in depth, and each held 153 miles of Cable; of those on the Iris, one was 29 ft. diameter and 14 ft. 6 in. deep, and held 153 miles, and the other held 110 miles, and was 24 ft. wide, and 17 ft. deep. [Illustration: F. Jones, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. THE CABLE PASSED FROM THE WORKS INTO THE HULK LYING IN THE THAMES AT GREENWICH.] [Illustration: T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. THE OLD FRIGATE WITH HER FREIGHT OF CABLE ALONGSIDE THE “GREAT EASTERN” AT SHEERNESS.] The Great Eastern steamship was fitted up with three tanks to receive the Cable, one situated in the forehold, one in the afterhold, and the third nearly amidships. The bottoms and the first tier of plates were of five-eighths iron, and each tank, when completed to this height, and tested as to its tightness by filling it with water, and found or made to be perfectly watertight, was let down from its temporary supports on to a bed of Portland cement, three inches in thickness, and the building up and riveting of the remaining tiers was continued. The beams beneath each tank were shored up from the floor beneath it down to the kelson with nine inches Baltic baulk timber, and it will give some idea of the magnitude of the work to state that upwards of 300 loads of this material were required for this purpose alone. The dimensions of the fore tank were 51 ft. 6 in. diameter by 20 ft. 6 in. in depth, and its capacity was for 693 miles of Cable. The middle tank was 58 ft. 6 in. broad, and 20 ft. 6 in. deep, and held 899 miles of Cable, and the after tank was 58 ft. wide and 20 ft. 6 in. deep, and contained 898 miles. The three tanks were therefore capable of containing in all 2,490 miles of the new Cable. The experience gained on board the Agamemnon and Niagara, and the practical knowledge obtained by the telegraphic engineers, were turned to good account in erecting the new machinery on the deck of the Great Eastern for paying-out the Cable.