Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume I

BY CHARLES BRIGHT, F.R.S.(Edin.), M.I.E.E. PART IL THE SECOND EXPEDITION. ALL preliminary arrangements having / \ been duly effected, the “wire squad- ron ” set forth on its second cable- laying expedition on June 10th, 1858, with “ fair skies and bright prospects.” This time, however, there was no show of public enthusiasm. Mr. Bright was assisted by the same engineering staff, but Professor Thom- son had agreed to take a more active part in the electrical work. With the barometer standing at 30’64, everything augured an auspicious start. This prognostication was doomed to a terrible disappointment, for the voyage nearly ended in the Agamemnon “ turning turtle ” on her way to the mid-ocean rendezvous. She was repeatedly almost on her beam ends; the coals got adrift, the cable was partly shifted, and a large number of those on board were mor© or less seriously injured. The fear was that in some of her heavy rolls the whole mass of cable would slip and take the vessel’s side out. So this precious coil soon came to be regarded as a standing danger—a millstone about the necks of all on board. The weather went from bad to worse, until as fierce a storm as ever swept the seas was eventually experienced, the ocean at this period resembling one vast snowdrift. However, all things have an end, and this gale of over a week’s duration at last blew itself out, the Agamemnon eventually reaching the rendezvous, where she met the rest of the squadron. The Niagara was more fortunate, though it had been an anxious time with her as well as with the smaller craft. She had lost her jib-boom, and the buoys she carried for suspending the cable had been washed from her sides, no man knew where. After taking stock of things generally, a start was made to repair the various damages ; but the shifting of the main coil on the Agamemnon into a hopeless tangle entailed recoiling a considerable length of cable. On the morning of June 26th all the prepara-