1857.] on the Submarine Telegraph. 399 



We started from Cape Spartivento on the 6th of August, 1856, 

 and all went on most favourably for about 60 miles, our speed 

 being 2^ nautical miles an hour, a considerable velocity for a cable, 

 which, be it understood, has to be handed up by men below decks. 

 At the repeated wish of the French authorities on board, who 

 had been appointed by the French Government to direct our course, 

 it was decided that our steamer should be towed ; this I believe to 

 have been a mistake, though, not being a sailor, I am perhaps not 

 qualified to give an opinion upon the subject. 



My attention on board was chiefly directed to the arrangement 

 of the machinery, and the speed of paying out the cable, and 

 regulating its progress by the log, a duty requiring unremitting 

 attention. When we had successfully accomplished this 60 miles, 

 one of those sudden and alarming flights of the cable occurred, 

 similar to the one which had happened once in each former year. 

 Fortunately it was arrested without difficulty in less than three or 

 four minutes, but it was discovered that, in arresting it, the insula- 

 tion of a portion which had run out some miles in the sea had been 

 injured. The manner I proposed to the French commander to 

 recover the injured portion of the cable was to sever it, and attach 

 the sound end on board to his steamer, and by his endeavouring to 

 maintain a fixed position while we steamed under it at half power 

 until we came to the injured part, to repair it ; but this was aban- 

 doned, as he was of opinion that his vessel, being of less power than 

 ours, would only be dragged after us. I determined therefore to 

 sever the cable, return to Sardinia, and raise it from that end. We 

 proceeded to the island accordingly, and when near the shore fished 

 up the cable, which was clearly discernible in the blue waters at a 

 depth of ten fathoms, severed it, and passed one end fore and the 

 other aft, giving each of them a turn round the drums, and then 

 joined them over the deck of the vessel, and erected another wheel 

 at the bows. This done, we steered forward under the cable, raising 

 it from the depths forward and letting it back over the stern. This 

 plan answered perfectly, and we recovered 18 miles from the sea, 

 which it was calculated, with the 126 miles* on board, would be 

 more than enough to reach Galita. When these 18 miles had been 

 recovered, they were spliced on to the coil on board, then passed five 

 times round each drum ; and we lay to for the night. 



On the morrow, at the suggestion of the French authorities, it 

 was arranged that the speed should never be less than three 

 nautical miles per hour ; and this speed never was slackened, even 

 when the log gave an increase to nearly 4 miles, during the whole 

 time of the paying out of the 126 miles of cables, except on one 

 occasion when the drums caught fire for a few minutes. With this 

 exception it was all payed out with the most perfect success. 



Statute miles. 



