Ixxxvi MEMOIR 



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 start to pick up these six 

 miles, he comes and says there must be a fault about thirty 

 miles from Bona ! By this time it was too late to begin paying 

 out to-day, and we must lie here moored in a thousand fathoms 

 till light to-morrow morning. The ship pitches a good deal, 



but the wind is going down. 



' June 13, Sunday. 



' The wind has not gone down however. It now (at 10.30) 

 blows a pretty stiff gale, the sea has also risen ; and the 

 Elba's bows rise and fall about 9 feet. We make twelve 

 pitches to the minute, and the poor cable must feel very sea- 

 sick by this time. We are quite unable to do anything, and 

 continue riding at anchor in one thousand fathoms, the 

 engines going constantly so as to keep the ship's bows up to 

 the cable, which by this means hangs nearly vertical and 

 sustains no strain but that caused by its own weight and the 

 pitching of the vessel. We were all up at four but the weather 

 entirely forbade work for to-day, so some went to bed and most 

 lay down, making up our leeway as we nautically term our loss 

 of sleep. I must say Liddell is a fine fellow and keeps his 

 patience and temper wonderfully ; and yet how he does fret and 

 fume about trifles at home ! This wind has blown now for 

 36 hours, and yet we have telegrams from Bona to say the 

 sea there is as calm as a mirror. It makes one laugh to 

 remember one is still tied to the shore. Click, click, click, the 



pecker is at work : I wonder what Herr P says to Herr 



L tests, tests, tests, nothing more. This will be a very 



anxious day. 



'June 14. 

 4 Another day of fatal inaction. 



