is not": the

earlier addressed to Miss Austin, after the betrothal; the later to Mrs.

Jenkin, the young wife. I should premise that I have allowed myself

certain editorial freedoms, leaving out and splicing together, much as

he himself did with the Bona cable: thus edited the letters speak for

themselves, and will fail to interest none who love adventure or

activity. Addressed as they were to her whom he called his "dear

engineering pupil," they give a picture of his work so clear that a

child may understand, and so attractive that I am half afraid their

publication may prove harmful, and still further crowd the ranks of a

profession already overcrowded. But their most engaging quality is the

picture of the writer; with his indomitable self-confidence and courage,

his readiness in every pinch of circumstance or change of plan, and his

ever fresh enjoyment of the whole web of human experience, nature,

adventure, science, toil and rest, society and solitude. It should be

borne in mind that the writer of these buoyant pages was, even while he

wrote, harassed by responsibility, stinted in sleep, and often

struggling with the prostration of sea-sickness. To this last enemy,

which he never overcame, I have omitted, in my search after

condensation, a good many references; if they were all left, such was

the man's temper, they would not represent one hundredth part of what he

suffered, for he was never given to complaint. But indeed he had met

this ugly trifle, as he met every thwart circumstance of life, with a

certain pleasure of pugnacity; and suffered it not to check him, whether

in the exercise of his profession or the pursuit of amusement.

I

_"Birkenhead. April 18, 1858._

"Well, you should know, Mr. ---- having a contract to lay down a

submarine telegraph from Sardinia to Africa failed three times in the

attempt. The distance from land to land is about 140 miles. On the

first occasion, after proceeding some 70 miles, he had to cut the

cable--the cause I forget; he tried again, same result; then picked up

about 20 miles of the lost cable, spliced on a new piece, and very

nearly got across that time, but ran short of cable, and, when but a

few miles off Galita in very deep water, had to telegraph to London

for more cable to be manufactured and sent out whilst he tried to

stick to the end: for five days, I think, he lay there sending and

receiving messages, but, heavy weather coming on, the cable parted and

Mr. ---- went home in despair--at least I should think so.

"He then applied to those eminent engineers, R. S. Newall and Co., who

made and laid down a cable for him last autumn--Fleeming Jenkin (at

the time in considerable mental agitation) having the honour of

fitting out the _Elba_ for that purpose." [On this occasion, the

_Elba_ has no cable to lay; but] "is going out in the beginning of May

to endeavour to fish up the cables Mr. ---- lost. There are two ends

at or near the shore: the third will probably not be found within 20

miles from land. One of these ends will be passed over a very big

pulley or sheave at the bows, passed six times round a big barrel or

drum; which will be turned round by a steam-engine on deck, and thus

wind up the cable, while the _Elba_ slowly steams ahead. The cable is

not wound round and round the drum as your silk is wound on its reel,

but on the contrary never goes round more than six times, going off at

one side as it comes on at the other, and going down into the hold of

the _Elba_, to be coiled along in a big coil or skein.

"I went down to Gateshead to discuss with Mr. Newall the form which

this tolerably simple idea should take, and have been busy since I

came here drawing, ordering, and putting up the

machinery--uninterfered with, thank goodness, by any one. I own I like

responsibility; it flatters one, and then, your father might say, I

have more to gain than to lose. Moreover I do like this bloodless,

painless combat with wood and iron, forcing the stubborn rascals to do

my will, licking the clumsy cubs into an active shape, seeing the

child of to-day's thought working to-morrow in full vigour at his

appointed task.

"_May 12._

"By dint of bribing, bullying, cajoling, and going day by day to see

the state of things ordered, all my work is very nearly ready now; but

those who have neglected these precautions are of course disappointed.

Five hundred fathoms of chain [were] ordered by ---- some three weeks

since, to be ready by the 10th without fail; he sends for it

to-day--150 fathoms all they can let us have by the 15th--and how the

rest is to be got, who knows? He ordered a boat a month since, and

yesterday we could see nothing of her but the keel and about two

planks. I could multiply instances without end. At first one goes

nearly mad with vexation at these things; but one finds so soon that

they are the rule, that then it becomes necessary to feign a rage one

does not feel. I look upon it as the natural order of things, that if

I order a thing, it will not be done--if by accident it gets done, it

will certainly be done wrong; the only remedy being to watch the

performance at every stage.

"To-day was a grand field-day. I had steam up and tried the engine

against pressure or resistance. One part of the machinery is driven by

belt or strap of leather. I always had my doubts this might slip; and

so it did, wildly. I had made provision for doubling it, putting on

two belts instead of one. No use--off they went, slipping round and

off the pulleys instead of driving the machinery. Tighten them--no

use. More strength there--down with the lever--smash something, tear

the belts, but get them tight--now then stand clear, on with the

steam;--and the belts slip away, as if nothing held them. Men begin to

look queer; the circle of quidnuncs make sage remarks. Once more--no

use. I begin to know I ought to feel sheepish and beat, but somehow I

feel cocky instead, I laugh and say, 'Well, I am bound to break

something down'--and suddenly see. 'Oho, there's the place; get weight

on there, and the belt won't slip.' With much labour, on go the belts

again. 'Now then, a spar thro' there and six men's weight on; mind

you're not carried away.' 'Ay, ay, sir.' But evidently no one believes

in the plan. 'Hurrah, round she goes--stick to your spar. All right,

shut off steam.' And the difficulty is vanquished.

"This, or such as this (not always quite so bad), occurs hour after

hour, while five hundred tons of coal are rattling down into the holds

and bunkers, riveters are making their infernal row all round, and

riggers bend the sails and fit the rigging:--a sort of Pandemonium, it

appeared to young Mrs. Newall, who was here on Monday and half choked

with guano; but it suits the likes of me.

"_SS. Elba, River Mersey, May 17._

"We are delayed in the river by some of the ship's papers not being

ready. Such a scene at the dock gates. Not a sailor will join till the

last moment; and then, just as the ship forges ahead through the

narrow pass, beds and baggage fly on board, the men, half tipsy,

clutch at the rigging, the captain swears, the women scream and sob,

the crowd cheer and laugh, while one or two pretty little girls stand

still and cry outright, regardless of all eyes.

"These two days of comparative peace have quite set me on my legs

again. I was getting worn and weary with anxiety and work. As usual I

have been delighted with my shipwrights. I gave them some beer on

Saturday, making a short oration. To-day when they went ashore, and I

came on board, they gave three cheers, whether for me or the ship I

hardly know, but I had just bid them good-bye, and the ship was out of

hail; but I was startled and hardly liked to claim the compliment by

acknowledging it.

"_SS. Elba, May 25._

"My first intentions of a long journal have been fairly frustrated by

sea-sickness. On Tuesday last about noon we started from the Mersey in

very dirty weather, and were hardly out of the river when we met a

gale from the south-west and a heavy sea, both right in our teeth; and

the poor _Elba_ had a sad shaking. Had I not been very sea-sick, the

sight would have been exciting enough as I sat wrapped in my oilskins

on the bridge; [but] in spite of all my efforts to talk, to eat, and

to grin, I soon collapsed into imbecility; and I was heartily thankful

towards evening to find myself in bed.

"Next morning I fancied it grew quieter, and, as I listened, heard,

'Let go the anchor,' whereon I concluded we had run into Holyhead

Harbour, as was indeed the case. All that day we lay in Holyhead, but

I could neither read nor write nor draw. The captain of another

steamer which had put in came on board, and we all went for a walk on

the hill; and in the evening there was an exchange of presents. We

gave some tobacco, I think, and received a cat, two pounds of fresh

butter, a Cumberland ham, 'Westward Ho!' and Thackeray's 'English

Humourists.' I was astonished at receiving two such fair books from

the captain of a little coasting screw. Our captain said he [the

captain of the screw] had plenty of money, five or six hundred a year

at least. 'What in the world makes him go rolling about in such a

craft, then?' 'Why, I fancy he's reckless; he's desperate in love with

that girl I mentioned, and she won't look at him.' Our honest, fat,

old captain says this very grimly in his thick, broad voice.

"My head won't stand much writing yet, so I will run up and take a

look at the blue night sky off the coast of Portugal.

"_May 26._

"A nice lad of some two-and-twenty, A---- by name, goes out in a

nondescript capacity as part purser, part telegraph clerk, part

generally useful person. A---- was a great comfort during the miseries

[of the gale]; for when with a dead head wind and a heavy sea, plates,

books, papers, stomachs were being rolled about in sad confusion, we

generally managed to lie on our backs, and grin, and try discordant

staves of the 'Flowers of the Forest' and the 'Low-backed Car.' We

could sing and laugh, when we could do nothing else; though A---- was

ready to swear after each fit was past, that that was the first time

he had felt anything, and at this moment would declare in broad Scotch

that he'd never been sick at all, qualifying the oath with 'except for

a minute now and then.' He brought a cornet-a-piston to practise on,

having had three weeks' instructions on that melodious instrument; and

if you could hear the horrid sounds that come I especially at heavy

rolls. When I hint he is not improving, there comes a confession: 'I

don't feel quite right yet, you see!' But he blows away manfully, and

in self-defence I try to roar the tune louder.

"11.30 P.M.

"Long past Cape St. Vincent now. We went within about 400 yards of the

cliffs and lighthouse in a calm moonlight, with porpoises springing

from the sea, the men crooning long ballads as they lay idle on the

forecastle, and the sails flapping uncertain on the yards. As we

passed, there came a sudden breeze from land, hot and heavy-scented;

and now as I write its warm rich flavour contrasts strongly with the

salt air we have been breathing.

"I paced the deck with H----, the second mate, and in the quiet night

drew a confession that he was engaged to be married, and gave him a

world of good advice. He is a very nice, active, little fellow, with a

broad Scotch tongue and 'dirty, little rascal' appearance. He had a

sad disappointment at starting. Having been second mate on the last

voyage, when the first mate was discharged, he took charge of the

_Elba_ all the time she was in port, and of course looked forward to

being chief mate this trip. Liddell promised him the post. He had not

authority to do this; and when Newall heard of it, he appointed

another man. Fancy poor H---- having told all the men and, most of all,

his sweetheart! But more remains behind; for when it came to signing

articles, it turned out that O----, the new first mate, had not a

certificate which allowed him to have a second mate. Then came rather

an affecting scene. For H---- proposed to sign as chief (he having the

necessary higher certificate) but to act as second for the lower

wages. At first O---- would not give in, but offered to go as second.

But our brave little H---- said, no: 'The owners wished Mr. O---- to

be chief mate, and chief mate he should be.' So he carried the day,

signed as chief and acts as second. Shakespeare and Byron are his

favourite books. I walked into Byron a little, but can well understand

his stirring up a rough, young sailor's romance. I lent him 'Westward

Ho!' from the cabin; but to my astonishment he did not care much for

it; he said it smelt of the shilling railway library; perhaps I had

praised it too highly. Scott is his standard for novels. I am very

happy to find good taste by no means confined to gentlemen, H----

having no pretensions to that title. He is a man after my own heart.

"Then I came down to the cabin and heard young A----'s schemes for the

future. His highest picture is a commission in the Prince of

Vizianagram's irregular horse. His eldest brother is tutor to his

Highness's children, and grand vizier, and magistrate, and on his

Highness's household staff, and seems to be one of those Scotch

adventurers one meets with and hears of in queer berths--raising

cavalry, building palaces, and using some petty Eastern king's long

purse with their long Scotch heads.

"_Off Bona, June 4._

"I read your letter carefully, leaning back in a Maltese boat to

present the smallest surface of my body to a grilling sun, and sailing

from the _Elba_ to Cape Hamrah, about three miles distant. How we

fried and sighed! At last we reached land under Fort Geneva, and I was

carried ashore pick-a-back, and plucked the first flower I saw for

Annie. It was a strange scene, far more novel than I had imagined; the

high, steep banks covered with rich, spicy vegetation, of which I

hardly knew one plant. The dwarf palm with fan-like leaves, growing

about two feet high, formed the staple of the verdure. As we brushed

through them, the gummy leaves of a cistus stuck to the clothes: and

with its small white flower and yellow heart stood for our English

dog-rose. In place of heather, we had myrtle and lentisque with leaves

somewhat similar. That large bulb with long flat leaves? Do not touch

it if your hands are cut; the Arabs use it as blisters for their

horses. Is that the same sort? No, take that one up; it is the bulb of

a dwarf palm, each layer of the onion peels off, brown and netted,

like the outside of a cocoa-nut. It is a clever plant that; from the

leaves we get a vegetable horsehair;--and eat the bottom of the centre

spike. All the leaves you pull have the same aromatic scent. But here

a little patch of cleared ground shows old friends, who seem to cling

by abused civilisation:--fine hardy thistles, one of them bright

yellow, though;--honest, Scotch-looking, large daisies or

gowans;--potatoes here and there, looking but sickly; and dark sturdy

fig-trees, looking cool and at their ease in the burning sun.

"Here we are at Fort Genova, crowning the little point, a small old

building due to my old Genoese acquaintance who fought and traded

bravely once upon a time. A broken cannon of theirs forms the

threshold; and through a dark, low arch we enter upon broad terraces

sloping to the centre, from which rain-water may collect and run into

that well. Large-breeched French troopers lounge about and are most

civil; and the whole party sit down to breakfast in a little

white-washed room, from the door of which the long, mountain coastline

and the sparkling sea show of an impossible blue through the openings

of a white-washed rampart. I try a sea-egg, one of those prickly

fellows--sea-urchins, they are called sometimes; the shell is of a

lovely purple, and when opened there are rays of yellow adhering to

the inside; these I eat, but they are very fishy.

"We are silent and shy of one another, and soon go out to watch while

turbaned, blue-breeched, bare-legged Arabs dig holes for the land

telegraph posts on the following principle: one man takes a pick and

bangs lazily at the hard earth; when a little is loosened, his mate

with a small spade lifts it on one side; and _da capo_. They have

regular features, and look quite in place among the palms. Our English

workmen screw the earthenware insulators on the posts, strain the

wire, and order the Arabs about by the generic term of Johnny. I find

W---- has nothing for me to do; and that in fact no one has anything

to do. Some instruments for testing have stuck at Lyons, some at

Cagliari; and nothing can be done--or, at any rate, is done. I wander

about, thinking of you and staring at big, green

grasshoppers--locusts, some people call them--and smelling the rich

brushwood. There was nothing for a pencil to sketch, and I soon got

tired of this work, though I have paid willingly much money for far

less strange and lovely sights.

"_Off Cape Spartivento, June 8._

"At two this morning we left Cagliari; at five cast anchor here. I got

up and began preparing for the final trial; and shortly afterwards

every one else of note on board went ashore to make experiments on the

state of the cable, leaving me with the prospect of beginning to lift

at 12 o'clock. I was not ready by that time; but the experiments were

not concluded, and moreover the cable was found to be imbedded some

four or five feet in sand, so that the boat could not bring off the

end. At three, Messrs. Liddell, etc., came on board in good spirits,

having found two wires good, or in such a state as permitted messages

to be transmitted freely. The boat now went to grapple for the cable

some way from shore, while the _Elba_ towed a small lateen craft which

was to take back the consul to Cagliari some distance on its way. On

our return we found the boat had been unsuccessful; she was allowed to

drop astern, while we grappled for the cable in the _Elba_ [without

more success]. The coast is a low mountain range covered with

brushwood or heather--pools of water and a sandy beach at their feet.

I have not yet been ashore, my hands having been very full all day.

"_June 9._

"Grappling for the cable outside the bank had been voted too

uncertain; [and the day was spent in] efforts to pull the cable off

through the sand which has accumulated over it. By getting the cable

tight on to the boat, and letting the swell pitch her about till it

got slack, and then tightening again with blocks and pulleys, we

managed to get out from the beach towards the ship at the rate of

about twenty yards an hour. When they had got about 100 yards from

shore, we ran in round the _Elba_ to try and help them, letting go the

anchor in the shallowest possible water; this was about sunset.

Suddenly some one calls out he sees the cable at the bottom: there it

was, sure enough, apparently wriggling about as the waves rippled.

Great excitement; still greater when we find our own anchor is foul of

it and it has been the means of bringing it to light. We let go a

grapnel, get the cable clear of the anchor on to the grapnel--the

captain in an agony lest we should drift ashore meanwhile--hand the

grappling line into the big boat, steam out far enough, and anchor

again. A little more work and one end of the cable is up over the bows

round my drum. I go to my engine and we start hauling in. All goes

pretty well, but it is quite dark. Lamps are got at last, and men

arranged. We go on for a quarter of a mile or so from shore and then

stop at about half-past nine with orders to be up at three. Grand work

at last! A number of the _Saturday Review_ here: it reads so hot and

feverish, so tomb-like and unhealthy, in the midst of dear Nature's

hills and sea, with good wholesome work to do. Pray that all go well

to-morrow.

"_June 10._

"Thank heaven for a most fortunate day. At three o'clock this morning,

in a damp, chill mist, all hands were roused to work. With a small

delay, for one or two improvements I had seen to be necessary last

night, the engine started, and since that time I do not think there

has been half an hour's stoppage. A rope to splice, a block to change,

a wheel to oil, an old rusted anchor to disengage from the cable which

brought it up, these have been our only obstructions. Sixty, seventy,

eighty, a hundred, a hundred and twenty revolutions at last, my little

engine tears away. The even black rope comes straight out of the blue

heaving water; passes slowly round an open-hearted,

good-tempered-looking pulley, five feet diameter; aft past a vicious

nipper, to bring all up should anything go wrong; through a gentle

guide; on to a huge bluff drum, who wraps him round his body and says,

'Come you must,' as plain as drum can speak: the chattering pauls say,

'I've got him, I've got him, he can't get back': whilst black cable,

much slacker and easier in mind and body, is taken by a slim V-pulley

and passed down into the huge hold, where half a dozen men put him

comfortably to bed after his exertion in rising from his long bath. In

good sooth, it is one of the strangest sights I know to see that black

fellow rising up so steadily in the midst of the blue sea. We are more

than half way to the place where we expect the fault; and already the

one wire, supposed previously to be quite bad near the African coast,

can be spoken through. I am very glad I am here, for my machines are

my own children, and I look on their little failings with a parent's

eye and lead them into the path of duty with gentleness and firmness.

I am naturally in good spirits, but keep very quiet, for misfortunes

may arise at any instant; moreover, to-morrow my paying-out apparatus

will be wanted should all go well, and that will be another nervous

operation. Fifteen miles are safely in; but no one knows better than I

do that nothing is done till all is done.

"_June 11._

"9 A.M.--We have reached the splice supposed to be faulty, and no

fault has been found. The two men learned in electricity, L---- and

W----, squabble where the fault is.

"_Evening._--A weary day in a hot broiling sun; no air. After the

experiments, L---- said the fault might be ten miles ahead; by that

time we should be, according to a chart, in about a thousand fathoms

of water--rather more than a mile. It was most difficult to decide

whether to go on or not. I made preparations for a heavy pull, set

small things to rights and went to sleep. About four in the afternoon,

Mr. Liddell decided to proceed, and we are now (at seven) grinding in

at the rate of a mile and three-quarters per hour, which appears a

grand speed to us. If the paying-out only works well. I have just

thought of a great improvement in it; I can't apply it this time,

however.--The sea is of an oily calm, and a perfect fleet of brigs and

ships surrounds us, their sails hardly filling in the lazy breeze. The

sun sets behind the dim coast of the Isola San Pietro, the coast of

Sardinia high and rugged becomes softer and softer in the distance,

while to the westward still the isolated rock of Toro springs from the

horizon.--It would amuse you to see how cool (in head) and jolly

everybody is. A testy word now and then shows the wires are strained a

little, but every one laughs and makes his little jokes as if it were

all in fun: yet we are all as much in earnest as the most earnest of

the earnest bastard German school or demonstrative of Frenchmen. I

enjoy it very much.

"_June 12._

"5.30 A.M.--Out of sight of land: about thirty nautical miles in the

hold; the wind rising a little; experiments being made for a fault,

while the engine slowly revolves to keep us hanging at the same spot:

depth supposed about a mile. The machinery has behaved admirably. O

that the paying-out were over! The new machinery there is but rough,

meant for an experiment in shallow water, and here we are in a mile of

water.

"6.30.--I have made my calculations and find the new paying-out gear

cannot possibly answer at this depth, some portion would give way.

Luckily, I have brought the old things with me and am getting them

rigged up as fast as may be. Bad news from the cable. Number four has

given in some portion of the last ten miles: the fault in number three

is still at the bottom of the sea; number two is now the only good

wire; and the hold is getting in such a mess, through keeping bad bits

out and cutting for splicing and testing, that there will be great

risk in paying out. The cable is somewhat strained in its ascent from

one mile below us; what it will be when we get to two miles is a

problem we may have to determine.

"9 P.M.--A most provoking, unsatisfactory day. We have done nothing.

The wind and sea have both risen. Too little notice has been given to

the telegraphists who accompany this expedition; they had to leave all

their instruments at Lyons in order to arrive at Bona in time; our

tests are therefore of the roughest, and no one really knows where the

faults are. Mr. L---- in the morning lost much time; then he told us,

after we had been inactive for about eight hours, that the fault in

number three was within six miles; and at six o'clock in the evening,

when all was ready for a start to pick up these six miles, he comes

and says there must be a fault about thirty miles from Bona! By this

time it was too late to begin paying out to-day, and we must lie here

moored in a thousand fathoms till light to-morrow morning. The ship

pitches a good deal, but the wind is going down.

"_June 13, Sunday._

"The wind has not gone down however. It now (at 10.30) blows a pretty

stiff gale, the sea has also risen; and the _Elba's_ bows rise and

fall about 9 feet. We make twelve pitches to the minute, and the poor

cable must feel very sea-sick by this time. We are quite unable to do

anything, and continue riding at anchor in one thousand fathoms, the

engines going constantly so as to keep the ship's bows up to the

cable, which by this means hangs nearly vertical and sustains no

strain but that caused by its own weight and the pitching of the

vessel. We were all up at four, but the weather entirely forbade work

for to-day, so some went to bed and most lay down, making up our

leeway, as we nautically term our loss of sleep. I must say Liddell is

a fine fellow and keeps his patience and temper wonderfully; and yet

how he does fret and fume about trifles at home! This wind has blown

now for thirty-six hours, and yet we have telegrams from Bona to say

the sea there is as calm as a mirror. It makes one laugh to remember

one is still tied to the shore. Click, click, click, the pecker is at

work; I wonder what Herr P---- says to Herr L----; tests, tests,

tests, nothing more. This will be a very anxious day.

"_June 14._

"Another day of fatal inaction.

"_June 15._

"9.30.--The wind has gone down a deal; but even now there are doubts

whether we shall start to-day. When shall I get back to you?

"9 P.M.--Four miles from land. Our run has been successful and

eventless. Now the work is nearly over I feel a little out of

spirits--why, I should be puzzled to say--mere wantonness, or reaction

perhaps after suspense.

"_June 16._

"Up this morning at three, coupled my self-acting gear to the break,

and had the satisfaction of seeing it pay out the last four miles in

very good style. With one or two little improvements, I hope to make

it a capital thing. The end has just gone ashore in two boats, three

out of four wires good. Thus ends our first expedition. By some odd

chance a _Times_ of June the 7th has found its way on board through

the agency of a wretched old peasant who watches the end of the line

here. A long account of breakages in the Atlantic trial trip. To-night

we grapple for the heavy cable, eight tons to the mile. I long to

have a tug at him; he may puzzle me, and though misfortunes or rather

difficulties are a bore at the time, life when working with cables is

tame without them.

"2 P.M.--Hurrah, he is hooked, the big fellow, almost at the first

cast. He hangs under our bows, looking so huge and imposing that I

could find it in my heart to be afraid of him.

"_June 17._

"We went to a little bay called Chia, where a fresh-water stream falls

into the sea, and took in water. This is rather a long operation, so I

went a walk up the valley with Mr. Liddell. The coast here consists of

rocky mountains 800 to 1,000 feet high, covered with shrubs of a

brilliant green. On landing, our first amusement was watching the

hundreds of large fish who lazily swam in shoals about the river; the

big canes on the further side hold numberless tortoises, we are told,

but see none, for just now they prefer taking a siesta. A little

further on, and what is this with large pink flowers in such

abundance?--the oleander in full flower. At first I fear to pluck

them, thinking they must be cultivated and valuable; but soon the

banks show a long line of thick tall shrubs, one mass of glorious pink

and green. Set these in a little valley, framed by mountains whose

rocks gleam out blue and purple colours such as pre-Raphaelites only

dare attempt, shining out hard and weirdlike amongst the clumps of

castor-oil plants, cistus, arbor vitae, and many other evergreens,

whose names, alas! I know not; the cistus is brown now, the rest all

deep or brilliant green. Large herds of cattle browse on the baked

deposit at the foot of these large crags. One or two half-savage

herdsmen in sheepskin kilts, etc., ask for cigars; partridges whirr up

on either side of us; pigeons coo and nightingales sing amongst the

blooming oleander. We get six sheep, and many fowls too, from the

priest of the small village; and then run back to Spartivento and make

preparations for the morning.

"_June 18._

"The big cable is stubborn, and will not behave like his smaller

brother. The gear employed to take him off the drum is not strong

enough; he gets slack on the drum and plays the mischief. Luckily for

my own conscience, the gear I had wanted was negatived by Mr. Newall.

Mr. Liddell does not exactly blame me, but he says we might have had a

silver pulley cheaper than the cost of this delay. He has telegraphed

for more men to Cagliari, to try to pull the cable off the drum into

the hold, by hand. I look as comfortable as I can, but feel as if

people were blaming me. I am trying my best to get something rigged

which may help us; I wanted a little difficulty, and feel much

better.--The short length we have picked up was covered at places with

beautiful sprays of coral, twisted and twined with shells of those

small, fairy animals we saw in the aquarium at home; poor little

things, they died at once, with their little bells and delicate bright

tints.

"_12 o'clock._--Hurrah, victory! for the present anyhow. Whilst in our

first dejection, I thought I saw a place where a flat roller would

remedy the whole misfortune; but a flat roller at Cape Spartivento,

hard, easily unshipped, running freely! There was a grooved pulley

used for the paying-out machinery with a spindle wheel, which might

suit me. I filled him up with tarry spunyarn, nailed sheet copper

round him, bent some parts in the fire; and we are paying-in without

more trouble now. You would think some one would praise me; no--no

more praise than blame before; perhaps now they think better of me,

though.

"10 P.M.--We have gone on very comfortably for nearly six miles. An

hour and a half was spent washing down; for along with many coloured

polypi, from corals, shells, and insects, the big cable brings up much

mud and rust, and makes a fishy smell by no means pleasant: the bottom

seems to teem with life.--But now we are startled by a most

unpleasant, grinding noise; which appeared at first to come from the

large low pulley, but when the engines stopped, the noise continued;

and we now imagine it is something slipping down the cable, and the

pulley but acts as sounding-board to the big fiddle. Whether it is

only an anchor or one of the two other cables, we know not. We hope it

is not the cable just laid down.

"_June 19._

"10 A.M.--All our alarm groundless, it would appear: the odd noise

ceased after a time, and there was no mark sufficiently strong on the

large cable to warrant the suspicion that we had cut another line

through. I stopped up on the look-out till three in the morning, which

made 23 hours between sleep and sleep. One goes dozing about, though,

most of the day, for it is only when something goes wrong that one has

to look alive. Hour after hour I stand on the forecastle-head, picking

off little specimens of polypi and coral, or lie on the saloon deck

reading back numbers of the _Times_--till something hitches, and then

all is hurly-burly once more. There are awnings all along the ship,

and a most ancient, fish-like smell beneath.

"_1 o'clock._--Suddenly a great strain in only 95 fathoms of

water--belts surging and general dismay; grapnels being thrown out in

the hope of finding what holds the cable.--Should it prove the young

cable! We are apparently crossing its path--not the working one, but

the lost child; Mr. Liddell _would_ start the big one first, though it

was laid first: he wanted to see the job done, and meant to leave us

to the small one unaided by his presence.

"3.30.--Grapnel caught something, lost it again; it left its marks on

the prongs. Started lifting gear again; and after hauling in some 50

fathoms--grunt, grunt, grunt--we hear the other cable slipping down

our big one, playing the self-same tune we heard last night--louder,

however.

"10 P.M.--The pull on the deck engines became harder and harder. I got

steam up in a boiler on deck, and another little engine starts hauling

at the grapnel. I wonder if there ever was such a scene of confusion;

Mr. Liddell and W---- and the captain all giving orders contradictory,

etc., on the forecastle; D----, the foreman of our men, the mates,

etc., following the example of our superiors; the ship's engine and

boilers below, a 50-horse engine on deck, a boiler 14 feet long on

deck beside it, a little steam-winch tearing round; a dozen Italians

(20 have come to relieve our hands, the men we telegraphed for to

Cagliari) hauling at the rope; wire-men, sailors, in the crevices left

by ropes and machinery; everything that could swear swearing--I found

myself swearing like a trooper at last. We got the unknown difficulty

within ten fathoms of the surface; but then the forecastle got

frightened that, if it was the small cable which we had got hold of,

we should certainly break it by continuing the tremendous and

increasing strain. So at last Mr. Liddell decided to stop; cut the big

cable, buoying its end; go back to our pleasant watering-place at

Chia, take more water and start lifting the small cable. The end of

the large one has even now regained its sandy bed; and three

buoys--one to grapnel foul of the supposed small cable, two to the big

cable--are dipping about on the surface. One more--a flag-buoy--will

soon follow, and then straight for shore.

"_June 20._

"It is an ill-wind, etc. I have an unexpected opportunity of

forwarding this engineering letter; for the craft which brought out

our Italian sailors must return to Cagliari to-night, as the little

cable will take us nearly to Galita, and the Italian skipper could

hardly find his way from thence. To-day--Sunday--not much rest. Mr.

Liddell is at Spartivento telegraphing. We are at Chia, and shall

shortly go to help our boat's crew in getting the small cable on

board. We dropped them some time since in order that they might dig it

out of the sand as far as possible.

"_June 21._

"Yesterday--Sunday as it was--all hands were kept at work all day,

coaling, watering, and making a futile attempt to pull the cable from

the shore on board through the sand. This attempt was rather silly

after the experience we had gained at Cape Spartivento. This morning

we grappled, hooked the cable at once, and have made an excellent

start. Though I have called this the small cable, it is much larger

than the Bona one.--Here comes a break-down, and a bad one.

"_June 22._

"We got over it however; but it is a warning to me that my future

difficulties will arise from parts wearing out. Yesterday the cable

was often a lovely sight, coming out of the water one large

incrustation of delicate, net-like corals and long white curling

shells. No portion of the dirty black wires was visible; instead we

had a garland of soft pink with little scarlet sprays and white enamel

intermixed. All was fragile, however, and could hardly be secured in

safety; and inexorable iron crushed the tender leaves to atoms.--This

morning at the end of my watch, about 4 o'clock, we came to the buoys,

proving our anticipations right concerning the crossing of the cables.

I went to bed for four hours, and on getting up, found a sad mess. A

tangle of the six-wire cable hung to the grapnel, which had been left

buoyed, and the small cable had parted and is lost for the present.

Our hauling of the other day must have done the mischief.

"_June 23._

"We contrived to get the two ends of the large cable and to pick the

short end up. The long end, leading us seaward, was next put round the

drum, and a mile of it picked up; but then, fearing another tangle,

the end was cut and buoyed, and we returned to grapple for the

three-wire cable. All this is very tiresome for me. The buoying and

dredging are managed entirely by W----, who has had much experience in

this sort of thing; so I have not enough to do, and get very homesick.

At noon the wind freshened and the sea rose so high that we had to run

for land, and are once more this evening anchored at Chia.

"_June 24._

"The whole day spent in dredging without success. This operation

consists in allowing the ship to drift slowly across the line where

you expect the cable to be, while at the end of a long rope, fast

either to the bow or stern, a grapnel drags along the ground. This

grapnel is a small anchor, made like four pot-hooks tied back to back.

When the rope gets taut, the ship is stopped and the grapnel hauled up

to the surface in the hopes of finding the cable on its prongs.--I am

much discontented with myself for idly lounging about and reading

'Westward Ho!' for the second time, instead of taking to electricity

or picking up nautical information. I am uncommonly idle. The sea is

not quite so rough, but the weather is squally and the rain comes in

frequent gusts.

"_June 25._

"To-day about 1 o'clock we hooked the three-wire cable, buoyed the

long sea end, and picked up the short [or shore] end. Now it is dark,

and we must wait for morning before lifting the buoy we lowered to-day

and proceeding seawards.--The depth of water here is about 600 feet,

the height of a respectable English hill; our fishing line was about a

quarter of a mile long. It blows pretty fresh, and there is a great

deal of sea.

"_26th._

"This morning it came on to blow so heavily that it was impossible to

take up our buoy. The _Elba_ recommenced rolling in true Baltic style,

and towards noon we ran for land.

"_27th, Sunday._

"This morning was a beautiful calm. We reached the buoys at about 4.30

and commenced picking up at 6.30. Shortly a new cause of anxiety

arose. Kinks came up in great quantities, about thirty in the hour. To

have a true conception of a kink, you must see one; it is a loop drawn

tight, all the wires get twisted and the gutta-percha inside pushed

out. These much diminish the value of the cable, as they must all be

cut out, the gutta-percha made good, and the cable spliced. They arise

from the cable having been badly laid down, so that it forms folds and

tails at the bottom of the sea. These kinks have another disadvantage:

they weaken the cable very much.--At about six o'clock [P.M.] we had

some twelve miles lifted, when I went to the bows; the kinks were

exceedingly tight and were giving way in a most alarming manner. I got

a cage rigged up to prevent the end (if it broke) from hurting any

one, and sat down on the bowsprit, thinking I should describe kinks to

Annie:--suddenly I saw a great many coils and kinks altogether at the

surface. I jumped to the gutta-percha pipe, by blowing through which

the signal is given to stop the engine. I blow, but the engine does

not stop: again--no answer; the coils and kinks jam in the bows and I

rush aft shouting Stop! Too late: the cable had parted and must lie in

peace at the bottom. Some one had pulled the gutta-percha tube across

a bare part of the steam pipe and melted it. It had been used hundreds

of times in the last few days and gave no symptoms of failing. I

believe the cable must have gone at any rate; however, since it went

in my watch, and since I might have secured the tubing more strongly,

I feel rather sad....

"_June 28._

"Since I could not go to Annie I took down Shakespeare, and by the

time I had finished _Antony and Cleopatra_, read the second half of

_Troilus_ and got some way in _Coriolanus_, I felt it was childish to

regret the accident had happened in my watch, and moreover I felt

myself not much to blame in the tubing matter--it had been torn down,

it had not fallen down; so I went to bed, and slept without fretting,

and woke this morning in the same good mood--for which thank you and

our friend Shakespeare. I am happy to say Mr. Liddell said the loss of

the cable did not much matter; though this would have been no

consolation had I felt myself to blame.--This morning we have grappled

for and found another length of small cable which Mr. ---- dropped in

100 fathoms of water. If this also gets full of kinks, we shall

probably have to cut it after 10 miles or so, or, more probably still,

it will part of its own free will or weight.

"10 P.M.--This second length of three-wire cable soon got into the

same condition as its fellow--_i.e._ came up twenty kinks an hour--and

after seven miles were in, parted on the pulley over the bows at one

of the said kinks: during my watch again, but this time no earthly

power could have saved it. I had taken all manner of precautions to

prevent the end doing any damage when the smash came, for come I knew

it must. We now return to the six-wire cable. As I sat watching the

cable to-night, large phosphorescent globes kept rolling from it and

fading in the black water.

"_29th._

"To-day we returned to the buoy we had left at the end of the six-wire

cable, and after much trouble from a series of tangles, got a fair

start at noon. You will easily believe a tangle of iron rope inch and

a half diameter is not easy to unravel, especially with a ton or so

hanging to the ends. It is now eight o'clock, and we have about six

and a half miles safe: it becomes very exciting, however, for the

kinks are coming fast and furious.

"_July 2._

"Twenty-eight miles safe in the hold. The ship is now so deep that the

men are to be turned out of their aft hold, and the remainder coiled

there; so the good _Elba's_ nose need not burrow too far into the

waves. There can only be about 10 or 12 miles more, but these weigh 80

or 100 tons.

"_July 5._

"Our first mate was much hurt in securing a buoy on the evening of the

2nd. As interpreter [with the Italians] I am useful in all these

cases; but for no fortune would I be a doctor to witness these scenes

continually. Pain is a terrible thing.--Our work is done: the whole of

the six-wire cable has been recovered; only a small part of the

three-wire, but that wire was bad and, owing to its twisted state, the

value small. We may therefore be said to have been very successful."

II

I have given this cruise nearly in full. From the notes, unhappily

imperfect, of two others, I will take only specimens; for in all there

are features of similarity, and it is possible to have too much even of

submarine telegraphy and the romance of engineering. And first from the

cruise of 1859 in the Greek Islands and to Alexandria, take a few

traits, incidents, and pictures.

"_May 10, 1859._

"We had a fair wind, and we did very well, seeing a little bit of

Cerigo or Cythera, and lots of turtle-doves wandering about over the

sea and perching, tired and timid, in the rigging of our little craft.

Then Falconera, Antimilo and Milo, topped with huge white clouds,

barren, deserted, rising bold and mysterious from the blue chafing

sea;--Argentiera, Siphano, Scapho, Paros, Antiparos, and late at night

Syra itself. 'Adam Bede' in one hand, a sketch-book in the other,

lying on rugs under an awning, I enjoyed a very pleasant day.

"_May 14._

"Syra is semi-Eastern. The pavement, huge shapeless blocks sloping to

a central gutter; from this bare two-storied houses, sometimes plaster

many-coloured, sometimes rough-hewn marble, rise, dirty and

ill-finished, to straight, plain, flat roofs; shops guiltless of

windows, with signs in Greek letters; dogs, Greeks in blue, baggy,

Zouave breeches and a fez, a few narghilehs and a sprinkling of the

ordinary continental shopboys.--In the evening I tried one more walk

in Syra with A----, but in vain endeavoured to amuse myself or to

spend money; the first effort resulting in singing 'Doodah' to a

passing Greek or two, the second in spending, no, in making A----

spend, threepence on coffee for three.

"_May 16._

"On coming on deck, I found we were at anchor in Canea bay, and saw

one of the most lovely sights man could witness. Far on either hand

stretch bold mountain capes, Spada and Maleka, tender in colour, bold

in outline; rich sunny levels lie beneath them, framed by the azure

sea. Right in front, a dark brown fortress girdles white mosques and

minarets. Rich and green, our mountain capes here join to form a

setting for the town, in whose dark walls--still darker--open a dozen

high-arched caves in which the huge Venetian galleys used to lie in

wait. High above all, higher and higher yet, up into the firmament,

range after range of blue and snow-capped mountains. I was bewildered

and amazed, having heard nothing of this great beauty. The town when

entered is quite Eastern. The streets are formed of open stalls under

the first story, in which squat tailors, cooks, sherbet-vendors and

the like, busy at their work or smoking narghilehs. Cloths stretched

from house to house keep out the sun. Mules rattle through the crowd;

curs yelp between your legs; negroes are as hideous and bright clothed

as usual; grave Turks with long chibouques continue to march solemnly

without breaking them; a little Arab in one dirty rag pokes fun at two

splendid little Turks with brilliant fezzes; wiry mountaineers in

dirty, full, white kilts, shouldering long guns and one hand on their

pistols, stalk untamed past a dozen Turkish soldiers, who look

sheepish and brutal in worn cloth jacket and cotton trousers. A

headless, wingless lion of St. Mark still stands upon a gate, and has

left the mark of his strong clutch. Of ancient times when Crete was

Crete not a trace remains; save perhaps in the full, well-cut nostril

and firm tread of that mountaineer, and I suspect that even his sires

were Albanians, mere outer barbarians.

"_May 17._

"I spent the day at the little station where the cable was landed,

which has apparently been first a Venetian monastery and then a

Turkish mosque. At any rate the big dome is very cool, and the little

ones hold [our electric] batteries capitally. A handsome young

Bashi-bazouk guards it, and a still handsomer mountaineer is the

servant; so I draw them and the monastery and the hill, till I'm black

in the face with heat, and come on board to hear the Canea cable is

still bad.

"_May 23._

"We arrived in the morning at the east end of Candia, and had a

glorious scramble over the mountains, which seem built of adamant.

Time has worn away the softer portions of the rock, only leaving sharp

jagged edges of steel. Sea-eagles soaring above our heads; old tanks,

ruins and desolation at our feet. The ancient Arsinoe stood here; a

few blocks of marble with the cross attest the presence of Venetian

Christians; but now--the desolation of desolations. Mr. Liddell and I

separated from the rest, and when we had found a sure bay for the

cable, had a tremendous lively scramble back to the boat. These are

the bits of our life which I enjoy, which have some poetry, some

grandeur in them.

"_May 29_ (?).

"Yesterday we ran round to the new harbour [of Alexandria], landed the

shore-end of the cable close to Cleopatra's bath, and made a very

satisfactory start about one in the afternoon. We had scarcely gone

200 yards when I noticed that the cable ceased to run out, and I

wondered why the ship had stopped. People ran aft to tell me not to

put such a strain on the cable; I answered indignantly that there was

no strain; and suddenly it broke on every one in the ship at once that

we were aground. Here was a nice mess. A violent scirocco blew from

the land; making one's skin feel as if it belonged to some one else

and didn't fit, making the horizon dim and yellow with fine sand,

oppressing every sense and raising the thermometer 20 degrees in an

hour, but making calm water round us, which enabled the ship to lie

for the time in safety. The wind might change at any moment, since the

scirocco was only accidental; and at the first wave from seaward bump

would go the poor ship, and there would [might] be an end of our

voyage. The captain, without waiting to sound, began to make an effort

to put the ship over what was supposed to be a sandbank; but by the

time soundings were made this was found to be impossible, and he had

only been jamming the poor _Elba_ faster on a rock. Now every effort

was made to get her astern, an anchor taken out, a rope brought to a

winch I had for the cable, and the engines backed; but all in vain. A

small Turkish Government steamer, which is to be our consort, came to

our assistance, but of course very slowly, and much time was occupied

before we could get a hawser to her. I could do no good after having

made a chart of the soundings round the ship, and went at last on to

the bridge to sketch the scene. But at that moment the strain from the

winch and a jerk from the Turkish steamer got off the boat, after we

had been some hours aground. The carpenter reported that she had made

only two inches of water in one compartment; the cable was still

uninjured astern, and our spirits rose; when--will you believe

it?--after going a short distance astern, the pilot ran us once more

fast aground on what seemed to me nearly the same spot. The very same

scene was gone through as on the first occasion, and dark came on

whilst the wind shifted, and we were still aground. Dinner was served

up, but poor Mr. Liddell could eat very little; and bump, bump, grind,

grind, went the ship fifteen or sixteen times as we sat at dinner. The

slight sea, however, did enable us to bump off. This morning we appear

not to have suffered in any way; but a sea is rolling in, which a few

hours ago would have settled the poor old _Elba_.

"_June --._

"The Alexandria cable has again failed; after paying out two-thirds of

the distance successfully, an unlucky touch in deep water snapped the

line. Luckily the accident occurred in Mr. Liddell's watch. Though

personally it may not really concern me, the accident weighs like a

personal misfortune. Still, I am glad I was present: a failure is

probably more instructive than a success; and this experience may

enable us to avoid misfortune in still greater undertakings.

"_June --._

"We left Syra the morning after our arrival on Saturday the 4th. This

we did (first) because we were in a hurry to do something, and

(second) because, coming from Alexandria, we had four days' quarantine

to perform. We were all mustered along the side while the doctor

counted us; the letters were popped into a little tin box and taken

away to be smoked; the guardians put on board to see that we held no

communication with the shore--without them we should still have had

four more days' quarantine; and with twelve Greek sailors besides, we

started merrily enough picking up the Canea cable.... To our utter

dismay, the yarn covering began to come up quite decayed, and the

cable, which when laid should have borne half a ton, was now in danger

of snapping with a tenth part of that strain. We went as slow as

possible in fear of a break at every instant. My watch was from eight

to twelve in the morning, and during that time we had barely secured

three miles of cable. Once it broke inside the ship, but I seized hold

of it in time--the weight being hardly anything--and the line for the

nonce was saved. Regular nooses were then planted inboard with men to

draw them taut, should the cable break inboard. A----, who should have

relieved me, was unwell, so I had to continue my look-out; and about

one o'clock the line again parted, but was again caught in the last

noose, with about four inches to spare. Five minutes afterwards it

again parted, and was yet once more caught. Mr. Liddell (whom I had

called) could stand this no longer; so we buoyed the line and ran into

a bay in Siphano, waiting for calm weather, though I was by no means

of opinion that the slight sea and wind had been the cause of our

failures.--All next day (Monday) we lay off Siphano, amusing ourselves

on shore with fowling-pieces and navy revolvers. I need not say we

killed nothing; and luckily we did not wound any of ourselves. A

guardiano accompanied us, his functions being limited to preventing

actual contact with the natives, for they might come as near, and talk

as much as they pleased. These isles of Greece are sad, interesting

places. They are not really barren all over, but they are quite

destitute of verdure; and tufts of thyme, wild mastic or mint, though

they sound well, are not nearly so pretty as grass. Many little

churches, glittering white, dot the islands; most of them, I believe,

abandoned during the whole year, with the exception of one day sacred

to their patron saint. The villages are mean, but the inhabitants do

not look wretched, and the men are good sailors. There is something in

this Greek race yet; they will become a powerful Levantine nation in

the course of time.--What a lovely moonlight evening that was! the

barren island cutting the clear sky with fantastic outline, marble

cliffs on either hand fairly gleaming over the calm sea. Next day, the

wind still continuing, I proposed a boating excursion, and decoyed

A----, L----, and S---- into accompanying me. We took the little gig,

and sailed away merrily enough round a point to a beautiful white bay,

flanked with two glistening little churches, fronted by beautiful

distant islands; when suddenly, to my horror, I discovered the _Elba_

steaming full speed out from the island. Of course we steered after

her; but the wind that instant ceased, and we were left in a dead

calm. There was nothing for it but to unship the mast, get out the

oars and pull. The ship was nearly certain to stop at the buoy; and I

wanted to learn how to take an oar, so here was a chance with a

vengeance! L---- steered, and we three pulled--a broiling pull it was

about half way across to Palikandro; still we did come in, pulling an

uncommon good stroke, and I had learned to hang on my oar. L---- had

pressed me to let him take my place; but though I was very tired at

the end of the first quarter of an hour, and then every successive

half hour, I would not give in. I nearly paid dear for my obstinacy,

however; for in the evening I had alternate fits of shivering and

burning."

III

The next extracts, and I am sorry to say the last, are from Fleeming's

letters of 1860, when he was back at Bona and Spartivento, and for the

first time at the head of an expedition. Unhappily these letters are

not only the last, but the series is quite imperfect; and this is the

more to be lamented as he had now begun to use a pen more skilfully, and

in the following notes there is at times a touch of real distinction in

the manner.

"_Cagliari, October 5, 1860._

"All Tuesday I spent examining what was on board the _Elba_, and

trying to start the repairs of the Spartivento land line, which has

been entirely neglected--and no wonder, for no one has been paid for

three months, no, not even the poor guards who have to keep

themselves, their horses and their families, on their pay. Wednesday

morning, I started for Spartivento, and got there in time to try a

good many experiments. Spartivento looks more wild and savage than

ever, but is not without a strange deadly beauty: the hills covered

with bushes of a metallic green with coppery patches of soil in

between; the valleys filled with dry salt mud and a little stagnant

water; where that very morning the deer had drunk, where herons,

curlews, and other fowl abound, and where, alas! malaria is breeding

with this rain. (No fear for those who do not sleep on shore.) A

little iron hut had been placed there since 1858; but the windows had

been carried off, the door broken down, the roof pierced all over. In

it we sat to make experiments; and how it recalled Birkenhead! There

was Thomson, there was my testing-board, the strings of gutta-percha;

Harry P---- even battering with the batteries; but where was my

darling Annie? Whilst I sat, feet in sand, with Harry alone inside the

hut--mats, coats, and wood to darken the window--the others visited

the murderous old friar, who is of the order of Scaloppi, and for whom

I brought a letter from his superior, ordering him to pay us

attention; but he was away from home, gone to Cagliari in a boat with

the produce of the farm belonging to his convent. Then they visited

the tower of Chia, but could not get in because the door is thirty

feet off the ground; so they came back and pitched a magnificent tent

which I brought from the _Bahiana_ a long time ago--and where they

will live (if I mistake not) in preference to the friar's or the owl-

and bat-haunted tower. MM. T---- and S---- will be left there: T---- an

intelligent, hard-working Frenchman with whom I am well pleased; he

can speak English and Italian well, and has been two years at Genoa.

S---- is a French German with a face like an ancient Gaul, who has

been sergeant-major in the French line, and who is, I see, a great,

big, muscular _faineant_. We left the tent pitched and some stores in

charge of a guide, and ran back to Cagliari.

"Certainly being at the head of things is pleasanter than being

subordinate. We all agree very well; and I have made the testing

office into a kind of private room, where I can come and write to you

undisturbed, surrounded by my dear, bright brass things which all of

them remind me of our nights at Birkenhead. Then I can work here too,

and try lots of experiments; you know how I like that! and now and

then I read--Shakespeare principally. Thank you so much for making me

bring him: I think I must get a pocket edition of _Hamlet_ and _Henry

the Fifth_, so as never to be without them.

"_Cagliari, October 7._

"[The town was full?] ... of red-shirted English Garibaldini. A very

fine-looking set of fellows they are too: the officers rather raffish,

but with medals, Crimean and Indian; the men a very sturdy set, with

many lads of good birth I should say. They still wait their consort

the _Emperor_, and will, I fear, be too late to do anything. I meant

to have called on them, but they are all gone into barracks some way

from the town, and I have been much too busy to go far.

"The view from the ramparts was very strange and beautiful. Cagliari

rises on a very steep rock, at the mouth of a wide plain circled by

large hills and three-quarters filled with lagoons; it looks,

therefore, like an old island citadel. Large heaps of salt mark the

border between the sea and the lagoons; thousands of flamingoes whiten

the centre of the huge shallow marsh; hawks hover and scream among the

trees under the high mouldering battlements.--A little lower down, the

band played. Men and ladies bowed and pranced, the costumes posed,

church bells tinkled, processions processed, the sun set behind thick

clouds capping the hills; I pondered on you and enjoyed it all.

"Decidedly I prefer being master to being man: boats at all hours,

stewards flying for marmalade, captain inquiring when ship is to sail,

clerks to copy my writing, the boat to steer when we go out--I have

run her nose on several times; decidedly, I begin to feel quite a

little king. Confound the cable, though! I shall never be able to

repair it.

"_Bona, October 14._

"We left Cagliari at 4.30 on the 9th, and soon got to Spartivento. I

repeated some of my experiments, but found Thomson, who was to have

been my grand stand-by, would not work on that day in the wretched

little hut. Even if the windows and door had been put in, the wind,

which was very high, made the lamp flicker about and blew it out; so I

sent on board and got old sails, and fairly wrapped the hut up in

them; and then we were as snug as could be, and I left the hut in

glorious condition, with a nice little stove in it. The tent which

should have been forthcoming from the cure's for the guards had gone

to Cagliari; but I found another, [a] green, Turkish tent, in the

_Elba_, and soon had him up. The square tent left on the last occasion

was standing all right and tight in spite of wind and rain. We landed

provisions, two beds, plates, knives, forks, candles, cooking

utensils, and were ready for a start at 6 P.M.; but the wind meanwhile

had come on to blow at such a rate that I thought better of it, and

we stopped. T---- and S---- slept ashore, however, to see how they

liked it; at least they tried to sleep, for S----, the ancient

sergeant-major, had a toothache, and T---- thought the tent was coming

down every minute. Next morning they could only complain of sand and a

leaky coffee-pot, so I leave them with a good conscience. The little

encampment looked quite picturesque: the green round tent, the square

white tent, and the hut all wrapped up in sails, on a sandhill,

looking on the sea and masking those confounded marshes at the back.

One would have thought the Cagliaritans were in a conspiracy to

frighten the two poor fellows, who (I believe) will be safe enough if

they do not go into the marshes after nightfall. S---- brought a

little dog to amuse them,--such a jolly, ugly little cur without a

tail, but full of fun; he will be better than quinine.

"The wind drove a barque, which had anchored near us for shelter, out

to sea. We started, however, at 2 P.M., and had a quick passage, but a

very rough one, getting to Bona by daylight [on the 11th]. Such a

place as this is for getting anything done! The health boat went away

from us at 7.30 with W---- on board; and we heard nothing of them till

9.30, when W---- came back with two fat Frenchmen, who are to look on

on the part of the Government. They are exactly alike: only one has

four bands and the other three round his cap, and so I know them. Then

I sent a boat round to Fort Genois [Fort Geneva of 1858], where the

cable is landed, with all sorts of things and directions, whilst I

went ashore to see about coals and a room at the fort. We hunted

people in the little square, in their shops and offices, but only

found them in cafes. One amiable gentleman wasn't up at 9.30, was out

at 10, and as soon as he came back the servant said he would go to bed

and not get up till 3: he came however to find us at a cafe, and said

that, on the contrary, two days in the week he did not do so! Then my

two fat friends must have their breakfast after their 'something' at a

cafe; and all the shops shut from 10 to 2; and the post does not open

till 12; and there was a road to Fort Genois, only a bridge had been

carried away, etc. At last I got off, and we rowed round to Fort

Genois, where my men had put up a capital gipsy tent with sails, and

there was my big board and Thomson's number 5 in great glory. I soon

came to the conclusion there was a break. Two of my faithful

Cagliaritans slept all night in the little tent, to guard it and my

precious instruments; and the sea, which was rather rough, silenced my

Frenchmen.

"Next day I went on with my experiments, whilst a boat grappled for

the cable a little way from shore, and buoyed it where the _Elba_

could get hold. I brought all back to the _Elba_, tried my machinery,

and was all ready for a start next morning. But the wretched coal had

not come yet; Government permission from Algiers to be got; lighters,

men, baskets, and I know not what forms to be got or got through--and

everybody asleep! Coals or no coals, I was determined to start next

morning; and start we did at four in the morning, picked up the buoy

with our deck-engine, popped the cable across a boat, tested the wires

to make sure the fault was not behind us, and started picking up at

11. Everything worked admirably, and about 2 P.M. in came the fault.

There is no doubt the cable was broken by coral-fishers; twice they

have had it up to their own knowledge.

"Many men have been ashore to-day and have come back tipsy, and the

whole ship is in a state of quarrel from top to bottom, and they will

gossip just within my hearing. And we have had moreover three French

gentlemen and a French lady to dinner, and I had to act host and try

to manage the mixtures to their taste. The good-natured little

Frenchwoman was most amusing; when I asked her if she would have some

apple tart--'_Mon Dieu_,' with heroic resignation, '_je veux bien_';

or a little _plombodding_--'_Mais ce que vous voudrez, Monsieur!_'

"_SS. Elba, somewhere not far from Bona, Oct. 19._

"Yesterday [after three previous days of useless grappling] was

destined to be very eventful. We began dredging at daybreak, and

hooked at once every time in rocks; but by capital luck, just as we

were deciding it was no use to continue in that place, we hooked the

cable: up it came, was tested, and lo! another complete break, a

quarter of a mile off. I was amazed at my own tranquillity under these

disappointments, but I was not really half so fussy as about getting a

cab. Well, there was nothing for it but grappling again, and, as you

may imagine, we were getting about six miles from shore. But the water

did not deepen rapidly; we seemed to be on the crest of a kind of

submarine mountain in prolongation of Cape de Gonde, and pretty havoc

we must have made with the crags. What rocks we did hook! No sooner

was the grapnel down than the ship was anchored; and then came such a

business: ship's engines going, deck-engine thundering, belt slipping,

fear of breaking ropes: actually breaking grapnels. It was always an

hour or more before we could get the grapnel down again. At last we

had to give up the place, though we knew we were close to the cable,

and go farther to sea in much deeper water; to my great fear, as I

knew the cable was much eaten away and would stand but little strain.

Well, we hooked the cable first dredge this time, and pulled it slowly

and gently to the top, with much trepidation. Was it the cable? was

there any weight on? it was evidently too small. Imagine my dismay

when the cable did come up, but hanging loosely, thus:

[Illustration]

instead of taut, thus:

[Illustration]

showing certain signs of a break close by. For a moment I felt

provoked, as I thought 'Here we are, in deep water, and the cable will

not stand lifting!' I tested at once, and by the very first wire found

it had broken towards shore and was good towards sea. This was of

course very pleasant: but from that time to this, though the wires

test very well, not a signal has come from Spartivento. I got the

cable into a boat, and a gutta-percha line from the ship to the boat,

and we signalled away at a great rate--but no signs of life. The tests

however make me pretty sure one wire at least is good; so I determined

to lay down cable from where we were to the shore, and go to

Spartivento to see what had happened there. I fear my men are ill. The

night was lovely, perfectly calm; so we lay close to the boat and

signals were continually sent, but with no result. This morning I had

the cable down to Fort Genois in style; and now we are picking up odds

and ends of cable between the different breaks, and getting our buoys

on board, etc. To-morrow I expect to leave for Spartivento."

IV

And now I am quite at an end of journal-keeping; diaries and diary

letters being things of youth which Fleeming had at length outgrown. But

one or two more fragments from his correspondence may be taken, and

first this brief sketch of the laying of the Norderney cable; mainly

interesting as showing under what defects of strength and in what

extremities of pain this cheerful man must at times continue to go about

his work.

"I slept on board 29th September, having arranged everything to start

by daybreak from where we lay in the roads: but at daybreak a heavy

mist hung over us so that nothing of land or water could be seen. At

midday it lifted suddenly, and away we went with perfect weather, but

could not find the buoys Forde left, that evening. I saw the captain

was not strong in navigation, and took matters next day much more into

my own hands, and before nine o'clock found the buoys (the weather had

been so fine we had anchored in the open sea near Texel). It took us

till the evening to reach the buoys, get the cable on board, test the

first half, speak to Lowestoft, make the splice, and start. H---- had

not finished his work at Norderney, so I was alone on board for

Reuter. Moreover the buoys to guide us in our course were not placed,

and the captain had very vague ideas about keeping his course; so I

had to do a good deal, and only lay down as I was for two hours in the

night. I managed to run the course perfectly. Everything went well,

and we found Norderney just where we wanted it next afternoon, and if

the shore-end had been laid, could have finished there and then,

October 1st. But when we got to Norderney, we found the _Caroline_

with shore-end lying apparently aground, and could not understand her

signals; so we had to anchor suddenly, and I went off in a small boat

with the captain to the _Caroline_. It was cold by this time, and my

arm was rather stiff, and I was tired; I hauled myself up on board the

_Caroline_ by a rope, and found H---- and two men on board. All the

rest were trying to get the shore-end on shore, but had failed, and

apparently had stuck on shore, and the waves were getting up. We had

anchored in the right place, and next morning we hoped the shore-end

would be laid, so we had only to go back. It was of course still

colder, and quite night. I went to bed and hoped to sleep, but, alas,

the rheumatism got into the joints and caused me terrible pain, so

that I could not sleep. I bore it as long as I could in order to

disturb no one, for all were tired; but at last I could bear it no

longer, and I managed to wake the steward, and got a mustard poultice,

which took the pain from the shoulder; but then the elbow got very

bad, and I had to call the second steward and get a second poultice,

and then it was daylight, and I felt very ill and feverish. The sea

was now rather rough--too rough rather for small boats, but luckily a

sort of thing called a scoot came out, and we got on board her with

some trouble, and got on shore after a good tossing about, which made

us all sea-sick. The cable sent from the _Caroline_ was just 60 yards

too short, and did not reach the shore, so although the _Caroline_ did

make the splice late that night, we could neither test nor speak.

Reuter was at Norderney, and I had to do the best I could, which was

not much, and went to bed early; I thought I should never sleep again,

but in sheer desperation got up in the middle of the night and gulped

a lot of raw whisky, and slept at last. But not long. A Mr. F----

washed my face and hands and dressed me; and we hauled the cable out

of the sea, and got it joined to the telegraph station, and on October

3rd telegraphed to Lowestoft first, and then to London. Miss Clara

Volkman, a niece of Mr. Reuter's, sent the first message to Mrs.

Reuter, who was waiting (Varley used Miss Clara's hand as a kind of

key), and I sent one of the first messages to Odden. I thought a

message addressed to him would not frighten you, and that he would

enjoy a message through papa's cable. I hope he did. They were all

very merry, but I had been so lowered by pain that I could not enjoy

myself in spite of the success."

V

Of the 1869 cruise in the _Great Eastern_ I give what I am able; only

sorry it is no more, for the sake of the ship itself, already almost a

legend even to the generation that saw it launched.

"_June 17, 1869._--Here are the names of our staff, in whom I expect

you to be interested, as future _Great Eastern_ stories may be full of

them; Theophilus Smith, a man of Latimer Clark's; Leslie C. Hill, my

prizeman at University College; Lord Sackville Cecil; King, one of the

Thomsonian Kings; Laws, goes for Willoughby Smith, who will also be on

board; Varley, Clark, and Sir James Anderson, make up the sum of all

you know anything of. A Captain Halpin commands the big ship. There

are four smaller vessels. The _Wm. Cory_, which laid the Norderney

cable, has already gone to St. Pierre to lay the shore-ends. The

_Hawk_ and _Chiltern_ have gone to Brest to lay shore-ends. The _Hawk_

and _Scanderia_ go with us across the Atlantic, and we shall at St.

Pierre be transhipped into one or the other.

"_June 18, somewhere in London._--The shore-end is laid, as you may

have seen, and we are all under pressing orders to march, so we start

from London to-night at 5.10.

"_June 20, off Ushant._--I am getting quite fond of the big ship.

Yesterday morning in the quiet sunlight she turned so slowly and

lazily in the great harbour at Portland, and by and by slipped out

past the long pier with so little stir, that I could hardly believe we

were really off. No men drunk, no women crying, no singing or

swearing, no confusion or bustle on deck--nobody apparently aware that

they had anything to do. The look of the thing was that the ship had

been spoken to civilly, and had kindly undertaken to do everything

that was necessary without any further interference. I have a nice

cabin, with plenty of room for my legs in my berth, and have slept two

nights like a top. Then we have the ladies' cabin set apart as an

engineer's office, and I think this decidedly the nicest place in the

ship: 35 ft. x 20 ft. broad--four tables, three great mirrors, plenty

of air, and no heat from the funnels, which spoil the great

dining-room. I saw a whole library of books on the walls when here

last, and this made me less anxious to provide light literature; but

alas, to-day I find that they are every one Bibles or Prayer-books.

Now one cannot read many hundred Bibles.... As for the motion of the

ship, it is not very much, but 'twill suffice. Thomson shook hands and

wished me well. I _do_ like Thomson.... Tell Austin that the _Great

Eastern_ has six masts and four funnels. When I get back I will make a

little model of her for all the chicks, and pay out cotton reels....

Here we are at 4.20 at Brest. We leave probably to-morrow morning.

"_July 12, Great Eastern._--Here as I write we run our last course for

the buoy at the St. Pierre shore-end. It blows and lightens, and our

good ship rolls, and buoys are hard to find; but we must soon now

finish our work, and then this letter will start for home....

Yesterday we were mournfully groping our way through the wet grey fog,

not at all sure where we were, with one consort lost and the other

faintly answering the roar of our great whistle through the mist. As

to the ship which was to meet us, and pioneer us up the deep channel,

we did not know if we should come within twenty miles of her; when

suddenly up went the fog, out came the sun, and there, straight

ahead, was the _Wm. Cory_, our pioneer, and a little dancing boat, the

_Gulnare_, sending signals of welcome with many-coloured flags. Since

then we have been steaming in a grand procession; but now at 2 A.M.

the fog has fallen, and the great roaring whistle calls up the distant

answering notes all around us. Shall we or shall we not find the buoy?

"_July 13._--All yesterday we lay in the damp dripping fog, with

whistles all round and guns firing so that we might not bump up

against one another. This little delay has let us get our reports into

tolerable order. We are now, at seven o'clock, getting the cable end

again, with the main cable buoy close to us."

_A telegram of July 20._--"I have received your four welcome letters.

The Americans are charming people."

VI

And here, to make an end, are a few random bits about the cruise to

Pernambuco:--

"_Plymouth, June 21, 1873._--I have been down to the seashore and

smelt the salt sea, and like it; and I have seen the _Hooper_ pointing

her great bow seaward, while light smoke rises from her funnels,

telling that the fires are being lighted; and sorry as I am to be

without you, something inside me answers to the call to be off and

doing.

"_Lalla Rookh, Plymouth, June 22._--We have been a little cruise in

the yacht over to the Eddystone lighthouse, and my sea-legs seem very

well on. Strange how alike all these starts are--first on shore,

steaming hot days with a smell of bone-dust and tar and salt water;

then the little puffing, panting steam-launch, that bustles out across

a port with green woody sides, little yachts sliding about, men-of-war

training-ships, and then a great big black hulk of a thing with a mass

of smaller vessels sticking to it like parasites; and that is one's

home being coaled. Then comes the champagne lunch, where every one

says all that is polite to every one else, and then the uncertainty

when to start. So far as we know _now_, we are to start to-morrow

morning at daybreak; letters that come later are to be sent to

Pernambuco by first mail.... My father has sent me the heartiest sort

of Jack Tar's cheer.

"_SS. Hooper, off Funchal, June 29._--Here we are, off Madeira at

seven o'clock in the morning. Thomson has been sounding with his

special toy ever since half-past three (1087 fathoms of water). I have

been watching the day break, and long jagged islands start into being

out of the dull night. We are still some miles from land; but the sea

is calmer than Loch Eil often was, and the big _Hooper_ rests very

contentedly after a pleasant voyage and favourable breezes. I have not

been able to do any real work except the testing [of the cable], for,

though not sea-sick, I get a little giddy when I try to think on

board.... The ducks have just had their daily souse and are quacking

and gabbling in a mighty way outside the door of the captain's deck

cabin, where I write. The cocks are crowing, and new-laid eggs are

said to be found in the coops. Four mild oxen have been untethered and

allowed to walk along the broad iron decks--a whole drove of sheep

seem quite content while licking big lumps of bay salt. Two

exceedingly impertinent goats lead the cook a perfect life of misery.

They steal round the galley and _will_ nibble the carrots or turnips

if his back is turned for one minute; and then he throws something at

them and misses them; and they scuttle off laughing impudently, and

flick one ear at him from a safe distance. This is the most impudent

gesture I ever saw. Winking is nothing to it. The ear normally hangs

down behind; the goat turns sideways to her enemy--by a little knowing

cock of the head flicks one ear over one eye, and squints from behind

it, for half a minute--tosses her head back, skips a pace or two

further off, and repeats the manoeuvre. The cook is very fat, and

cannot run after that goat much.

"_Pernambuco, Aug. 1._--We landed here yesterday, all well and cable

sound, after a good passage.... I am on familiar terms with

cocoa-nuts, mangoes, and bread-fruit trees, but I think I like the

negresses best of anything I have seen. In turbans and loose sea-green

robes, with beautiful black-brown complexions and a stately carriage,

they really are a satisfaction to my eye. The weather has been windy

and rainy; the _Hooper_ has to lie about a mile from the town, in an

open roadstead, with the whole swell of the Atlantic driving straight

on shore. The little steam-launch gives all who go in her a good

ducking, as she bobs about on the big rollers; and my old gymnastic

practice stands me in good stead on boarding and leaving her. We

clamber down a rope-ladder hanging from the high stern, and then,

taking a rope in one hand, swing into the launch at the moment when

she can contrive to steam up under us--bobbing about like an apple

thrown into a tub all the while. The President of the province and his

suite tried to come off to a State luncheon on board on Sunday; but

the launch, being rather heavily laden, behaved worse than usual, and

some green seas stove in the President's hat and made him wetter than

he had probably ever been in his life; so after one or two rollers, he

turned back; and indeed he was wise to do so, for I don't see how he

could have got on board.... Being fully convinced that the world will

not continue to go round unless I pay it personal attention, I must

run away to my work."