All was ready for the expedition before the time indicated, and the directors and the public looked with confidence to the result. Instead of landing a shore-end at Valentia, and making a junction of the Cable, it was decided that the ships should proceed together to a point midway between Trinity Bay and Valentia, there splice the Cable, and then turn their bows east and west, and proceed to their destinations. On Thursday, the 10th of June, 1858, H.M.S. Agamemnon and U.S.N.S. Niagara, accompanied by H.M.S. Valorous and H.M.S. Gorgon, left Plymouth, the two former having previously made an experimental cruise in the Channel with the Cables, which were very satisfactory, in all respects. Experienced mariners gazed with apprehension at their depth in water as they left the shore. It was, however, such glorious weather as to cause some anxiety lest there should be no wind, and that the stock of coals might be exhausted before their mission was accomplished. Before midnight, however, a gradually increasing gale gathered to a storm, while the barometer marked 29°. For seven consecutive days the tempest, so eloquently described by Mr. Woods in the _Times_, continued, the Agamemnon under close-reefed topsails striving to reach the rendezvous, Lat. 52° 2´, Long. 33° 18´, rolling 45 degrees, and labouring fearfully. On the 19th and 20th the gale reached its height. The position of the ship, carrying 2,840 tons of dead-weight, badly stowed, had become most critical, from her violent lurching as she sunk into the troughs of the sea, and struggled violently to right herself--the coal bunkers gave way, and caused alarm and confusion. Were the masts to yield, the ship would rock still more violently, the Cable would shift, and carry every one with it to destruction. Captain Preedy had but two courses open in order to save the ship without sacrificing the Cable--either was fraught with peril--to wear the ship, or to run before the gale and risk the chances of being pooped by the monster seas in pursuit. On the 21st the Agamemnon was enabled to bear up for the rendezvous in mid-ocean, which she reached on the 25th, after sixteen days of danger and apprehension, her companion, the Niagara, having passed through the dreadful ordeal with less danger and difficulty. At half-past two o’clock on the 26th, the Agamemnon and Niagara first spliced the Cable; it however became foul of the scraper on the latter ship, and broke. A second splice was immediately made, and the vessels started. The Agamemnon had paid out 37½ miles, when suddenly the continuity of the electric current ceased, and the electricians declared that the Cable had broken at the bottom. As the Niagara was hauling in the Cable, of which she had payed out 43 miles, it snapped close to the ship.