Part 18 (1/2)
Lawrence
[Illustration: Shore END--EXACT SIZE]
While the Great Eastern remained at Berehaven, to take in her final stores of coal, the William Corry proceeded around the coast to Valentia to lay the shore end She arrived off the harbor on theof Saturday, the seventh of July, and ian to prepare for her heavy task This shore end was of tre twenty tons to the est wire cable ever ths was stiff as an iron bar As the year before, the cable was to be brought off on a bridge of boats reaching from the shi+p to the foot of the cliff All the fisher the shore, while H M S Raccoon, which was guarding that part of the coast, sent up her boats to help, so that, as they allpontoon-bridge; and Irish boat the line, to grasp the ponderous chain All ell, and by one o'clock the cable was landed, and its end brought up the cliff to the station The signals were found to be perfect, and the Willia her stiff shore end, till she had cast over the whole thirty h the cable that her as done, and she had buoyed the end in water a hundred fatho the scene, the correspondent of the London News says:
”In its leading features it presented a striking difference to the cereravity and a deep-seated determination to repress all show of the enthusiasm of which everybody was full, was very manifest The excite, hurrahing, public congratulations, and vaunts of confidence were, as it see farin the quiet and reverent solehtly boisterous joviality of the peasantry last year Nothing could prevent the scene being intensely dra tone of the drama was serious instead of coaraudy colored shawls tightly drawn over head and under the chin--the barefooted boys and girls, who by long practice walked over sharp and jagged rocks, which cut up boots and shoes, with perfect i in single file up and down the hazardous path cut by the cableht color furnished by the red petticoats and cloaks--the ragged gar and tape--the good old parish priest, who exercisessubjects of whoht of Kerry is the teht eyes, supple figures, and innocent faces of the peasant lasses, and the earnestly hopeful expression of all--made up a picture i abruptness hich the tremendous cliffs stand flush out of the water, the alternations of bright wild flowers and patches of verdure with the most desolate barrenness, the rass, and the undercurrent of consciousness of the hty interests at stake, and few scenes will see than that of yesterday”
As the shi+ps are now ready for sea, and all who are to embark have come on board, we may look about us at the personnel of the expedition Who are here? We recognize ns--gallant ht in this peaceful war First, the eye seeks the tall forrave, of feords, but seeing every thing, watching every thing, and ruling every thing with a quiet power And there is his second officer, Mr Halpin, who keeps a sharp lookout after the crew, to see that every man does his duty While he thus keeps watch of all on board, Staff Commander Moriarty, R N, comes on deck, with instruments in hand, to look after the heavenly bodies, and reckon the shi+p's latitude and longitude This is an old veteran in the service, who has been in all the expeditions, and it would be quite ”improper,”
even if it were possible, for a cable to be laid across the Atlantic without his presence and aid And here cos, the last year, were on a scale of such nitude, and who, if he cannot well dive deeper, ht forow, a ht into play, and the enthusiasenius of electrical science; and this is Mr Varley, who seeers, and to whom the world owes some hby Soes out on the shi+p as electrician
And here is Mr Glass, the raph Construction and Maintenance Company, which has undertaken by contract to manufacture this cable and lay it safely across the ocean; and Mr
Gooch, chairentleation, since it was they who, six iven up or postponed for years, took Mr
Field by the hand, and cheered his on their hearts of oak! Mr Gooch acco Mr Varley at his side as electrician, reress of the expedition, and to issue his orders What a post of observation was that telegraph house on the cliffs of Valentia! It commanded a far broader horizon than the top of Fiesole, from which Galileo looked down on the valley of the Arno, and up at the stars Was there ever a naval commander favored with a power of vision that could sweep the boundless sea? What would Nelson have said, if he had had a spy-glass hich he could watch shi+ps in action two thousand miles away, and issue his orders to a fleet on the other side of the ocean? With such a long range, he ht the Battle of the Nile fro on such a spot, and surrounded by suchthe capital, the science, and the skill of England, with all those gallant shi+ps in sight, one's heart h But there were other reflections that saddened the hour, and caused some at least to look once more on the rocks of Valentia with deep emotion Some of their old companions-in-arms had fallen out of the ranks, while the battle was not yet won Brett, Mr Field's first friend in England, was in his grave
Beyond the Atlantic, Captains Hudson and Berryotten by their survivors, who mourned that those who had toiled with them in former days, were not here to share their triu, therefore, of many on this occasion, was not one elate with pride and hope, but subdued by serious thoughts and tender reat hich they were about to undertake, it was proposed that before the expedition sailed they should hold a soleious service
Was there ever a fitter place or a fitter hour for prayer than here, in the presence of the great sea to which they were about to commit their lives and their precious trust? The first expedition ever sent forth had been consecrated by prayer On that very spot, nine years before, all heads were uncovered and all forms bent low, at the solemn words of supplication; and there had the Earl of Carlisle--since gone to his honored grave--cheered the the shi+ps which were sent forth on such a mission, as ”beautiful upon the waters as were the feet upon the ospel of peace”
In such a spirit two of the directors--Mr Bevan, of London, and Mr
Bewley, of Dublin--sent invitations to a number of persons to meet at Valentia, as the expedition was about to sail, and cohty God Captain Anderson had greatly desired to be with the service, but the shi+ps were at Berehaven, and they were just eh the officers could not be present, a large coether Said an Irish paper: ”Men of different religious denolishmen, and Scotchmen--joined in such a service as has never been held in this island” It was a scene long to be reether before the God and Father of all
Their brethren, ere about to go down to the sea in shi+ps, felt their dependence on a Higher Power Their preparations were complete
All that man could do was done They had exhausted every resource of science and skill The issue now remained with Him who controls the winds and waves Therefore was it , those who remained behind should, as it were, kneel upon the cliff, and, with outstretched hands, commit them to Hi of the sea
In all this there is so which makes us think of the subliri on the deck of their little shi+p at Leyden, as they were about to seek a refuge and a home in the forests of the New World; and of Colu a solemn service before their departure froreat expedition go forth oncethe hopes of science and of civilization--with courage and skill looking out froious faith, like that of Colu, the thirteenth of July, the fleet finally bade adieu to the land Was Friday an unlucky day? Solad to leave a day before or after But Columbus sailed on Friday, and discovered the New World on Friday; and so this expedition put to sea on Friday, and, as a good Providence would have it, reached land on the other side of the Atlantic on the same day of the week! As the shi+ps disappeared below the horizon, Mr Glass and Mr
Varley went up on their watch-tower--not to look, but to listen for the first voice from the sea The shi+ps bore away for the buoy where lay the end of the shore line; but the weather was thick and foggy, with frequent bursts of rain, and they could not see far on the water For an hour or two they went sailing round and round, like sea-gulls in search of prey At length the Albany caught sight of the buoy tossing on the waves, and, firing a signal gun, bore down straight upon it The cable was soon hauled up froht over the stern of the Great Eastern; and the watchers on shore, who had been waiting with some impatience, saw the first flash, and Varley read, ”Got the shore end--all right--going to make the splice” Then all was still, and they knew that that delicate operation was going on Quick, ni from some yards of the shore end of the main cable, till they ca the copper wires, they laid the them as closely and carefully as a silken braid Thus stripped and bare this new-born child of the sea rapped in swaddling-clothes, covered up withiron wires, the whole bound round and round with heavy bands, and the splicing was coh the whole cable on board the Great Eastern and back to the telegraph-house at Valentia, and the whole length, two thousand four hundred and forty nautical ht hearts they bore away It was a little after three o'clock As they turned to the west, the folloas the ”order of battle”: the Terrible went ahead, standing off on the starboard bow, to keep other vessels out of the course; the Medas on the port, and the Albany on the starboard quarter, ready to pick up or let go a buoy, or to do other work that ht be required All these shi+ps were to keep their allotted positions, within signalling distance of the Great Eastern, and at any tiuns, they were to close in with her to render assistance Their course lay thirty miles to the south of that of the last year, so that there could be no danger, in fishi+ng for the old cable, of disturbing the new
Dr Russell, the brilliant historian of the Expedition of 1865, was not on board the Great Eastern this year He had left England a feeeks before for the scene of the war in Germany His place was supplied by Mr John C Deane, the Secretary of the Anglo-American Company, whose ”Diary of the Expedition” furnishes a faithful record of the incidents of thisas that of the year before, it is because it has not to tell of such fatal accidents It has theits most important portions, will render this narrative coood weather and every o and rain At the very ti the splice with the shore end, the rain was pouring on the deck But in a few hours it cleared off, and Saturday and Sunday, Mr Field writes in his journal, ”Weather fine;” and Monday, ”Cal to the improved system adopted by the chief electrician, communication with the shore was kept up even while the tests for insulation were going on[A]
Every possible precaution was taken to guard against such accidents as hadhow s had sufficed to puncture the cable, the men in the tank were not allowed to wear boots or shoes with nails in their heels, but were cased from head to foot in canvas dresses, drawn over their ordinary sailor costulided about softly as ghosts But we turn to Mr Deane's diary for a record of the progress froh yesterday the paying-out machinery worked so smoothly--the electrical tests were so perfect--the weather was so fine, that fresh confidence in the ultimate result has been naturally inspired The recollection, however, of the reverses of the expedition of 1865 is always before those who have the greatest reliance on success; and there is a quiet repose about the manner of the chief practical men on board, which is an earnest that they will not allow themselves to be carried away by the smoothness of twenty-four hours' events The convoy kept their position accurately during the day The Terrible signalled that a man had fallen overboard Her cutter was speedily lowered The sailor had, however, laid hold of a rope thrown to hiate, before the boat reached hi on well The sea like aout of the cable fro with uniformity and steadiness, and the electrical tests perfect
”Our track is about thirty miles to the south of that of last year, and at that distance we passed parallel to where the telegraph cable parted in August, 1857 Our average speed has been about five knots We were obliged to stop the screw engines in order to bring down to that speed, and, moreover, to reduce the paddle boiler power Captain Anderson's ingeniousthe shi+p's bottom, which he carried out last winter at Sheerness, has proved to have effected this very desirable object Mr Beckwith, the engineer, is now enabled to regulate and adjust her speed, and get more out of the shi+p than he could last year, when her bottom was one incrusted mass of mussels
”Tuesday--Another twenty-four hours of uninterrupted success
All day yesterday it was so calm that the masts of our convoy were reflected in the ocean, an unusual thing to see A large shoal of porpoises galorious sunset, and later, a crescent hting our way into Trinity Bay before the days of this July shall have ended”
But the whole night did not pass away so tranquilly By ht the rain fell fast, and the wind blew fiercely, and then occurred the only real alare The scene is thus described by Mr Deane:
”All went on well until twenty minutes past twelve AM, Greenwich tiiven to the success which has hitherto attended us, and this time we had real cause to be alarines were i out of the cable stopped We were all soon on deck, and learned that the running or paying-out part of the coil had caught three turns of the flake immediately under it, carried the up one and a half turns from the outside, and five turns in the eye of the under flake This was stopped, fortunately, before entering the paying out machinery Stoppers of heave orders to stand by to let go the buoy This was not very cheering to hear, but his calave us all confidence that his skill and experience would extricate the cable fro line was ever entangled worse than the rope hen thrust up in apparently hopeless knots from the eye of the coil to the deck