SCIENCE AND PRACTICE. 345 



into Plymouth, on her way round the channel, and while 

 there the electrical conditions of the cable appearing to 

 justify a delay, and this delay preventing the 

 possibility of the ship, which wanted some 

 repairs after her passage, reaching the Malay 

 coast in time to save the fine season, the 

 expedition was decided to be put off. In 

 January, 1861, the destination of the line was 

 again altered, and the authorities determined 

 that it should finally be laid in three sections 

 between Malta, Tripoli, Bengazhi, and Alex- 

 andria. The submersion was carried out in 

 the summer of 1861 with signal success, by 

 the engineers of Messrs. Glass, Elliott, and 

 Co. 



The length laid between Malta and Tripoli 

 is 230 knots, that between Tripoli and Ben- 

 gazhi 507 knots, and that between Bengazhi 

 and Alexandria 597 knots. 



The cable has not worked uninterruptedly 

 since that time, but the faults which have 

 occurred in it have been, happily, of minor 

 importance, and a few days have always 

 sufficed to enable the engineers in charge to 

 effect its reparation. It is sincerely to be 

 hoped that this cable may continue long in 

 working order to re-establish the confidence 

 which the failures of the previous long cables Fig. 160. 

 has shaken, and to reward its manufacturers for the con- 

 scientious care with which they carried out their share of 

 the work. 



70. The Persian Gulf cable, laid in 1864 by Sir Charles 

 Bright and staff, had, during its manufacture and submersion, 

 the advantage of all the experience accumulated in dealing 

 with the previous cables. The result will prove if this ex- 

 perience has been made good use of. The conductor is a 

 compound copper wire consisting of five pieces, four segments 

 forming a cylinder, and a tube in which they are contained. 



