Ld. | LivoKks on the Atlantic Cable wi we seacnings. 47 
of twenty tons, enough, if requisite, to have anchored the ‘ Agamem- 
now in the middle of the Atlantic, and to have endured without 
damage any imaginable vagaries of the paying-out machinery. The 
objections that steel cables do not coil as well as iron, and seem “ all 
alive” from their springiness, are not of much weight, as the enormous 
surplus strength would enable them to bear a considerable amount of 
hard usage in stowing them away. 
In paying out a cable much depends upon its being properly coiled. 
This was certainly well done in the Atlantic line, and it is doubtless 
to this fact that the last successful paying is to be attributed. 
During the whole process of paying out a kink never once occurred ; 
in fact it uncoiled itself, for the men who were stationed in the hold 
to undo the lashings, and be ready in case of accident, scarcely were 
required to touch it once. 
Few people can imagine the great mechanical difficulties to be 
overcome in laying a long cable. Owing to the difficulty of making 
the joinings properly at sea, the rope cannot be carried out in more 
than two portions, and there are very few ships capable of conveying 
the required load in the necessary manner. An electric cable is a 
difficult thing to coil, indeed no one, who inspects it in short lengths, 
would believe it capable of being coiled at all; the cable must, there- 
fore, be laid in the hold, in as large a circle as possible, and the space 
occupied must be perfectly clear from cross-beams, or perpendicular 
supports for the deck. The cable must be placed so as to load the 
vessel evenly, and must be so paid out that she shall preserve an even 
keel, otherwise water ballast must be admitted to keep the vessel in 
trim. Moreover, with a long cable, the vessel employed should be 
a steamer of sufficient dimensions not only to contain it, but coals as 
well for the entire voyage, for, if stowed in a sailing vessel and towed 
by a steamer, the ship becomes in a heavy sea unmanageable, and in 
case of a hitch occurring, it is almost impossible to check her progress 
in time to prevent accident. A cable long enough to span the 
Atlantic will weigh at least 6,000 tons, and when coals must be carried, 
and in addition a clear space provided sufficient to enable this enormous 
length of cable to be coiled, it is evident that no existing vessel 
except the ‘Great Eastern, would be equal to the requirements of the 
case. The hands employed in liberating the cable coiled in the hold 
have a difficult task to perform even when the sea is calm and every- 
thing goes on smoothly. When at full speed the coils have to be 
carefully liberated, layer by layer, from the lashings and packings of 
wood, so as to set free only so much of the cable as is required, so 
as to avoid the possibility of its escaping from the guides on receiving 
any check. ‘The break is a part of the apparatus which requires the 
most delicate handling ; the strain which it puts on must be sufficient 
to prevent the cable from running out with too great a velocity in pro- 
portion to the speed of the vessel, whilst it must be sensitive to every 
pitch and roll, in order to prevent the cable from being snapped by a 
sudden strain. Many self-acting breaks have been proposed, but in 
practice nothing has been found so effectual for the regulation of tho 
strain as constant personal superintendence. The speed at which the 
