THE VOYAGE. 107 



line, but the weather was thick and foggy, with frequent bursts of rain, and they could 

 not see far on the water. For an hour or two the ships went sailing round and 

 round, like sea-gulls in search of prey. At length the Mcdway caught sight of the 

 buoy tossing on the waves, and firing a signal gun, bore down straight upon it. The 

 cable was soon hauled up from its bed, 100 fathoms deep, and lashed to the stern of 

 the Great Eastern ; and the watchers on shore, who had been waiting with some 

 impatience, saw the first flash, and Varley read, ( Got the shore-end all right ; going to 

 make the splice/ Then all was still, and they knew that that delicate operation was 

 going on. Quick, nimble hands tore off the covering from a foot of the shore-end 

 and of the main cable till they came to the core, then swiftly unwinding the copper wires 

 they laid them together as closely and carefully as a silken braid. Then this delicate child 

 of the sea was wrapped in swaddling clothes, covered up with many coatings of gutta- 

 percha and hempen rope and strong iron wires, the whole bound round and round with heavy 

 bands, and the splicing was complete. Signals are now sent through the whole cable on board 

 the Great Eastern and back to the telegraph house at Valentia, and the whole length, 2,440 

 nautical miles, is reported perfect, and so with light hearts they bear away. It is nearly 

 three o'clock. As they turn to the west, the following is the ' order of battle ' : the 

 Terrible goes ahead, standing off on the starboard bow, the Medway is on the port, and 

 the Albany on the starboard quarter. From that hour the voyage was a steady progress. 

 Indeed, it was almost monotonous from its uninterrupted success. The weather was variable, 

 alternating with sunshine and rain, fogs and squalls ; but there was no heavy sea to 

 interrupt their course, and the distance run was about the same from day to day, as the 

 following table will show : 



Distance Run. Cable Paid Out. . Distance Run. Cable Paid Out. 



Miles. Miles. 



Saturday, 14th 108 ... 116 



Sunday, loth 128 ... 139 



Monday, 16th 115 ... 137 



Tuesday, 17th 117 ... 138 



Wednesday, 18th ... 104 ... 125 



Thursday, 19th 112 ... 129 



Friday, 20th 117 ... 127 



Miles. Miles. 



Saturday, 21st 121 ... 136 



Sunday, 22nd 123 ... 133 



Monday, 23rd 121 ... 138 



Tuesday, 24th 120 ... 135 



Wednesday, 25th 119 ... 130 



Thursday, 26th 128 ... 134 



Friday, 27th 100 ... 104." 



This table shows the speed of the ship to have been exactly according to the " running 

 time " fixed before she left England. On the last voyage it was thought that she had once 

 or twice run too fast, and thus exposed the cable to danger. It was therefore decided to 

 go slowly but surely. Holding her back to this moderate pace, her average speed from the 

 time the splice was made until they saw land was a little less than five nautical miles an 

 hour, while the cable was paid out at an average of not quite five and half miles. Thus the 

 total slack was about eleven per cent., showing that the cable was laid almost in a straight 

 line, allowing for the swells and hollows at the bottom of the sea. "Friday, July 27. 

 Shortly after 2 p.m. yesterday two ships, which were soon made out to be steamers, were 

 seen to the westward ; and the Terrible, steaming on ahead, in about an hour signalled to us 

 that H.M.S. Niger was one of them, accompanied by the Albany. The Niger, Captain Bunce, 

 sent aboard to the Terrible as soon as he came up with her. The Albany shortly afterwards 



