118 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



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 



