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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
137
It
was
a
gutta-percha
cable
of
six
wires
or
conductors,
and
manufactured
by
Messrs.
Glass
&
Elliott,
of
Greenwich--a
firm
which
afterwards
combined
with
the
Gutta-Percha
Company,
and
became
the
existing
Telegraph
Construction
and
Maintenance
Company.
Mr.
Brett
laid
the
cable
from
the
Result,
a
sailing
ship
in
tow,
instead
of
a
more
manageable
steamer;
and,
meeting
with
600
fathoms
of
water
when
twenty-five
miles
from
land,
the
cable
ran
out
so
fast
that
a
tangled
skein
came
up
out
of
the
hold,
and
the
line
had
to
be
severed.
Having
only
150
miles
on
board
to
span
the
whole
distance
of
140
miles,
he
grappled
the
lost
cable
near
the
shore,
raised
it,
and
'under-run'
or
passed
it
over
the
ship,
for
some
twenty
miles,
then
cut
it,
leaving
the
seaward
end
on
the
bottom.
He
then
spliced
the
ship's
cable
to
the
shoreward
end
and
resumed
his
paying-out;
but
after
seventy
miles
in
all
were
laid,
another
rapid
rush
of
cable
took
place,
and
Mr.
Brett
was
obliged
to
cut
and
abandon
the
line.
Another
attempt
was
made
the
following
year,
but
with
no
better
success.
Mr.
Brett
then
tried
to
lay
a
three-wire
cable
from
the
steamer
Dutchman,
but
owing
to
the
deep
water--in
some
places
1500
fathoms--its
egress
was
so
rapid,
that
when
he
came
to
a
few
miles
from
Galita,
his
destination
on
the
Algerian
coast,
he
had
not
enough
cable
to
reach
the
land.
He
therefore
telegraphed
to
London
for
more
cable
to
be
made
and
sent
out,
while
the
ship
remained
there
holding
to
the
end.
For
five
days
he
succeeded
in
doing
so,
sending
and
receiving
messages;
but
heavy
weather
came
on,
and
the
cable
parted,
having,
it
is
said,
been
chafed
through
by
rubbing
on
the
bottom.
After
that
Mr.
Brett
went
home.
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