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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
166
"At
noon,
observations
showed
us
to
have
made
good
one
hundred
and
thirty
miles
from
noon
of
the
previous
day,
and
about
three
hundred
and
sixty
from
our
starting-point
in
mid-ocean.
We
had
passed
by
the
deepest
sounding
of
twenty-four
hundred
fathoms,
and
over
more
than
half
of
the
deep
water
generally,
while
the
amount
of
cable
still
remaining
in
the
ship
was
more
than
sufficient
to
carry
us
to
the
Irish
coast,
even
supposing
the
continuance
of
the
bad
weather
should
oblige
us
to
pay
out
the
same
amount
of
slack
cable
we
had
been
hitherto
wasting.
Thus
far
things
looked
very
promising
for
our
ultimate
success.
But
former
experience
showed
us
only
too
plainly
that
we
could
never
suppose
that
some
accident
might
not
arise
until
the
ends
had
been
fairly
landed
on
the
opposite
shores.
"During
Sunday
night
and
Monday
morning
the
weather
continued
as
boisterous
as
ever,
and
it
was
only
by
the
most
indefatigable
exertions
of
the
engineer
upon
duty
that
the
wheels
could
be
prevented
from
stopping
altogether,
as
the
vessel
rose
and
fell
with
the
sea,
and
once
or
twice
they
did
come
completely
to
a
standstill,
in
spite
of
all
that
could
be
done
to
keep
them
moving;
but
fortunately
they
were
again
set
in
motion
before
the
stern
of
the
ship
was
thrown
up
by
the
succeeding
wave.
No
strain
could
be
placed
upon
the
cable,
of
course;
and
though
the
dynamometer
occasionally
registered
seventeen
hundred
pounds
as
the
ship
lifted,
it
was
oftener
below
one
thousand,
and
was
frequently
nothing,
the
cable
running
out
as
fast
as
its
own
weight
and
the
speed
of
the
ship
could
draw
it.
But
even
with
all
these
forces
acting
unresistedly
upon
it,
the
cable
never
paid
itself
out
at
a
greater
speed
than
eight
knots
an
hour
at
the
time
the
ship
was
going
at
the
rate
of
six
knots
and
a
half.
Subsequently,
however,
when
the
speed
of
the
ship
even
exceeded
six
knots
and
a
half,
the
cable
never
ran
out
so
quick.
The
average
speed
maintained
by
the
ship
up
to
this
time,
and,
indeed,
for
the
whole
voyage,
was
about
five
knots
and
a
half,
the
cable,
with
occasional
exceptions,
running
about
thirty
per
cent
faster.
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