222 FAILURE OF THE THIRD CABLE -LAYING. 



expeditions being fully utilized. The cable was new 

 and strong , the employes practised , the weather 

 favourable in short, a failure was this time not to 

 be thought of. I received indeed at the expected time 

 the hoped-for despatch from Cartagena, announcing 

 that the cable had been successfully laid and mes- 

 sages already exchanged between Oran and Paris. 

 Unhappily this despatch was followed only a few hours 

 later by another, stating that the cable for unknown 

 reasons had snapped near the Spanish coast. Closer 

 enquiry showed that the fracture had occurred at a 

 point where the Spanish coast slopes down abruptly 

 to an unusual depth of water. The crossing of such 

 submerged ravines, as in general of extremely uneven 

 sea-bottoms, is always very dangerous. If the cable 

 is laid in such a way that it rests on two rocks, 

 which are so far elevated above the sea- bottom that 

 it remains suspended on them without touching ground, 

 it assumes the form of a catenary curve, whose tension 

 may become so great that it snaps. Such a catenary 

 curve the cable must at all events have formed at 

 the foot of the abrupt declivity just mentioned, for 

 the fracture occurred only a few hours after the 

 cable firmly settled itself there. 



The picking up of the cable was attempted, 

 without success however , as the ground was rocky, 

 the sea deep , and the cable not strong enough for 

 such a depth. In short, we had also lost the second 

 cable for good and all, and had no other satisfaction 

 than the feeling of relief at being dispensed from the 



