Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

288 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. Fig. 10.—LANDING THE IRISH END OF THE FIRST CABLE AT VALENCIA, AUGUST ÖTH, 1857. the cable should be started by the Niagara from the Irish coast, the Agamemnon laying the second half from mid-ocean. The fleet got under way early on the morn- ing after the landing of the shore end, and paying-out was commenced from the Niagara's forepart. From the very outset the machinery did not seem to take kindly to its work, giving vent to many ominous groans ; and after five miles of cable had been disgorged, the line caught in some of the apparatus and parted. The good ship therefore put back, and the cable was under-run by the Willing Mind, with boats, the whole distance from the shore. The end was ultimately reached and spliced on to the coil aboard, after which laying operations were resumed with much caution and some uneasiness. In the words of an eye-witness : “ All through that night, and through the anxious days and nights that followed, there was a strange unnatural silence on the ship. Men paced the deck with soft and muffled tread, speaking only in whispers, as if a loud or heavy footfall might snap the vital cord.” Slowly passed the yvor^8 hours of each day, and of each night. Well, no man slept. A thousand eyes were indeed continuously watching a great and noble experiment. However, the paying-out machine did its work, and though it made a constant rumble in the ship, that dull, heavy sound was music to the engineers, for it told them that all was well. The ships were getting further and further away from land, steaming at the rate of four and five knots. The cable was, of course, paid out a little faster than the ship’s speed through the water, in order to allow for the inequalities at the sea bottom. Whilst the line was thus going overboard, com- munication through it was kept up with the Irish station end, recording the progress made, etc.