CHAP. XIX. FLOATING THE BRITANNIA TUBES. 



433 





- 



CONWAT BRIDGE. [By Percival Skeiton.] 



perience gained at Conway rendered it easy compared 

 with what it otherwise would have been. Mr. Stephen- 

 son superintended the operation of floating the first in 

 person, giving the arranged signals from the top of the 

 tube on which he was mounted, the active part of the 

 business being performed by a numerous corps of sailors, 

 under the immediate direction of Captain Claxton. 

 Thousands of spectators lined the shores of the Strait 

 on the evening of the 19th of June, 1849. On the land 

 attachments being cut, the pontoons began to float off; 

 but one of the capstans having given way from the too 

 great strain put upon it, the tube was brought home 

 again for the night. By next morning the defective 

 capstan was restored, and all was in readiness for another 

 trial. At half-past seven in the evening the tube was 

 VOL. TII. 2 F 



