The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

But alas! for the vanity of human expectations, or for those who put trust in the treacherous sea. On Sunday it began to blow. The barometer fell, and all signs indicated to the eye of a seaman rough weather. From this time they had a succession of gales for more than a week. From day to day it blew fiercer than before, till Sunday, the twentieth, when the gale was at its height, and the spirit of the storm was out on the Atlantic. Up to this time the Niagara and the Agamemnon (though they had long since parted from the Valorous and the Gorgon) had managed to keep in sight of each other; and now from the deck of the former the latter was seen a mile and a half distant, rolling heavily in the sea. The signals which she made showed that she was struggling with the fury of the gale. She was really in great danger of foundering. But this was owing, not merely to the severity of the gale, but to the enormous weight she carried, and to the way this huge bulk was stowed in the ship. Only a few days before we had been on board of her, and Captain Preedy showed us, in one coil, thirteen hundred miles of cable! This made a dead weight of as many hundred tons, which rendered her in rough weather almost unmanageable. To make the matter worse, she had another coil of about two hundred and fifty tons on the forward deck, where it made the head of the ship heavy. In her tremendous rolls, this coil broke loose, and threatened at a time to dash like an avalanche through the side of the ship. But at the most fearful moments the gallant seaman in command never lost his presence of mind. He was always on deck, watching with a vigilant eye the raging of the tempest, and issuing his orders with coolness and prompt decision. To this admirable skill was due the safety of the ship, and of all on board.[B]