the cable, as it caused it to sink slowly. The old cable, though smaller, was heavy almost as a rod of iron, so that, as it ran out, it dropped at an angle which exposed it to great danger in case of a sudden lurch of the ship. Thus in 1857 it was broken by the stern of the Niagara being thrown up on a wave just as the brakes were shut down. Now the cable, being partially buoyed by the rope, would float out to a great distance from the ship, and sink down slowly in the deep waters. By this combination of rope and iron, a cable was secured two and a half times as strong as the old--the breaking strain of the former having been three tons five cwt., and of the latter seven tons and fifteen cwt. Or, to put it in another form, the contract strain of the former was less than five times its own weight per mile in water; so that if the cable had been laid in some parts of the Atlantic, where the ocean is more than five miles deep, it would have broken under the enormous strain. But the contract strain of the new cable was equal to _eleven_ times its weight per mile in water, which, as the greatest depth of water to be passed was but two and a half miles, rendered the cable more than four times as strong as was required. This great chain which was to bind the sea was to be 2,300 nautical miles long, or nearly 2,700 statute miles! But where could this enormous bulk be stowed? Its weight would sink the Spanish Armada. In 1858, the cable loaded down two of the largest ships of war in the world, the Niagara and the Agamemnon. Yet now one much larger and bulkier was to be taken on board. This might have proved a serious embarrassment, but that a few years before there had been built in England a ship of enormous proportions. The Great Eastern, whose iron walls had been reared by the genius of Brunel, had been for ten years waiting for "a mission." As a specimen of marine architecture she was perfect. She walked the waters in towering pride, scarce bending her imperial head to the waves that broke against her sides, as against the rocks of the shore. But with all her noble qualities, she was too great for the ordinary demands of commerce. Her very size was against her; and while smaller ships, on which she looked down with contempt, were continually flying to and fro across the sea, this leviathan, Hugest of all God's works That swim the ocean stream, could find nothing worthy of her greatness. Here then was the vessel to receive the Atlantic cable. Seeing her fitness for the purpose, a few of the gentlemen who were active in reviving the Atlantic Telegraph combined to purchase her, as she was about to be sold. One of them went down with all speed to Liverpool, and the next day telegraphed that the big ship was theirs. The new owners at once put her at the service of the Atlantic Company, with the express agreement that any compensation for her use should depend on the success of the expedition.