The Atlantic Telegraph (1865)Russell, William Howard, Sir
History
The Atlantic Telegraph (1865)
Russell, William Howard, Sir
Transatlantic cables
_Saturday, August 5th._--There was no change in the weather. A grey mist
enveloped the Great Eastern from stem to stern, blanket-like as sleep
itself. The haze--for so it was rather than a fog--got lighter soon
after 12 o’clock, but it was quite out of the question to attempt an
observation of a longitudinal character. The steam-whistles pierced the
fog-banks miles away. Shoals of grampuses, black fish, porpoises, came
out of the obscure to investigate the source of such dread clamour, and
blew, spouted, and rolled on the tops of the smooth unctuous-looking
folds of water that undulated in broad sweeping billows on our beam. Our
great object was to get sight of the buoy, and by that means make a
guess at our position. At 12·30 p.m. the Terrible was sighted on the
port beam, and our fog music was hushed. At 2·30 o’clock, p.m., the
Terrible signalled that the buoy was three miles distant from her. This
was quite an agreeable incident. Every eye was strained in search of the
missing buoy, and at last the small red flag at the top of the staff was
made out on the horizon. At 3·45 o’clock, p.m., the Great Eastern was
abreast of the buoy, which was hailed with much satisfaction. It bore
itself bravely, though rather more depressed than we had anticipated,
and it was like meeting an old friend, to see it bobbing at us up and
down in the ocean. It was resolved to steer N.W. by N. for 5 or 6 miles,
so as to pass some miles beyond the Cable, and then, if the wind
answered, to drift down and grapple. The Great Eastern signalled to the
Terrible, “Please watch the buoy;” and, under her trusty watch and ward,
we left the sole mark of the expedition fixed on the surface of the sea,
and stood towards the northward. The wind, however, did not answer, and
the grapnel was not thrown overboard.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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