The "wire ships" thus additionally experienced arrived at Plymouth on June 3d, and some further arrangements were made, principally connected with the electrical department. A week later--i. e., on Thursday, June 10th--having taken in a fresh supply of coal, the expedition again left England "with fair skies and bright prospects." The barometer standing at 30.64, it was an auspicious start in what was declared by a consensus of nautical authorities to be the best time of the year for the Atlantic. This prognostication was doomed to a terrible disappointment, for the voyage nearly ended in the Agamemnon "turning turtle." She was repeatedly almost on her beam ends, the cable was partly shifted, and a large number of those on board were more or less seriously injured. The load of cable made all the difference when brought into comparison with an ordinary ship, under stress of weather. It was bad enough to cruise with a dead weight forward of some 250 tons--a weight under which her planks gaped an inch apart, and her beams threatened daily to give way. But when to these evils were added the fear that in some of her heavy rolls the whole mass would slip and take the vessel's side out, it will be seen that this precious coil was justly regarded as a standing danger--the millstone about the necks of all on board.[29] Oddly enough, owing to the fact that the Agamemnon had scant accommodation left for fuel, every one at the start was bemoaning the entire absence of breeze. There were some even, who, never having been at sea before, muttered rash hopes about meeting an Atlantic gale. Their wishes were soon to be completely realized. In order that laying operations should be started by the two ships in mid-ocean, it was arranged that the entire fleet should meet in latitude 53° 2´ and longitude 33° 18´ as a rendezvous. As it is impossible to follow the movements of more than one ship at a time, and as the Agamemnon had the more exciting experience, we will confine our attention to her up to the date of the rendezvous.