THE LAYING OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 219 



taking such hasty strides that no one on board could 

 keep up with him. Or look at the steerage. Below 

 the deck aft is a spacious room, in which four large 

 wheels are placed in a line from stem to stern, at each 

 of which are two men : though there are two com- 

 passes before the foremost wheel, the men steer en- 

 tirely by the brass finger of a dial, whose motions are 

 guided by the chief steersman, who stands at the 

 wheel in the centre of the ship, which, notwithstand- 

 ing all prognostications to the contrary, answers 

 readily to the helm, though going at a speed of only 

 four knots per hour. 



. A boatswain on board who, with ten men, had 

 charge of the vessel during the winter, describing her 

 size and solitude, said to me, " Sir, a man might have 

 lain dead in some cabin astern for a whole week 

 before we at the bow would know of it." And I can 

 easily believe it. I have explored the vessel as much 

 as most men on board ; I have wandered through long 

 dark passages, at moments illumined by the fierce and 

 sudden blaze of an open furnace nay, I have de- 

 scended to the very kelson and yet I knoAV that there 

 are many places from which I should find it difficult 

 to emerge again into light. In my survey I noticed 

 particularly that the names of many streets, alleys, 

 and taverns in the neighbourhood of the docks were 

 painted on various parts of the lower decks, showing 

 how a sailor loves to bear with him a memory of his 

 favourite and familiar localities. 



