130 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



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 exceed- 

 ingly tight and were giving way in a most alarm- 

 ing 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. . . . 



' Since I could not go to Annie I took down 

 Shakespeare, and by the time I had finished Antony 



