Meantime the engineers’ staff were busy making a solid strong raft of timber balks, 8 feet square, to serve as a base to a buoy to be anchored in 2,500 fathoms, as near as possible to the course of the Cable, and some miles to the westward of the place where the grapnel-rope parted. A portion of Cable, which had been a good deal strained, was used as tackle, for the purpose of securing the raft and buoy to a mushroom anchor. The buoy, which we shall call No. 1, was painted red, and was surmounted by a black ball, above which rose a staff, bearing a red flag. It was securely lashed on the raft. At 10 p.m., Greenwich time, the buoy No. 1 was hove overboard, and sailed away over the grey leaden water till it was brought up by the anchor in Lat. 51° 28´, Long. 38° 42´ 30´´. The Great Eastern, having thus marked a spot on the ocean, proceeded on her cruise, to take up a position which might enable her to cross the Cable with the new grapnel, and try fortune once more. Some researches made among the coils of telegraph Cable confirmed the opinion, that the iron wires in the outer protective coating were the sources of all our calamities, and fortified the position of those who maintained that the faults were the result of accident. In some instances the wires were started; in others they were broken in the strands. By twisting the wire, great variations in quality became apparent. Some portions were very tough, others snapped like steel. It is to be regretted that the scientific council who recommended the Cable did not test some parts of it in the paying-out apparatus with a severe strain, as they might have detected the inherent faults in the fabric. It is quite possible hundreds of broken ends exist in the Cable already laid, though they have done no harm to the insulation.