Chapter V: Notes of Telegraph Voyages, 1858-1873 (1)

But it is now time to see Jenkin at his life's work. I have before me certain imperfect series of letters written, as he says, "at hazard, for one does not know at the time what is important and what is not": the earlier addressed to Miss Austin, after the betrothal; the later to Mrs. Jenkin, the young wife. I should premise that I have allowed myself certain editorial freedoms, leaving out and splicing together, much as he himself did with the Bona cable: thus edited the letters speak for themselves, and will fail to interest none who love adventure or activity. Addressed as they were to her whom he called his "dear engineering pupil," they give a picture of his work so clear that a child may understand, and so attractive that I am half afraid their publication may prove harmful, and still further crowd the ranks of a profession already overcrowded. But their most engaging quality is the picture of the writer; with his indomitable self-confidence and courage, his readiness in every pinch of circumstance or change of plan, and his ever fresh enjoyment of the whole web of human experience, nature, adventure, science, toil and rest, society and solitude. It should be borne in mind that the writer of these buoyant pages was, even while he wrote, harassed by responsibility, stinted in sleep, and often struggling with the prostration of sea-sickness. To this last enemy, which he never overcame, I have omitted, in my search after condensation, a good many references; if they were all left, such was the man's temper, they would not represent one hundredth part of what he suffered, for he was never given to complaint. But indeed he had met this ugly trifle, as he met every thwart circumstance of life, with a certain pleasure of pugnacity; and suffered it not to check him, whether in the exercise of his profession or the pursuit of amusement.

I

_"Birkenhead. April 18, 1858._

"Well, you should know, Mr. ---- having a contract to lay down a
submarine telegraph from Sardinia to Africa failed three times in the
attempt. The distance from land to land is about 140 miles. On the
first occasion, after proceeding some 70 miles, he had to cut the
cable--the cause I forget; he tried again, same result; then picked up
about 20 miles of the lost cable, spliced on a new piece, and very
nearly got across that time, but ran short of cable, and, when but a
few miles off Galita in very deep water, had to telegraph to London
for more cable to be manufactured and sent out whilst he tried to
stick to the end: for five days, I think, he lay there sending and
receiving messages, but, heavy weather coming on, the cable parted and
Mr. ---- went home in despair--at least I should think so.

"He then applied to those eminent engineers, R. S. Newall and Co., who
made and laid down a cable for him last autumn--Fleeming Jenkin (at
the time in considerable mental agitation) having the honour of
fitting out the _Elba_ for that purpose." [On this occasion, the
_Elba_ has no cable to lay; but] "is going out in the beginning of May
to endeavour to fish up the cables Mr. ---- lost. There are two ends
at or near the shore: the third will probably not be found within 20
miles from land. One of these ends will be passed over a very big
pulley or sheave at the bows, passed six times round a big barrel or
drum; which will be turned round by a steam-engine on deck, and thus
wind up the cable, while the _Elba_ slowly steams ahead. The cable is
not wound round and round the drum as your silk is wound on its reel,
but on the contrary never goes round more than six times, going off at
one side as it comes on at the other, and going down into the hold of
the _Elba_, to be coiled along in a big coil or skein.

"I went down to Gateshead to discuss with Mr. Newall the form which
this tolerably simple idea should take, and have been busy since I
came here drawing, ordering, and putting up the
machinery--uninterfered with, thank goodness, by any one. I own I like
responsibility; it flatters one, and then, your father might say, I
have more to gain than to lose. Moreover I do like this bloodless,
painless combat with wood and iron, forcing the stubborn rascals to do
my will, licking the clumsy cubs into an active shape, seeing the
child of to-day's thought working to-morrow in full vigour at his
appointed task.

"_May 12._

"By dint of bribing, bullying, cajoling, and going day by day to see
the state of things ordered, all my work is very nearly ready now; but
those who have neglected these precautions are of course disappointed.
Five hundred fathoms of chain [were] ordered by ---- some three weeks
since, to be ready by the 10th without fail; he sends for it
to-day--150 fathoms all they can let us have by the 15th--and how the
rest is to be got, who knows? He ordered a boat a month since, and
yesterday we could see nothing of her but the keel and about two
planks. I could multiply instances without end. At first one goes
nearly mad with vexation at these things; but one finds so soon that
they are the rule, that then it becomes necessary to feign a rage one
does not feel. I look upon it as the natural order of things, that if
I order a thing, it will not be done--if by accident it gets done, it
will certainly be done wrong; the only remedy being to watch the
performance at every stage.

"To-day was a grand field-day. I had steam up and tried the engine
against pressure or resistance. One part of the machinery is driven by
belt or strap of leather. I always had my doubts this might slip; and
so it did, wildly. I had made provision for doubling it, putting on
two belts instead of one. No use--off they went, slipping round and
off the pulleys instead of driving the machinery. Tighten them--no
use. More strength there--down with the lever--smash something, tear
the belts, but get them tight--now then stand clear, on with the
steam;--and the belts slip away, as if nothing held them. Men begin to
look queer; the circle of quidnuncs make sage remarks. Once more--no
use. I begin to know I ought to feel sheepish and beat, but somehow I
feel cocky instead, I laugh and say, 'Well, I am bound to break
something down'--and suddenly see. 'Oho, there's the place; get weight
on there, and the belt won't slip.' With much labour, on go the belts
again. 'Now then, a spar thro' there and six men's weight on; mind
you're not carried away.' 'Ay, ay, sir.' But evidently no one believes
in the plan. 'Hurrah, round she goes--stick to your spar. All right,
shut off steam.' And the difficulty is vanquished.

"This, or such as this (not always quite so bad), occurs hour after
hour, while five hundred tons of coal are rattling down into the holds
and bunkers, riveters are making their infernal row all round, and
riggers bend the sails and fit the rigging:--a sort of Pandemonium, it
appeared to young Mrs. Newall, who was here on Monday and half choked
with guano; but it suits the likes of me.

"_SS. Elba, River Mersey, May 17._

"We are delayed in the river by some of the ship's papers not being
ready. Such a scene at the dock gates. Not a sailor will join till the
last moment; and then, just as the ship forges ahead through the
narrow pass, beds and baggage fly on board, the men, half tipsy,
clutch at the rigging, the captain swears, the women scream and sob,
the crowd cheer and laugh, while one or two pretty little girls stand
still and cry outright, regardless of all eyes.

"These two days of comparative peace have quite set me on my legs
again. I was getting worn and weary with anxiety and work. As usual I
have been delighted with my shipwrights. I gave them some beer on
Saturday, making a short oration. To-day when they went ashore, and I
came on board, they gave three cheers, whether for me or the ship I
hardly know, but I had just bid them good-bye, and the ship was out of
hail; but I was startled and hardly liked to claim the compliment by
acknowledging it.

"_SS. Elba, May 25._

"My first intentions of a long journal have been fairly frustrated by
sea-sickness. On Tuesday last about noon we started from the Mersey in
very dirty weather, and were hardly out of the river when we met a
gale from the south-west and a heavy sea, both right in our teeth; and
the poor _Elba_ had a sad shaking. Had I not been very sea-sick, the
sight would have been exciting enough as I sat wrapped in my oilskins
on the bridge; [but] in spite of all my efforts to talk, to eat, and
to grin, I soon collapsed into imbecility; and I was heartily thankful
towards evening to find myself in bed.

"Next morning I fancied it grew quieter, and, as I listened, heard,
'Let go the anchor,' whereon I concluded we had run into Holyhead
Harbour, as was indeed the case. All that day we lay in Holyhead, but
I could neither read nor write nor draw. The captain of another
steamer which had put in came on board, and we all went for a walk on
the hill; and in the evening there was an exchange of presents. We
gave some tobacco, I think, and received a cat, two pounds of fresh
butter, a Cumberland ham, 'Westward Ho!' and Thackeray's 'English
Humourists.' I was astonished at receiving two such fair books from
the captain of a little coasting screw. Our captain said he [the
captain of the screw] had plenty of money, five or six hundred a year
at least. 'What in the world makes him go rolling about in such a
craft, then?' 'Why, I fancy he's reckless; he's desperate in love with
that girl I mentioned, and she won't look at him.' Our honest, fat,
old captain says this very grimly in his thick, broad voice.

"My head won't stand much writing yet, so I will run up and take a
look at the blue night sky off the coast of Portugal.

"_May 26._

"A nice lad of some two-and-twenty, A---- by name, goes out in a
nondescript capacity as part purser, part telegraph clerk, part
generally useful person. A---- was a great comfort during the miseries
[of the gale]; for when with a dead head wind and a heavy sea, plates,
books, papers, stomachs were being rolled about in sad confusion, we
generally managed to lie on our backs, and grin, and try discordant
staves of the 'Flowers of the Forest' and the 'Low-backed Car.' We
could sing and laugh, when we could do nothing else; though A---- was
ready to swear after each fit was past, that that was the first time
he had felt anything, and at this moment would declare in broad Scotch
that he'd never been sick at all, qualifying the oath with 'except for
a minute now and then.' He brought a cornet-a-piston to practise on,
having had three weeks' instructions on that melodious instrument; and
if you could hear the horrid sounds that come I especially at heavy
rolls. When I hint he is not improving, there comes a confession: 'I
don't feel quite right yet, you see!' But he blows away manfully, and
in self-defence I try to roar the tune louder.

"11.30 P.M.

"Long past Cape St. Vincent now. We went within about 400 yards of the
cliffs and lighthouse in a calm moonlight, with porpoises springing
from the sea, the men crooning long ballads as they lay idle on the
forecastle, and the sails flapping uncertain on the yards. As we
passed, there came a sudden breeze from land, hot and heavy-scented;
and now as I write its warm rich flavour contrasts strongly with the
salt air we have been breathing.

"I paced the deck with H----, the second mate, and in the quiet night
drew a confession that he was engaged to be married, and gave him a
world of good advice. He is a very nice, active, little fellow, with a
broad Scotch tongue and 'dirty, little rascal' appearance. He had a
sad disappointment at starting. Having been second mate on the last
voyage, when the first mate was discharged, he took charge of the
_Elba_ all the time she was in port, and of course looked forward to
being chief mate this trip. Liddell promised him the post. He had not
authority to do this; and when Newall heard of it, he appointed
another man. Fancy poor H---- having told all the men and, most of all,
his sweetheart! But more remains behind; for when it came to signing
articles, it turned out that O----, the new first mate, had not a
certificate which allowed him to have a second mate. Then came rather
an affecting scene. For H---- proposed to sign as chief (he having the
necessary higher certificate) but to act as second for the lower
wages. At first O---- would not give in, but offered to go as second.
But our brave little H---- said, no: 'The owners wished Mr. O---- to
be chief mate, and chief mate he should be.' So he carried the day,
signed as chief and acts as second. Shakespeare and Byron are his
favourite books. I walked into Byron a little, but can well understand
his stirring up a rough, young sailor's romance. I lent him 'Westward
Ho!' from the cabin; but to my astonishment he did not care much for
it; he said it smelt of the shilling railway library; perhaps I had
praised it too highly. Scott is his standard for novels. I am very
happy to find good taste by no means confined to gentlemen, H----
having no pretensions to that title. He is a man after my own heart.

"Then I came down to the cabin and heard young A----'s schemes for the
future. His highest picture is a commission in the Prince of
Vizianagram's irregular horse. His eldest brother is tutor to his
Highness's children, and grand vizier, and magistrate, and on his
Highness's household staff, and seems to be one of those Scotch
adventurers one meets with and hears of in queer berths--raising
cavalry, building palaces, and using some petty Eastern king's long
purse with their long Scotch heads.

"_Off Bona, June 4._

"I read your letter carefully, leaning back in a Maltese boat to
present the smallest surface of my body to a grilling sun, and sailing
from the _Elba_ to Cape Hamrah, about three miles distant. How we
fried and sighed! At last we reached land under Fort Geneva, and I was
carried ashore pick-a-back, and plucked the first flower I saw for
Annie. It was a strange scene, far more novel than I had imagined; the
high, steep banks covered with rich, spicy vegetation, of which I
hardly knew one plant. The dwarf palm with fan-like leaves, growing
about two feet high, formed the staple of the verdure. As we brushed
through them, the gummy leaves of a cistus stuck to the clothes: and
with its small white flower and yellow heart stood for our English
dog-rose. In place of heather, we had myrtle and lentisque with leaves
somewhat similar. That large bulb with long flat leaves? Do not touch
it if your hands are cut; the Arabs use it as blisters for their
horses. Is that the same sort? No, take that one up; it is the bulb of
a dwarf palm, each layer of the onion peels off, brown and netted,
like the outside of a cocoa-nut. It is a clever plant that; from the
leaves we get a vegetable horsehair;--and eat the bottom of the centre
spike. All the leaves you pull have the same aromatic scent. But here
a little patch of cleared ground shows old friends, who seem to cling
by abused civilisation:--fine hardy thistles, one of them bright
yellow, though;--honest, Scotch-looking, large daisies or
gowans;--potatoes here and there, looking but sickly; and dark sturdy
fig-trees, looking cool and at their ease in the burning sun.

"Here we are at Fort Genova, crowning the little point, a small old
building due to my old Genoese acquaintance who fought and traded
bravely once upon a time. A broken cannon of theirs forms the
threshold; and through a dark, low arch we enter upon broad terraces
sloping to the centre, from which rain-water may collect and run into
that well. Large-breeched French troopers lounge about and are most
civil; and the whole party sit down to breakfast in a little
white-washed room, from the door of which the long, mountain coastline
and the sparkling sea show of an impossible blue through the openings
of a white-washed rampart. I try a sea-egg, one of those prickly
fellows--sea-urchins, they are called sometimes; the shell is of a
lovely purple, and when opened there are rays of yellow adhering to
the inside; these I eat, but they are very fishy.

"We are silent and shy of one another, and soon go out to watch while
turbaned, blue-breeched, bare-legged Arabs dig holes for the land
telegraph posts on the following principle: one man takes a pick and
bangs lazily at the hard earth; when a little is loosened, his mate
with a small spade lifts it on one side; and _da capo_. They have
regular features, and look quite in place among the palms. Our English
workmen screw the earthenware insulators on the posts, strain the
wire, and order the Arabs about by the generic term of Johnny. I find
W---- has nothing for me to do; and that in fact no one has anything
to do. Some instruments for testing have stuck at Lyons, some at
Cagliari; and nothing can be done--or, at any rate, is done. I wander
about, thinking of you and staring at big, green
grasshoppers--locusts, some people call them--and smelling the rich
brushwood. There was nothing for a pencil to sketch, and I soon got
tired of this work, though I have paid willingly much money for far
less strange and lovely sights.

"_Off Cape Spartivento, June 8._

"At two this morning we left Cagliari; at five cast anchor here. I got
up and began preparing for the final trial; and shortly afterwards
every one else of note on board went ashore to make experiments on the
state of the cable, leaving me with the prospect of beginning to lift
at 12 o'clock. I was not ready by that time; but the experiments were
not concluded, and moreover the cable was found to be imbedded some
four or five feet in sand, so that the boat could not bring off the
end. At three, Messrs. Liddell, etc., came on board in good spirits,
having found two wires good, or in such a state as permitted messages
to be transmitted freely. The boat now went to grapple for the cable
some way from shore, while the _Elba_ towed a small lateen craft which
was to take back the consul to Cagliari some distance on its way. On
our return we found the boat had been unsuccessful; she was allowed to
drop astern, while we grappled for the cable in the _Elba_ [without
more success]. The coast is a low mountain range covered with
brushwood or heather--pools of water and a sandy beach at their feet.
I have not yet been ashore, my hands having been very full all day.

"_June 9._

"Grappling for the cable outside the bank had been voted too
uncertain; [and the day was spent in] efforts to pull the cable off
through the sand which has accumulated over it. By getting the cable
tight on to the boat, and letting the swell pitch her about till it
got slack, and then tightening again with blocks and pulleys, we
managed to get out from the beach towards the ship at the rate of
about twenty yards an hour. When they had got about 100 yards from
shore, we ran in round the _Elba_ to try and help them, letting go the
anchor in the shallowest possible water; this was about sunset.
Suddenly some one calls out he sees the cable at the bottom: there it
was, sure enough, apparently wriggling about as the waves rippled.
Great excitement; still greater when we find our own anchor is foul of
it and it has been the means of bringing it to light. We let go a
grapnel, get the cable clear of the anchor on to the grapnel--the
captain in an agony lest we should drift ashore meanwhile--hand the
grappling line into the big boat, steam out far enough, and anchor
again. A little more work and one end of the cable is up over the bows
round my drum. I go to my engine and we start hauling in. All goes
pretty well, but it is quite dark. Lamps are got at last, and men
arranged. We go on for a quarter of a mile or so from shore and then
stop at about half-past nine with orders to be up at three. Grand work
at last! A number of the _Saturday Review_ here: it reads so hot and
feverish, so tomb-like and unhealthy, in the midst of dear Nature's
hills and sea, with good wholesome work to do. Pray that all go well
to-morrow.

"_June 10._

"Thank heaven for a most fortunate day. At three o'clock this morning,
in a damp, chill mist, all hands were roused to work. With a small
delay, for one or two improvements I had seen to be necessary last
night, the engine started, and since that time I do not think there
has been half an hour's stoppage. A rope to splice, a block to change,
a wheel to oil, an old rusted anchor to disengage from the cable which
brought it up, these have been our only obstructions. Sixty, seventy,
eighty, a hundred, a hundred and twenty revolutions at last, my little
engine tears away. The even black rope comes straight out of the blue
heaving water; passes slowly round an open-hearted,
good-tempered-looking pulley, five feet diameter; aft past a vicious
nipper, to bring all up should anything go wrong; through a gentle
guide; on to a huge bluff drum, who wraps him round his body and says,
'Come you must,' as plain as drum can speak: the chattering pauls say,
'I've got him, I've got him, he can't get back': whilst black cable,
much slacker and easier in mind and body, is taken by a slim V-pulley
and passed down into the huge hold, where half a dozen men put him
comfortably to bed after his exertion in rising from his long bath. In
good sooth, it is one of the strangest sights I know to see that black
fellow rising up so steadily in the midst of the blue sea. We are more
than half way to the place where we expect the fault; and already the
one wire, supposed previously to be quite bad near the African coast,
can be spoken through. I am very glad I am here, for my machines are
my own children, and I look on their little failings with a parent's
eye and lead them into the path of duty with gentleness and firmness.
I am naturally in good spirits, but keep very quiet, for misfortunes
may arise at any instant; moreover, to-morrow my paying-out apparatus
will be wanted should all go well, and that will be another nervous
operation. Fifteen miles are safely in; but no one knows better than I
do that nothing is done till all is done.

"_June 11._

"9 A.M.--We have reached the splice supposed to be faulty, and no
fault has been found. The two men learned in electricity, L---- and
W----, squabble where the fault is.

"_Evening._--A weary day in a hot broiling sun; no air. After the
experiments, L---- said the fault might be ten miles ahead; by that
time we should be, according to a chart, in about a thousand fathoms
of water--rather more than a mile. It was most difficult to decide
whether to go on or not. I made preparations for a heavy pull, set
small things to rights and went to sleep. About four in the afternoon,
Mr. Liddell decided to proceed, and we are now (at seven) grinding in
at the rate of a mile and three-quarters per hour, which appears a
grand speed to us. If the paying-out only works well. I have just
thought of a great improvement in it; I can't apply it this time,
however.--The sea is of an oily calm, and a perfect fleet of brigs and
ships surrounds us, their sails hardly filling in the lazy breeze. The
sun sets behind the dim coast of the Isola San Pietro, the coast of
Sardinia high and rugged becomes softer and softer in the distance,
while to the westward still the isolated rock of Toro springs from the
horizon.--It would amuse you to see how cool (in head) and jolly
everybody is. A testy word now and then shows the wires are strained a
little, but every one laughs and makes his little jokes as if it were
all in fun: yet we are all as much in earnest as the most earnest of
the earnest bastard German school or demonstrative of Frenchmen. I
enjoy it very much.

"_June 12._

"5.30 A.M.--Out of sight of land: about thirty nautical miles in the
hold; the wind rising a little; experiments being made for a fault,
while the engine slowly revolves to keep us hanging at the same spot:
depth supposed about a mile. The machinery has behaved admirably. O
that the paying-out were over! The new machinery there is but rough,
meant for an experiment in shallow water, and here we are in a mile of
water.

"6.30.--I have made my calculations and find the new paying-out gear
cannot possibly answer at this depth, some portion would give way.
Luckily, I have brought the old things with me and am getting them
rigged up as fast as may be. Bad news from the cable. Number four has
given in some portion of the last ten miles: the fault in number three
is still at the bottom of the sea; number two is now the only good
wire; and the hold is getting in such a mess, through keeping bad bits
out and cutting for splicing and testing, that there will be great
risk in paying out. The cable is somewhat strained in its ascent from
one mile below us; what it will be when we get to two miles is a
problem we may have to determine.

"9 P.M.--A most provoking, unsatisfactory day. We have done nothing.
The wind and sea have both risen. Too little notice has been given to
the telegraphists who accompany this expedition; they had to leave all
their instruments at Lyons in order to arrive at Bona in time; our
tests are therefore of the roughest, and no one really knows where the
faults are. Mr. L---- in the morning lost much time; then he told us,
after we had been inactive for about eight hours, that the fault in
number three was within six miles; and at six o'clock in the evening,
when all was ready for a start to pick up these six miles, he comes
and says there must be a fault about thirty miles from Bona! By this
time it was too late to begin paying out to-day, and we must lie here
moored in a thousand fathoms till light to-morrow morning. The ship
pitches a good deal, but the wind is going down.

"_June 13, Sunday._

"The wind has not gone down however. It now (at 10.30) blows a pretty
stiff gale, the sea has also risen; and the _Elba's_ bows rise and
fall about 9 feet. We make twelve pitches to the minute, and the poor
cable must feel very sea-sick by this time. We are quite unable to do
anything, and continue riding at anchor in one thousand fathoms, the
engines going constantly so as to keep the ship's bows up to the
cable, which by this means hangs nearly vertical and sustains no
strain but that caused by its own weight and the pitching of the
vessel. We were all up at four, but the weather entirely forbade work
for to-day, so some went to bed and most lay down, making up our
leeway, as we nautically term our loss of sleep. I must say Liddell is
a fine fellow and keeps his patience and temper wonderfully; and yet
how he does fret and fume about trifles at home! This wind has blown
now for thirty-six hours, and yet we have telegrams from Bona to say
the sea there is as calm as a mirror. It makes one laugh to remember
one is still tied to the shore. Click, click, click, the pecker is at
work; I wonder what Herr P---- says to Herr L----; tests, tests,
tests, nothing more. This will be a very anxious day.

"_June 14._

"Another day of fatal inaction.

"_June 15._

"9.30.--The wind has gone down a deal; but even now there are doubts
whether we shall start to-day. When shall I get back to you?

"9 P.M.--Four miles from land. Our run has been successful and
eventless. Now the work is nearly over I feel a little out of
spirits--why, I should be puzzled to say--mere wantonness, or reaction
perhaps after suspense.

"_June 16._

"Up this morning at three, coupled my self-acting gear to the break,
and had the satisfaction of seeing it pay out the last four miles in
very good style. With one or two little improvements, I hope to make
it a capital thing. The end has just gone ashore in two boats, three
out of four wires good. Thus ends our first expedition. By some odd
chance a _Times_ of June the 7th has found its way on board through
the agency of a wretched old peasant who watches the end of the line
here. A long account of breakages in the Atlantic trial trip. To-night
we grapple for the heavy cable, eight tons to the mile. I long to
have a tug at him; he may puzzle me, and though misfortunes or rather
difficulties are a bore at the time, life when working with cables is
tame without them.

"2 P.M.--Hurrah, he is hooked, the big fellow, almost at the first
cast. He hangs under our bows, looking so huge and imposing that I
could find it in my heart to be afraid of him.

"_June 17._

"We went to a little bay called Chia, where a fresh-water stream falls
into the sea, and took in water. This is rather a long operation, so I
went a walk up the valley with Mr. Liddell. The coast here consists of
rocky mountains 800 to 1,000 feet high, covered with shrubs of a
brilliant green. On landing, our first amusement was watching the
hundreds of large fish who lazily swam in shoals about the river; the
big canes on the further side hold numberless tortoises, we are told,
but see none, for just now they prefer taking a siesta. A little
further on, and what is this with large pink flowers in such
abundance?--the oleander in full flower. At first I fear to pluck
them, thinking they must be cultivated and valuable; but soon the
banks show a long line of thick tall shrubs, one mass of glorious pink
and green. Set these in a little valley, framed by mountains whose
rocks gleam out blue and purple colours such as pre-Raphaelites only
dare attempt, shining out hard and weirdlike amongst the clumps of
castor-oil plants, cistus, arbor vitae, and many other evergreens,
whose names, alas! I know not; the cistus is brown now, the rest all
deep or brilliant green. Large herds of cattle browse on the baked
deposit at the foot of these large crags. One or two half-savage
herdsmen in sheepskin kilts, etc., ask for cigars; partridges whirr up
on either side of us; pigeons coo and nightingales sing amongst the
blooming oleander. We get six sheep, and many fowls too, from the
priest of the small village; and then run back to Spartivento and make
preparations for the morning.

"_June 18._

"The big cable is stubborn, and will not behave like his smaller
brother. The gear employed to take him off the drum is not strong
enough; he gets slack on the drum and plays the mischief. Luckily for
my own conscience, the gear I had wanted was negatived by Mr. Newall.
Mr. Liddell does not exactly blame me, but he says we might have had a
silver pulley cheaper than the cost of this delay. He has telegraphed
for more men to Cagliari, to try to pull the cable off the drum into
the hold, by hand. I look as comfortable as I can, but feel as if
people were blaming me. I am trying my best to get something rigged
which may help us; I wanted a little difficulty, and feel much
better.--The short length we have picked up was covered at places with
beautiful sprays of coral, twisted and twined with shells of those
small, fairy animals we saw in the aquarium at home; poor little
things, they died at once, with their little bells and delicate bright
tints.

"_12 o'clock._--Hurrah, victory! for the present anyhow. Whilst in our
first dejection, I thought I saw a place where a flat roller would
remedy the whole misfortune; but a flat roller at Cape Spartivento,
hard, easily unshipped, running freely! There was a grooved pulley
used for the paying-out machinery with a spindle wheel, which might
suit me. I filled him up with tarry spunyarn, nailed sheet copper
round him, bent some parts in the fire; and we are paying-in without
more trouble now. You would think some one would praise me; no--no
more praise than blame before; perhaps now they think better of me,
though.

"10 P.M.--We have gone on very comfortably for nearly six miles. An
hour and a half was spent washing down; for along with many coloured
polypi, from corals, shells, and insects, the big cable brings up much
mud and rust, and makes a fishy smell by no means pleasant: the bottom
seems to teem with life.--But now we are startled by a most
unpleasant, grinding noise; which appeared at first to come from the
large low pulley, but when the engines stopped, the noise continued;
and we now imagine it is something slipping down the cable, and the
pulley but acts as sounding-board to the big fiddle. Whether it is
only an anchor or one of the two other cables, we know not. We hope it
is not the cable just laid down.

"_June 19._

"10 A.M.--All our alarm groundless, it would appear: the odd noise
ceased after a time, and there was no mark sufficiently strong on the
large cable to warrant the suspicion that we had cut another line
through. I stopped up on the look-out till three in the morning, which
made 23 hours between sleep and sleep. One goes dozing about, though,
most of the day, for it is only when something goes wrong that one has
to look alive. Hour after hour I stand on the forecastle-head, picking
off little specimens of polypi and coral, or lie on the saloon deck
reading back numbers of the _Times_--till something hitches, and then
all is hurly-burly once more. There are awnings all along the ship,
and a most ancient, fish-like smell beneath.

"_1 o'clock._--Suddenly a great strain in only 95 fathoms of
water--belts surging and general dismay; grapnels being thrown out in
the hope of finding what holds the cable.--Should it prove the young
cable! We are apparently crossing its path--not the working one, but
the lost child; Mr. Liddell _would_ start the big one first, though it
was laid first: he wanted to see the job done, and meant to leave us
to the small one unaided by his presence.

"3.30.--Grapnel caught something, lost it again; it left its marks on
the prongs. Started lifting gear again; and after hauling in some 50
fathoms--grunt, grunt, grunt--we hear the other cable slipping down
our big one, playing the self-same tune we heard last night--louder,
however.

"10 P.M.--The pull on the deck engines became harder and harder. I got
steam up in a boiler on deck, and another little engine starts hauling
at the grapnel. I wonder if there ever was such a scene of confusion;
Mr. Liddell and W---- and the captain all giving orders contradictory,
etc., on the forecastle; D----, the foreman of our men, the mates,
etc., following the example of our superiors; the ship's engine and
boilers below, a 50-horse engine on deck, a boiler 14 feet long on
deck beside it, a little steam-winch tearing round; a dozen Italians
(20 have come to relieve our hands, the men we telegraphed for to
Cagliari) hauling at the rope; wire-men, sailors, in the crevices left
by ropes and machinery; everything that could swear swearing--I found
myself swearing like a trooper at last. We got the unknown difficulty
within ten fathoms of the surface; but then the forecastle got
frightened that, if it was the small cable which we had got hold of,
we should certainly break it by continuing the tremendous and
increasing strain. So at last Mr. Liddell decided to stop; cut the big
cable, buoying its end; go back to our pleasant watering-place at
Chia, take more water and start lifting the small cable. The end of
the large one has even now regained its sandy bed; and three
buoys--one to grapnel foul of the supposed small cable, two to the big
cable--are dipping about on the surface. One more--a flag-buoy--will
soon follow, and then straight for shore.

"_June 20._

"It is an ill-wind, etc. I have an unexpected opportunity of
forwarding this engineering letter; for the craft which brought out
our Italian sailors must return to Cagliari to-night, as the little
cable will take us nearly to Galita, and the Italian skipper could
hardly find his way from thence. To-day--Sunday--not much rest. Mr.
Liddell is at Spartivento telegraphing. We are at Chia, and shall
shortly go to help our boat's crew in getting the small cable on
board. We dropped them some time since in order that they might dig it
out of the sand as far as possible.

"_June 21._

"Yesterday--Sunday as it was--all hands were kept at work all day,
coaling, watering, and making a futile attempt to pull the cable from
the shore on board through the sand. This attempt was rather silly
after the experience we had gained at Cape Spartivento. This morning
we grappled, hooked the cable at once, and have made an excellent
start. Though I have called this the small cable, it is much larger
than the Bona one.--Here comes a break-down, and a bad one.

"_June 22._

"We got over it however; but it is a warning to me that my future
difficulties will arise from parts wearing out. Yesterday the cable
was often a lovely sight, coming out of the water one large
incrustation of delicate, net-like corals and long white curling
shells. No portion of the dirty black wires was visible; instead we
had a garland of soft pink with little scarlet sprays and white enamel
intermixed. All was fragile, however, and could hardly be secured in
safety; and inexorable iron crushed the tender leaves to atoms.--This
morning at the end of my watch, about 4 o'clock, we came to the buoys,
proving our anticipations right concerning the crossing of the cables.
I went to bed for four hours, and on getting up, found a sad mess. A
tangle of the six-wire cable hung to the grapnel, which had been left
buoyed, and the small cable had parted and is lost for the present.
Our hauling of the other day must have done the mischief.

"_June 23._

"We contrived to get the two ends of the large cable and to pick the
short end up. The long end, leading us seaward, was next put round the
drum, and a mile of it picked up; but then, fearing another tangle,
the end was cut and buoyed, and we returned to grapple for the
three-wire cable. All this is very tiresome for me. The buoying and
dredging are managed entirely by W----, who has had much experience in
this sort of thing; so I have not enough to do, and get very homesick.
At noon the wind freshened and the sea rose so high that we had to run
for land, and are once more this evening anchored at Chia.

"_June 24._

"The whole day spent in dredging without success. This operation
consists in allowing the ship to drift slowly across the line where
you expect the cable to be, while at the end of a long rope, fast
either to the bow or stern, a grapnel drags along the ground. This
grapnel is a small anchor, made like four pot-hooks tied back to back.
When the rope gets taut, the ship is stopped and the grapnel hauled up
to the surface in the hopes of finding the cable on its prongs.--I am
much discontented with myself for idly lounging about and reading
'Westward Ho!' for the second time, instead of taking to electricity
or picking up nautical information. I am uncommonly idle. The sea is
not quite so rough, but the weather is squally and the rain comes in
frequent gusts.

"_June 25._

"To-day about 1 o'clock we hooked the three-wire cable, buoyed the
long sea end, and picked up the short [or shore] end. Now it is dark,
and we must wait for morning before lifting the buoy we lowered to-day
and proceeding seawards.--The depth of water here is about 600 feet,
the height of a respectable English hill; our fishing line was about a
quarter of a mile long. It blows pretty fresh, and there is a great
deal of sea.

"_26th._

"This morning it came on to blow so heavily that it was impossible to
take up our buoy. The _Elba_ recommenced rolling in true Baltic style,
and towards noon we ran for land.

"_27th, Sunday._

"This morning was a beautiful calm. We reached the buoys at about 4.30
and commenced picking up at 6.30. Shortly a new cause of anxiety
arose. Kinks came up in great quantities, about thirty in the hour. To
have a true conception of a kink, you must see one; it is a loop drawn
tight, all the wires get twisted and the gutta-percha inside pushed
out. These much diminish the value of the cable, as they must all be
cut out, the gutta-percha made good, and the cable spliced. They arise
from the cable having been badly laid down, so that it forms folds and
tails at the bottom of the sea. These kinks have another disadvantage:
they weaken the cable very much.--At about six o'clock [P.M.] we had
some twelve miles lifted, when I went to the bows; the kinks were
exceedingly tight and were giving way in a most alarming manner. I got
a cage rigged up to prevent the end (if it broke) from hurting any
one, and sat down on the bowsprit, thinking I should describe kinks to
Annie:--suddenly I saw a great many coils and kinks altogether at the
surface. I jumped to the gutta-percha pipe, by blowing through which
the signal is given to stop the engine. I blow, but the engine does
not stop: again--no answer; the coils and kinks jam in the bows and I
rush aft shouting Stop! Too late: the cable had parted and must lie in
peace at the bottom. Some one had pulled the gutta-percha tube across
a bare part of the steam pipe and melted it. It had been used hundreds
of times in the last few days and gave no symptoms of failing. I
believe the cable must have gone at any rate; however, since it went
in my watch, and since I might have secured the tubing more strongly,
I feel rather sad....

"_June 28._

"Since I could not go to Annie I took down Shakespeare, and by the
time I had finished _Antony and Cleopatra_, read the second half of
_Troilus_ and got some way in _Coriolanus_, I felt it was childish to
regret the accident had happened in my watch, and moreover I felt
myself not much to blame in the tubing matter--it had been torn down,
it had not fallen down; so I went to bed, and slept without fretting,
and woke this morning in the same good mood--for which thank you and
our friend Shakespeare. I am happy to say Mr. Liddell said the loss of
the cable did not much matter; though this would have been no
consolation had I felt myself to blame.--This morning we have grappled
for and found another length of small cable which Mr. ---- dropped in
100 fathoms of water. If this also gets full of kinks, we shall
probably have to cut it after 10 miles or so, or, more probably still,
it will part of its own free will or weight.

"10 P.M.--This second length of three-wire cable soon got into the
same condition as its fellow--_i.e._ came up twenty kinks an hour--and
after seven miles were in, parted on the pulley over the bows at one
of the said kinks: during my watch again, but this time no earthly
power could have saved it. I had taken all manner of precautions to
prevent the end doing any damage when the smash came, for come I knew
it must. We now return to the six-wire cable. As I sat watching the
cable to-night, large phosphorescent globes kept rolling from it and
fading in the black water.

"_29th._

"To-day we returned to the buoy we had left at the end of the six-wire
cable, and after much trouble from a series of tangles, got a fair
start at noon. You will easily believe a tangle of iron rope inch and
a half diameter is not easy to unravel, especially with a ton or so
hanging to the ends. It is now eight o'clock, and we have about six
and a half miles safe: it becomes very exciting, however, for the
kinks are coming fast and furious.

"_July 2._

"Twenty-eight miles safe in the hold. The ship is now so deep that the
men are to be turned out of their aft hold, and the remainder coiled
there; so the good _Elba's_ nose need not burrow too far into the
waves. There can only be about 10 or 12 miles more, but these weigh 80
or 100 tons.

"_July 5._

"Our first mate was much hurt in securing a buoy on the evening of the
2nd. As interpreter [with the Italians] I am useful in all these
cases; but for no fortune would I be a doctor to witness these scenes
continually. Pain is a terrible thing.--Our work is done: the whole of
the six-wire cable has been recovered; only a small part of the
three-wire, but that wire was bad and, owing to its twisted state, the
value small. We may therefore be said to have been very successful."

II

I have given this cruise nearly in full. From the notes, unhappily imperfect, of two others, I will take only specimens; for in all there are features of similarity, and it is possible to have too much even of submarine telegraphy and the romance of engineering. And first from the cruise of 1859 in the Greek Islands and to Alexandria, take a few traits, incidents, and pictures.

"_May 10, 1859._

"We had a fair wind, and we did very well, seeing a little bit of
Cerigo or Cythera, and lots of turtle-doves wandering about over the
sea and perching, tired and timid, in the rigging of our little craft.
Then Falconera, Antimilo and Milo, topped with huge white clouds,
barren, deserted, rising bold and mysterious from the blue chafing
sea;--Argentiera, Siphano, Scapho, Paros, Antiparos, and late at night
Syra itself. 'Adam Bede' in one hand, a sketch-book in the other,
lying on rugs under an awning, I enjoyed a very pleasant day.

"_May 14._

"Syra is semi-Eastern. The pavement, huge shapeless blocks sloping to
a central gutter; from this bare two-storied houses, sometimes plaster
many-coloured, sometimes rough-hewn marble, rise, dirty and
ill-finished, to straight, plain, flat roofs; shops guiltless of
windows, with signs in Greek letters; dogs, Greeks in blue, baggy,
Zouave breeches and a fez, a few narghilehs and a sprinkling of the
ordinary continental shopboys.--In the evening I tried one more walk
in Syra with A----, but in vain endeavoured to amuse myself or to
spend money; the first effort resulting in singing 'Doodah' to a
passing Greek or two, the second in spending, no, in making A----
spend, threepence on coffee for three.

"_May 16._

"On coming on deck, I found we were at anchor in Canea bay, and saw
one of the most lovely sights man could witness. Far on either hand
stretch bold mountain capes, Spada and Maleka, tender in colour, bold
in outline; rich sunny levels lie beneath them, framed by the azure
sea. Right in front, a dark brown fortress girdles white mosques and
minarets. Rich and green, our mountain capes here join to form a
setting for the town, in whose dark walls--still darker--open a dozen
high-arched caves in which the huge Venetian galleys used to lie in
wait. High above all, higher and higher yet, up into the firmament,
range after range of blue and snow-capped mountains. I was bewildered
and amazed, having heard nothing of this great beauty. The town when
entered is quite Eastern. The streets are formed of open stalls under
the first story, in which squat tailors, cooks, sherbet-vendors and
the like, busy at their work or smoking narghilehs. Cloths stretched
from house to house keep out the sun. Mules rattle through the crowd;
curs yelp between your legs; negroes are as hideous and bright clothed
as usual; grave Turks with long chibouques continue to march solemnly
without breaking them; a little Arab in one dirty rag pokes fun at two
splendid little Turks with brilliant fezzes; wiry mountaineers in
dirty, full, white kilts, shouldering long guns and one hand on their
pistols, stalk untamed past a dozen Turkish soldiers, who look
sheepish and brutal in worn cloth jacket and cotton trousers. A
headless, wingless lion of St. Mark still stands upon a gate, and has
left the mark of his strong clutch. Of ancient times when Crete was
Crete not a trace remains; save perhaps in the full, well-cut nostril
and firm tread of that mountaineer, and I suspect that even his sires
were Albanians, mere outer barbarians.

"_May 17._

"I spent the day at the little station where the cable was landed,
which has apparently been first a Venetian monastery and then a
Turkish mosque. At any rate the big dome is very cool, and the little
ones hold [our electric] batteries capitally. A handsome young
Bashi-bazouk guards it, and a still handsomer mountaineer is the
servant; so I draw them and the monastery and the hill, till I'm black
in the face with heat, and come on board to hear the Canea cable is
still bad.

"_May 23._

"We arrived in the morning at the east end of Candia, and had a
glorious scramble over the mountains, which seem built of adamant.
Time has worn away the softer portions of the rock, only leaving sharp
jagged edges of steel. Sea-eagles soaring above our heads; old tanks,
ruins and desolation at our feet. The ancient Arsinoe stood here; a
few blocks of marble with the cross attest the presence of Venetian
Christians; but now--the desolation of desolations. Mr. Liddell and I
separated from the rest, and when we had found a sure bay for the
cable, had a tremendous lively scramble back to the boat. These are
the bits of our life which I enjoy, which have some poetry, some
grandeur in them.

"_May 29_ (?).