The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
the bights as they showed themselves; the crew now passing them
forward, now aft, until at last the character of the tangle was
seen, and soon it became apparent that ere long the cable would
be cleared. All this time Captain Anderson was at the taffrail
anxiously watching the strain on the rope, which he could
scarcely make out, the night was so dark, and endeavoring to
keep it up and down, going on and reversing with paddle and
screw. When one reflects for a moment upon the size of the
ship, and the enormous mass she presents to the wind, the
difficulty of keeping her stern, under the circumstances, over
the cable, can be appreciated. The port paddle-wheel was
disconnected; but shortly afterward there was a shift of wind,
and the vessel canted the wrong way. Welcome voices were now
heard passing the word aft from the tank that the bights were
cleared, and to pay out. Then the huge stoppers were gently
loosened, and at five minutes past two A.M., to the joy of all,
we were once more discharging the cable. They veered it away in
the tank to clear away the foul flake until three A.M., when
the screw and paddle engines were slowed so as to reduce the
speed of the ship to four and a half knots. During all this
critical time there was an entire absence of noise and
confusion. Every order was silently obeyed, and the cable men
and crew worked with hearty good-will. Mr. Canning has had
experience of foul flakes before, and showed that he knew what
to do in the emergency. But what of the electrical condition of
the cable during this period? Simply, that through its entire
length it was perfect."
Thus, after three anxious hours, the danger was past, and the next
morning the report of the ship is, "A fresh breeze from the southward, a
dull gray sky, with occasional rain, and a moderate sea."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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