128 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



' June 23. 



* We contrived to get the two ends of the large 

 cable and to pick the short end up. The long end, 

 leading us seaward, was next put round the drum 

 and a mile of it picked up ; but then, fearing another 

 tangle, the end was cut and buoyed, and we returned 

 to grapple for the three-wire cable. All this is 

 very tiresome for me. The buoying and dredging 



are managed entirely by W , who has had much 



experience in this sort of thing ; so I have not 

 enough to do and get very homesick. At noon the 

 wind freshened, and the sea rose so high that we 

 had to run for land and are once more this evening 

 anchored at Chia. 



' June 24. 



' The whole day spent in dredging without suc- 

 cess. This operation consists in allowing the ship 

 to drift slowly across the line where you expect the 

 cable to be, while at the end of a long rope, fast 

 either to the bow or stern, a grapnel drags along 

 the ground. This grapnel is a small anchor, made 

 like four pot-hooks tied back to back. When the 

 rope gets taut, the ship is stopped and the grapnel 

 hauled up to the surface in the hopes of finding 

 the cable on its prongs. I am much discontented 

 with myself for idly lounging about and reading 

 Westward Ho ! for the second time, instead of taking 

 to electricity or picking up nautical information. 

 I am uncommonly idle. The sea is not quite so 



