In 1865, new capital having been raised, preparations were made for another expedition. It was now decided to use only one vessel for laying the cable, and the _Great Eastern_ was chosen for the task. This vessel had been lying idle for close on ten years, owing to her failure as a cargo boat, but her great size and capacity made her most suitable for carrying the enormous weight of the whole cable. In July 1865 the _Great Eastern_ set sail, under the escort of two British warships. When 84 miles had been paid out, a fault occurred, and after drawing up about 10½ miles it was found that a piece of iron wire had pierced the coating of the cable. The trouble was put right, and the paying-out continued successfully until over 700 miles had been laid, when another fault appeared. The cable was again drawn in until the fault was reached, and another piece of iron was found piercing clean through. It was evident that two such pieces of iron could not have got there by accident, and there was no doubt that they had been inserted intentionally by some malicious scoundrel, most likely with the object of affecting the company’s shares. A start was made once more, and all went well until about two-thirds of the distance had been covered, when the cable broke and had to be abandoned after several nearly successful attempts to recover it. In spite of the loss, which amounted to £600,000, the energetic promoters contrived to raise fresh capital, and in 1866 the _Great Eastern_ started again. This effort was completely successful, and on 28th July 1866 the cable was landed amidst great rejoicing. The following extracts from the diary of the engineer Sir Daniell Gooch, give us some idea of the landing. “Is it wrong that I should have felt as though my heart would burst when that end of our long line touched the shore amid the booming of cannon, the wild, half-mad cheers and shouts of the men?... I am given a never-dying thought; that I aided in laying the Atlantic cable.... The old cable hands seemed as though they could eat the end; one man actually put it into his mouth and sucked it. They held it up and danced round it, cheering at the top of their voices. It was a strange sight, nay, a sight that filled our eyes with tears.... I did cheer, but I could better have silently cried.”