absence of efficient holding-back gear--caused it to run out too rapidly, notwithstanding the slight depth (some 30 fathoms) encountered. Added to this, the tugs drifted with the wind and tide. Thus when the vessels arrived within about a mile of the French coast no more cable was left on board, and a fresh length had to be procured and spliced on before the line was complete. This cable proved a lasting success: it underwent numerous and extensive repairs, and it was only quite recently that its abandonment took place. _Other Early Cables._--The success of Crampton's line gave considerable impetus to submarine telegraphy. Similar enterprises sprung up on all sides; but many failures occurred before these operations came to be regarded as ordinary industrial undertakings. In the course of the following year (1852) three unsuccessful attempts were made to establish telegraphic communication between England and Ireland. In the first--between Holyhead and Howth--the cable was not heavy enough to contend with the rough bottom, and strong currents and disturbances from anchors experienced in these waters; but this undertaking is remarkable as being the only instance in which an effort was made to do without any intermediate serving between the insulated conductor and the iron sheathing. In the second attempt--between Port Patrick (Scotland) and Donaghadee (Ireland)--the cable consisted of a central copper conductor covered first with india-rubber, then with gutta-percha, and then hemp outside all. This cable, being far too light, was actually carried away by the strong tidal currents and even broken into pieces during laying. In the third endeavor, between the same two points, the arrangements for checking the cable while paying out being again inadequate, there was not sufficient to reach the farther shore. However, in 1853, a heavy cable, weighing 7 tons per mile, with six conductors, was successfully laid for the Magnetic Telegraph Company by the late Sir Charles Bright.[7] This was in upward of 180 fathoms--the deepest water in which a cable was laid for some time--and proved a permanent success, forming the first establishment of telegraphic communication with Ireland. Only a year elapsed before it became evident that another cable was required to meet the traffic between England and the Continent, and an additional line was laid from Dover to Ostend. Anglo-Dutch and Anglo-German cables followed in due course; and in less than ten years from the commencement of its operations over the first Channel cable, the Submarine Telegraph Company (since absorbed by the state) was working at least half a dozen really excellent cables, varying from 25 to 117 miles in length, connecting England with the rest of Europe. During the next few years submarine communication was established between Denmark and Sweden, as well as between Italy, Corsica, and Sardinia; and between Sardinia and the north coast of Africa; but where successful, the measures adopted