LA VING DEEP-SEA CABLES. 435 



of the cable, its weight in water (whether deep or 

 shallow), and its mechanical manageability, but it 

 had proved that in moderate weather the Great 

 Eastern could, by skilful seamanship, be kept in 

 position and moved in the manner required. She 

 had actually been so for thirty-eight hours, and 

 eighteen hours during the operations involved in 

 the hauling back and cutting out the first and 

 second faults and reuniting the cable, and during 

 seven hours of hauling in, in the attempt to 

 repair the third fault. 



Should the simultaneous electric testing on board 

 and on shore prove the fault to be 50 or 100 or 

 more miles from the ship, it would depend on the 

 character of the fault, the season of the year, and 

 the means and appliances on board, whether it 

 would be better to complete the line, and after- 

 wards, if necessary, cut out the fault and repair, or 

 to go back at once and cut out the fault before 

 attempting to complete the line. Even the worst 

 of these contingencies would not be fatal to the 

 undertaking w<ith such a cable as the present one. 

 But all experience of cable-laying shows that 



F F 2 



