Part 9 (1/2)
It had been supposed that the expedition of this year would have a great advantage over the last, fro two months earlier, at as considered a more favorable season So said all the wise iven their opinion that June was the bestthe Atlantic Then they were ale confir found true prophets, shook their heads with great satisfaction
But alas! for the vanity of human expectations, or for those who put trust in the treacherous sea On Sunday it began to blow The barons indicated to the eye of a seaales for more than a week From day to day it blew fiercer than before, till Sunday, the twentieth, when the gale was at its height, and the spirit of the storara and the Aga since parted froht of each other; and now from the deck of the for heavily in the sea The signals which she ale She was really in great danger of foundering But this ing, not ht she carried, and to the way this huge bulk was stowed in the shi+p Only a few days before we had been on board of her, and Captain Preedy showed us, in one coil, thirteen hundred ht of as h weather aleable To make the matter worse, she had another coil of about two hundred and fifty tons on the forward deck, where it made the head of the shi+p heavy In her tremendous rolls, this coil broke loose, and threatened at a tih the side of the shi+p But at the allant seaman in command never lost his presence of ilant eye the raging of the te his orders with coolness and prompt decision To this admirable skill was due the safety of the shi+p, and of all on board[B]
But all things have an end; and this long gale at last blew itself out, and the weary ocean rocked itself to rest Toward the last of the week the squadron got together at the appointed rendezvous in ry sea went down; and on Friday, June twenty-fifth, just fifteen days froether, as tranquil in thethe four vessels lay together, side by side, and there was such a stillness in the sea and air, as would have seemed remarkable in an inland lake; on the Atlantic, and after e had all so lately witnessed, it seemed almost unnatural” The boats were out, and the officers were passing froe, and for their plans for the morrow Captains Aldham and Dayman said it was the worst weather they had ever experienced in the North-Atlantic But it was the Agah sea had shaken not only the shi+p, but the cable in her The upper part of the led, that a hundred ot out and coiled in another part of the shi+p, so that it was not till the afternoon of Saturday, the twenty-sixth, that the splice was finally made, and the cable lowered to the bottoot under way, but had not gone three ht in the one no farther Both shi+ps at once turned about and spliced again the same afternoon, and -out machines worked smoothly, and the cable ran off easily into the sea Thus each shi+p had paid out about forty miles when suddenly the current ceased!
Says the writer on the Aga] forty ular than the working of every thing, when suddenly Professor Thomson came on deck, and reported a total break of continuity; that the cable in fact had parted, and, as was believed at the tiun and a blue-light warned the Valorous of what had happened, and roused all on board the Agae that the machinery was silent, and that the first part of the Atlantic Cable had been laid and lost effectually”
This was disheartening, but not soof the cable, as from the mystery as to its cause The fact, of course, was known instantly on both shi+ps, but the cause was unknown
Those on each shi+p supposed it had occurred on the other With this iain toward the rendezvous It was noon of Monday, the twenty-eighth, before the Agaara; and then, says the writer:
”While all aiting with impatience for her explanation of how they broke the cable, she electrified every one by running up the interrogatory: 'How did the cable part?' This was astounding As soon as the boats could be lowered, Mr Cyrus Field, with the electricians fros showed the painful and mysterious fact that, _at the same second of time_, each vessel discovered that a total fracture had taken place at a distance of certainly not less than ten ed, at the bottom of the ocean That of all the raph, this is the worst andis certain, since it proves that, after all that human skill and science can effect to lay the wire doith safety has been accomplished, there may be some fatal obstacles to success at the bottoainst; for even the nature of the peril must always remain as secret and unknown as the depths in which it is to be encountered”
But it was no tirets Once more the cable was joined in ara and the Agaan to steam away toward opposite shores of the Atlantic
This tiress of the English shi+p is thus reported:
”At first, the shi+p's speed was only two knots, the cable going three and three and a half, with a strain of fifteen hundred pounds By and by, however, the speed was increased to four knots, the cable going five, at a strain of two thousand pounds At this rate it was kept, with trifling variations, throughout alht, Mr Canning, nor Mr Clifford ever quitted the ht, while the rate of the shi+p continued the same, the speed at which the cable paid out slackened nearly a knot an hour, while the dynamoe could only be accounted for on the supposition that the water had shallowed to a considerable extent, and that the vessel was, in fact, passing over some submarine Ben Nevis or Skiddaw After an interval of about an hour, the strain and rate of progress of the cable again increased, while the increase of the vertical angle see down the side of a declivity Beyond this, there was no variation throughout Monday night, or, indeed, through Tuesday”
On board the Niagara was the saht Engineers and electricians were constantly on duty:
”The scene at night was beautiful Scarcely a as spoken; silence was co was heard but the strange rattling of the hts about deck and in the quarter-deck circle added to the singularity of the spectacle; and those ere on board the shi+p describe the state of anxious suspense in which all were held as exceedingly impressive”
Warned by repeated failures, they hardly dared to hope for success in this last experiment And yet the spirits of all rose, as the distance widened between the shi+ps A hundred miles were laid safely--a hundred and fifty--two hundred! Why uine and hopeful when, Tuesday night, came the fatal announcement that the electric current had ceased to flow It afterward appeared that the cable had broken about twenty feet froamemnon
As the cable was now useless, it only re this, it was thought a good opportunity to test its strength For this purpose the brakes were shut down, so that the paying-out machine could not h the whole weight of the Niagara hung upon that slender cord, and though several h the as quite fresh, the cable held the shi+p for one hour and fortya strain of four tons”
Though not unexpected, this last breaking of the cable was a sad blow to all on board It was the end of their hopes, at least for the present expedition Before separating, it had been agreed, that if the cable should part again before either shi+p had run a hundred miles, they should return and renew the attempt If they had passed that liara had run out a hundred and eleven amemnon had done about the same, she expected the latter would keep on her course eastward, not stopping till she reached Queenstown The Niagara, therefore, reluctantly bore away for the sa but gay” When soldiers come home from the war, they n But it is otherhen they come with a sad tale of disaster and defeat Seldoher hopes, or ended inkeenly this fresh disappointhtened by a natural buoyancy of spirits, hoas it possible to resist the impression of the facts they had just witnessed? If--as Lord Carlisle had told thelory in the very design of an Atlantic telegraph,” that glory ht still be theirs But apparently they could hope for nothing ainst theainst destiny? No one can blas, and looked out sadly upon the sea that had baffled their uthed their efforts to scorn
In this ara was the first to arrive and to bring tidings of the great disaster The Aga the fatal impression their report was likely to produce, Mr Field hastened to London to h time The news had reached there before him, and had already produced its effect Under its iether It met in the same room where, six weeks before, it had discussed the prospects of the expedition with full confidence of success Now it met, as a council of war is summoned after a terrible defeat, to decide whether to surrender or to try once ether, the feeling--to call it by the ement They looked blankly in each other's faces With so was one almost of despair Sir Willia the, the Vice-Chairiven more tiues were disposed to make still another trial, left the roonation, deter which had been proved hopeless, and to persist in which seeht there was still a chance Like Robert Bruce, who, after twelve battles and twelve defeats, yet believed that a thirteenth _ to this bare possibility Mr Field and Professor Thoave the results of their experience, from which it appeared that there was no obstacle in the nature of the case which ht and Mr Woodhouse joined with thely that they should renew the attempt To be sure, it was a forlorn hope But the shi+ps were there Though they had lost three hundred h on board to cross the sea
These arguments prevailed, and it was voted to make one more trial before the project was finally abandoned Even though the chances were a hundred to one against the them success And so it proved But was it their oisdoot the whose way is in the sea, and whose path is in the great waters?
FOOTNOTES:
[A] It should be said, however, in justice to Mr Bright, thatit in operation On his return fro out the defects of the estions were approved by the Scientific Conition of this fact, while it takes nothing froineer, is but just to his predecessor, who, as the pioneer in this work, ht easily fall into mistakes, which it needed only time and experience to correct
[B] As there is no trouble without a coe, fearful as it was, furnished a subject for a description of marvellous power The letter to the London Tiamemnon, is one of the finest descriptions of a store It is a wonderful specis the scene before us with a vividness like that of the s of Stanfield or Turner
CHAPTER X