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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
238
This
was
an
operation
which
could
not
be
done
with
speed.
With
all
the
men
who
could
be
employed,
they
coiled
on
board
only
about
two
miles
an
hour,
or
twenty
miles
a
day--at
which
rate
it
would
take
some
five
months.
The
work
began
on
the
nineteenth
of
January,
early
in
the
morning,
and
continued
till
June,
before
all
was
safely
stowed
on
board.
The
Great
Eastern
herself
had
been
fitted
up
to
receive
her
enormous
burden.
It
was
an
object
to
stow
the
cable
in
as
few
coils
as
possible.
Yet
it
could
not
be
all
piled
in
one
mass.
Such
a
dead
weight
in
the
centre
of
the
ship
would
cause
her
to
roll
fearfully.
If
coiled
in
one
circle,
it
was
computed
that
it
would
nearly
fill
Astley's
theatre
from
the
floor
of
the
circus
to
the
roof--making
a
pile
fifty-eight
feet
wide
and
sixty
feet
high.
To
distribute
this
enormous
bulk
and
weight,
it
was
disposed
in
three
tanks--one
aft,
one
amidships,
and
one
forward.
The
latter,
from
the
shape
of
the
ship,
was
a
little
smaller
than
the
others,
and
held
only
six
hundred
and
thirty-three
miles
of
cable,
while
the
two
former
held
a
little
over
eight
hundred
each.
All
were
made
of
thick
wrought-iron
plates,
and
water-tight,
so
that
the
cable
could
be
kept
under
water
till
it
was
immersed
in
the
sea.
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