166 SUCCESSFUL RESULT AFTER SEVERE EXERTIONS. 



although a fifth of the distance had not been traversed. 

 It was still just possible to reach with the cable -end 

 a shallow spot near the island of Sardinia, if the cable 

 could from now be paid out without any excess what- 

 ever. At the request of Mr. Newall I undertook to 

 try this, on condition that the management was entirely 

 .left to me. I now loaded the brake with all the 

 weights which were to be found on the ship. Even 

 filled water tubs from the galley were requisitioned. 

 At last the load sufficed, without the brake giving way. 

 We now laid according to the statement of the measure- 

 ments without "slack", i. e. without using more cable 

 than exactly answered to the length of the sea-bottom. 

 The cable was always pretty near the breaking point, 

 as was proved by the fact that frequently one of the 

 thick sheathing wires snapped, whereby the cable ran 

 considerable risk. But by the adoption of prompt 

 measures a fracture of the cable was averted , and 

 when the sun set, and the cable -end in the ship was 

 almost reached, my dynamometer luckily indicated 

 shallow water, and w^e were at the goal. 9 



The joy was general and intense, and even Mr. 

 Liddell congratulated me on the success achieved. 



This was the first cable which was successfully 

 laid in deep water, i. e. at a depth of more than 1000 

 fathoms. The laying of such heavy cables with many 

 conductors has since been abandoned for long cable 



o 



lines in deep water, because the difficulty of laying 

 is too great, and because adjacent conducting wires 

 interfere with one another by induction. This cable- 



