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1
378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
291
Then
all
was
still,
and
they
knew
that
that
delicate
operation
was
going
on.
Quick,
nimble
hands
tore
off
the
covering
from
some
yards
of
the
shore
end
of
the
main
cable,
till
they
came
to
the
core;
then,
swiftly
unwinding
the
copper
wires,
they
laid
them
together,
twining
them
as
closely
and
carefully
as
a
silken
braid.
Thus
stripped
and
bare
this
new-born
child
of
the
sea
was
wrapped
in
swaddling-clothes,
covered
up
with
many
coatings
of
gutta-percha,
and
hempen
rope,
and
strong
iron
wires,
the
whole
bound
round
and
round
with
heavy
bands,
and
the
splicing
was
complete.
Signals
were
now
sent
through
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
miles,
was
reported
perfect.
And
so
with
light
hearts
they
bore
away.
It
was
a
little
after
three
o'clock.
As
they
turned
to
the
west,
the
following
was
the
"order
of
battle":
the
Terrible
went
ahead,
standing
off
on
the
starboard
bow,
to
keep
other
vessels
out
of
the
course;
the
Medway
was
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
might
be
required.
All
these
ships
were
to
keep
their
allotted
positions,
within
signalling
distance
of
the
Great
Eastern,
and
at
any
time
that
she
was
heard
firing
guns,
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
fishing
for
the
old
cable,
of
disturbing
the
new.
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