2 HE TELEGRAPH. 
276 
In March, 1871, a fault was found in the Singapore cable, 
200 miles from the shore, and Frank Buckland examined the 
defective part, and found in it a bone (fig. 115) which he 
recognised as having belonged to a sword-fish (Pristo 
antiquorum). 
Sword-fishes have several times injured the cable between 
Para and Demerara, and such accidents have always occurred 
in the same localities, viz. 130 to 140 miles from Para. These 
creatures have, it seems, a habit of groping along the bottom 
of the sea, searching for food with their peculiar organ. The 
saw probably becomes entangled in the cable, and in the efforts 
made by the fishes to liberate themselves the core is injured, ss 
shown in fig. 115. The Brazilian coast is well known to be 
frequented by fish of this kind, attracted by the pursuit of the 
whale, in which they are very active. 
Whales .—This huge cetacean caused a remarkable accident 
to one of the Persian Gulf cables. In 1859, a whale nearly 
broke the first Atlantic cable as it was going over the stern of 
the Magara in the process of laying. The accident that 
occurred to the cable between Gwadur and Kurrachee is so 
extraordinary that we must quote the official report. 
Mr. J. Walton, Superintendent to the Mekran and Persian 
Gulf telegraphs, reported to the Bombay government as follows : 
“ The cable between Kurrachee and Gwadur, a distance of 
about 300 miles, was suddenly ruptured on the evening of the 
4th inst. (4th July, 1872). The steamship the Amber Witch, 
Captain Bishop, with the staff of engineers and electricians 
under the direction of Mr. H. C. Mance, set out on the follow¬ 
ing day to repair the damage, which by experiments made at 
each end was calculated to be 116 miles from Kurrachee. 
44 The Amber Witch arrived at the spot at two o’clock on the 
afternoon of the 6th. There was a heavy sea, and a thick fog 
prevailed, but the cable was grappled at a quarter of a mile 
from the rupture. 
44 Soundings taken at this place were very irregular, and 
showed a sudden rise of 70 or 80 fathoms. In raising the 
cable, an unusual resistance was found, as if the cable had stuck 
in a rock; but by persevering for some time, the body of an 
enormous whale, entangled in the cable, was brought to the 
surface, and it was immediately seen that it was fixed by two 
