SCIENCE IN THE INDUSTRIAL WORLD 



order to test the cable, were supplemented by cheerful 

 messages from the officers to friends on land, and to 

 friends in America, by way of outgoing vessels from 

 England. 



The unknown effects of the deep-sea pressure were 

 tested and found not to interfere with the working of the 

 cable on the third day of the voyage when the deep 

 ocean was reached, and the cable continued to work 

 uninterruptedly. With this bugaboo safely behind them 

 the spirits of all concerned reacted and mounted to the 

 highest pitch of anticipation. The third day passed and 

 all was going well. The fourth bade fair to be a repeti- 

 tion of the third, when suddenly, without a moment's 

 warning, the cable parted and sank. 



The cause of the accident was the failure to release 

 the brakes of the paying-out machine at a critical 

 moment a turn of a hand-wheel in the wrong direc- 

 tion by an over-anxious workman with the result that 

 a fortune in money was lost and the hopes of two con- 

 tinents shattered. The manipulation of this vital part of 

 the cable machinery had been undertaken by Charles 

 Bright in person, who had stood by the machine most of 

 the time, day and night, since the beginning of the trip. 

 But having occasion to step forward to see how the cable 

 was coming out of the hold, he left the paying-out 

 machine for a moment in charge of a mechanic, a man 

 perfectly familiar with the construction and running 

 of it. Bright had hardly left his place, however, when 

 he heard the machinery stop. Rushing back he 

 called to the mechanic to release the brakes; but in 

 the crucial moment of excitement the man turned 



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