THE CABLE SHIP ON REPAIRS. 335 



while being towed across. This vessel was H.M.S. " Blazer," of 

 500 tons, from which the engines and boilers were previously 

 removed. When well on her way across the hawser parted, 

 and while renewing it, the ship drifted in the tideway, paying 

 out cable nearly at right angles to the true course. Another 

 similar experience was with the second Irish cable (from Port 

 Patrick), which was laid without the aid of a tug. With the 

 strong tide which runs through the North Channel on her 

 beam, and a light breeze aiding it, it was found only just 

 possible to keep the "Britannia" on her course, and when about 

 two-thirds across, the breeze increased in force and overpowered 

 the helm, swinging her round stern to sea and tide. The cable 

 was thereupon cut and let go. 



Acting on this experience, a tug was procured to tow the 

 "Monarch" while laying the Hague cables, and she was towed 

 out at the start, but finding her answer the helm well and 

 relying on her engines, the tug was cast off. Everything 

 went well, but Mr. Webb relates that in the beam sea depicted 

 in his sketch, when cable was all out of the forehold, the helm 

 had to be kept hard over. During this north-easter, which 

 made things pretty lively for 22 hours out of the 34, Mr. 

 Latimer Clark was below keeping up continuous electrical tests 

 and speaking the shore at intervals, Mr. Spencer was lashed 

 to his post at the brake, which in those days was worked by the 

 pressure of a hand lever, while Mr. Webb, who assisted Mr. 

 Edwin Clark, the Engineer to the Company, attended to the 

 steering. The " Monarch " was piloted by H.M.S. "Adder," 

 which had previously laid down the course by mark-buoys, 8 

 miles apart. By steering for the buoys as indicated by the 

 pilot vessel, the cable was laid with only 4 per cent, slack, a 

 remarkably straight course considering the weather and tide. 

 Mr. Webb about this time rendered great service in devising a 

 table in which by inspection could be seen how a ship's head 

 should bear, and what her speed should be for a given speed of 

 paying out when set, and rate of tide were known, in order to 

 lay cable in a straight line. 



The earliest events in the history of cable laying and repair- 

 ing will never cease to retain their interest. From the year 

 1850, when the first telegraphic submarine cable of any 

 practical utility was laid — namely, that between Dover and 



