The latter part of the voyage did not fulfil in all respects the promise of the first. The bright skies were gone; and instead perpetual fog hung over the water, while often the clouds poured down their floods. Thus the diary continues:

"Wednesday.--Fog and thick rain--just the weather to expect on approaching the Banks of Newfoundland. The convoy keep their position, and though sometimes the fog hides the ships from our view, yet we know where they are by their signal-whistles--two from the Terrible, three from the Medway, and four from the Albany, which are replied to by the prolonged single shriek from our whistle. At fifty-two minutes past one, Greenwich time (ship"s time, forty-five minutes past ten P.M., last night), the fore tank being nearly empty, preparations were made for pa.s.sing the bight of the cable into the main tank. At fifteen minutes past two all the jockey-wheels of the paying-out machinery were up, and the brakes released. Twenty-three minutes past two the bight was pa.s.sed steadily and cautiously by the cable hands outside of the trough to the main tank, and at thirty-five minutes past two the splice went over the stern in 1542.8 fathoms. By arrangement with Sir James Hope, the admiral of the North-American station, who has received instructions from the Admiralty to give the present expedition every a.s.sistance in his power, a frigate or sloop will be placed in longitude 48, 25", 52", which is just thirty miles from the entrance of Trinity Bay, and sixty from Heart"s Content. She will probably hang on by a kedge in that position, which shows the "fair way" right up the bay; and if it be clear, we ought to see her about daybreak on Friday morning.

The fog was very thick this morning, but occasionally lifts; as long as the wind is from south-west we cannot expect clear weather."

As the week drew on, it was evident that they were approaching the end of their voyage. By Thursday they had pa.s.sed the great depths of the Atlantic, and were off soundings. Besides their daily observations, there were many signs, well known to mariners, that they were near the coast. There were the sea-birds, and they could almost snuff the smell of the land, such as once greeted the sharp senses of Columbus, and made him sure that he was floating to some undiscovered sh.o.r.e. Captain Anderson had timed his departure so that he should approach the American coast at the full moon; but for the last two or three nights, as the round orb rose behind them, banks of cloud hung so heavily upon the water, that the moonlight only gleamed faintly through the vaporous air, and the fleet seemed like the phantom ships of the Ancient Mariner, drifting on through fog and mist.

"Thursday.--All day yesterday it was as "thick as mustard." We have had now forty-eight hours of fog. Though it lifted a little this morning, at five A.M., it still looks like more of it. Captain Anderson signalled to the Albany, at fifteen minutes past ten last night, to start at daybreak, and proceed to discover the station ship, and report us at hand. Should she fail to find her, then to try and make the land and guide us up Trinity Bay. Another signal was sent at half-past twelve to the effect that the Terrible and Medway would be sent ahead to meet the Albany and establish a line to lead us in even with a fog.

The Albany started at half-past three. At forty-five minutes past four, Greenwich time, the cable engineer in charge took one weight off each brake of the paying-out machinery. At forty minutes past seven all weights taken off, the a.s.sumed depth being three hundred fathoms. The indicated strain on the dynamometer gradually decreasing. Speed of ship five knots. We are going to try and pick up the cable of 1865 in two thousand five hundred fathoms (and we mean to succeed too); therefore should the cable we are now paying out part, it can be understood how easy it would be to raise it from a depth of three hundred fathoms. At fifty-five minutes past eight we signalled to the Terrible to sound, and received a reply, one hundred and sixty fathoms. At half-past eleven we informed her that when at the buoy off Heart"s Content she should have her paddle-box boat and two cutters ready to be alongside immediately, for holding the bight of the cable during the splice and laying the sh.o.r.e end. The Medway was told at the same time to prepare two five-inch ropes, and two large mushroom anchors, with fifty fathoms of chain, for anchoring during the splice in one hundred and seventy fathoms of water, and we intimated to her that when inside of Trinity Bay we should signal for two boats to take hands on board her for sh.o.r.e end. News of to-day, telegram from Mr. Gla.s.s in reply to one from Mr. Canning: I congratulate you all most sincerely on your arrival in one hundred and thirty fathoms. I hope nothing will interfere to mar the hitherto brilliant success, and that the cable will be landed to-morrow.""

As the voyage is about to end, we give the distances run from day to day, which show a remarkable uniformity of progress:

Distance Run. Cable Paid Out.

Sat.u.r.day, fourteenth, 108 115 Sunday, fifteenth, 128 139 Monday, sixteenth, 115 137 Tuesday, seventeenth, 117 138 Wednesday, eighteenth, 104 125 Thursday, nineteenth, 112 129 Friday, twentieth, 117 127 Sat.u.r.day, twenty-first, 121 136 Sunday, twenty-second, 123 133 Monday, twenty-third, 121 138 Tuesday, twenty-fourth, 120 135 Wednesday, twenty-fifth, 119 130 Thursday, twenty-sixth, 128 134 Friday, twenty-seventh. 100 104

From this it appears that the speed of the ship was exactly according to the running time fixed before she left England. On the last voyage it was thought that she had once or twice run too fast, and thus exposed the cable to danger. It was, therefore, decided to go slowly but surely.

Holding her back to this moderate pace, her average speed, from the time the splice was made till they saw land, was a little less than five nautical miles an hour, while the cable was paid out at an average of not quite five and a half miles. Thus the total slack was about eleven per cent, showing that the cable was laid almost in a straight line, allowing for the swells and hollows in the bottom of the sea.

"Friday, July 27th.--Shortly after two P.M., yesterday, two ships, which were soon made out to be steamers, were seen to the westward; and the Terrible, steaming on ahead, in about an hour signalled to us that H.M.S. Niger was one of them, accompanied by the Albany. The Niger, Captain Bruce, sent a boat to the Terrible as soon as he came up with her. The Albany shortly afterward took up her position on our starboard quarter, and signalled that she spoke the Niger at noon, bearing E. by N., and that the Lily was anch.o.r.ed at the station in the entrance of Trinity Bay, as arranged with the Admiral.

The Albany also reported that she had pa.s.sed an iceberg about sixty feet high. At twenty minutes after four P.M., the Niger came on our port side, quite close, and Captain Bruce, sending the crew to the rigging and manning the yards, gave us three cheers, which were heartily returned by the Great Eastern. She then steamed ahead toward Trinity Bay. The Albany was signalled to go on immediately to Heart"s Content, clear the northeast side of the harbor of shipping, and place a boat with a red flag for Captain Anderson to steer to, for anchorage. Just before dinner we saw on the southern horizon, distant about ten miles, an iceberg, probably the one which the Albany met with.

It was apparently about fifty or sixty feet in height. The fog came on very thick about eight P.M., and between that and ten we were constantly exchanging guns and burning blue lights with the Terrible, which, with the Niger, went in search of the Lily, station ship. The Terrible being signalled to come up and take her position, informed us they had made the Lily out, and that she bore then about E.N.E. distant four miles. Later in the night Captain Commerill said that if Captain Anderson would stop the Great Eastern, he would send the surveyor Mr.

Robinson, R. N., who came out in the Niger, on board of us, and about three the engines were slowed, and the Terrible shortly afterwards came alongside with that officer. Catalina light, at the entrance of Trinity Bay, had been made out three hours before this, and the loom of the coast had also been seen. Fog still prevailing! According to Mr. Robinson"s account, if they got one clear day in seven at the entrance of Trinity Bay, they considered themselves fortunate. Here we are now (six A.M.), within ten miles of Heart"s Content, and we can scarcely see more than a ship"s length. The Niger, however, is ahead, and her repeated guns tell us where we are with accuracy. Good fortune follows us, and scarcely has eight o"clock arrived when the ma.s.sive curtain of fog raises itself gradually from both sh.o.r.es of Trinity Bay, disclosing to us the entrance of Heart"s Content, the Albany making for the harbor, the Margaretta Stevenson, surveying vessel, steaming out to meet us, the prearranged pathway all marked with buoys by Mr. J. H. Kerr, R.

N., and a whole fleet of fishing boats fishing at the entrance.

"We could now plainly see that Heart"s Content, so far as its capabilities permitted, was prepared to welcome us. The British and American flags floated from the church and telegraph station and other buildings. We had dressed ship, fired a salute, and given three cheers, and Captain Commerill of H.M.S.

Terrible was soon on board to congratulate us on our success.

At nine o"clock, ship"s time, just as we had cut the cable and made arrangements for the Medway to lay the sh.o.r.e end, a message arrived giving us the concluding words of a leader in this morning"s Times: "It is a great work, a glory to our age and nation, and the men who have achieved it deserve to be honored among the benefactors of their race."--"Treaty of peace signed between Prussia and Austria!" It was now time for the chief engineer, Mr. Canning, to make the necessary preparations for splicing on board the Medway. Accompanied by Mr. Gooch, M.P., Mr. Clifford, Mr. Willoughby Smith, and Messrs. Temple and Deane, he went on board, the Terrible and Niger having sent their paddle-box boats and cutters to a.s.sist. Shortly afterward the Great Eastern steamed into the harbor and anch.o.r.ed on the north-east side, and was quickly surrounded by boats laden with visitors. Mr. Cyrus Field had come on sh.o.r.e before the Great Eastern had left the offing, with a view of telegraphing to St.

John"s to hire a vessel to repair the cable unhappily broken between Cape Ray, in Newfoundland, and Cape North, in Breton Island. Before a couple of hours the sh.o.r.e end will be landed, and it is impossible to conceive a finer day for effecting this our final operation. Even here, people can scarcely realize the fact that the Atlantic Telegraph Cable has been laid.

To-morrow, however, Heart"s Content[C] will awaken to the fact that it is a highly favored place in the world"s esteem, the western landing-place of that marvel of electric communication with the Eastern hemisphere, which is now happily, and we hope finally, established."

This simple record, so modestly termed the Diary of the Expedition, tells the story of this memorable voyage in a way that needs no embellishment. But if from the ship"s deck we transfer ourselves to the sh.o.r.e, we may get a new impression of the closing scene. We can well believe the sensation of wonder and almost of awe, on the morning when the ships entered that little harbor of Newfoundland. In England the progress of the expedition was known from day to day, but on this side of the ocean all was uncertainty. Some had gone to Heart"s Content, hoping to witness the arrival of the fleet, but not so many as the year before, for the memory of the last failure was too fresh, and they feared another disappointment. But still a faithful few were there, who kept their daily watch. The correspondents of the American papers report only a long and anxious suspense, till the morning when the first ship was seen in the offing. As they looked toward her, she came nearer--and see, there is another and another! And now the hull of the Great Eastern loomed up all glorious in the morning sky. They were coming! Instantly all was wild excitement on sh.o.r.e. Boats put off to row toward the fleet.

The Albany was the first to round the point and enter the bay. The Terrible was close behind. The Medway stopped an hour or two to join on the heavy sh.o.r.e end, while the Great Eastern, gliding calmly in as if she had done nothing remarkable, dropped her anchor in front of the telegraph house, having trailed behind her a chain of two thousand miles, to bind the Old World to the New.

That same afternoon, as soon as the sh.o.r.e end was landed, Captain Anderson and the officers of the fleet went in a body to the little church in Heart"s Content, to render thanks for the success of the expedition. A sermon was preached on the text, "There shall be no more sea," and all joined in the sublime prayers and thanksgivings of the Church of England. Thus the voyage ended as it began. It left the sh.o.r.es of Ireland with prayers wafted after it as a benediction. And now, safely landed on the sh.o.r.es of the New World, this gallant company, like Columbus and his companions, made it their first thought to render homage to the Being who had borne them safely across the deep.

But though their voyage was ended, there was still a work to be done.

Having crossed the Atlantic, the first thing was to open communication with the cities of the United States. And now Mr. Field was extremely mortified to find that there was a large gap in the line this side of the ocean. His first question to the Superintendent, who came out in a boat to meet him, was in regard to the cable across the Gulf of St.

Lawrence, which had been interrupted the year before; and it was a bitter pang to hear that it lay still broken, so that a message which came from Ireland in a moment of time, was delayed twenty-four hours in its way to New York. Of course the public grew impatient, and there were many sneers at the want of foresight which had failed to provide against such a contingency; and, as he was the one chiefly known in connection with the enterprise, these reproaches fell upon him. He did not tell the public, what was the truth, that he had antic.i.p.ated this very trouble long ago, and entreated his a.s.sociates to be prepared for it. Months before he left for England, he urged upon the Company in New York the necessity of rebuilding their lines in Newfoundland, which had been standing over ten years, and of repairing the old cable, and also laying a new one across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But this would cost a large sum of money, and as their faith and purses had been sorely tried by repeated disasters, they were not willing to spend more in the uncertainty of the future. They wished to see the result of this new expedition, before advancing further capital. We do not blame them, but only mention the fact to show that Mr. Field had foreseen this very thing, and endeavored to guard against it.

But regrets were idle. What could he do to repair the injury? "Is there a steamer," he asked, "to be had in these waters?" "The Bloodhound is at St. John"s." "Telegraph instantly to charter her to go around to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and fish up the old cable and repair it. But that may take several weeks. Is there nothing else that can serve in the mean time to carry despatches across the Gulf?" "There is a little steamer, called the Dauntless." "Well, telegraph for her too. Secure her at all hazards; only see that the work is done." All this was the work of a few minutes. The answers came back quickly, and in a day or two came the steamers themselves. The arrangement was immediately carried out. The Dauntless took her place in the Gulf, where she made her regular trips from Port au Basque, in Newfoundland, to Aspee Bay, in Cape Breton, keeping up daily communication with the States. The Bloodhound, which had a more difficult task, first took on board eleven miles of cable from the Great Eastern, to repair that which was broken. The expedition was put in charge of Mr. A. M. Mackay, the indefatigable Superintendent of the Company in Newfoundland, who had had the care of their lines for ten years. He sailed for Aspee Bay, and made short work of the business, dragging the Gulf and raising the cable, which he found had been broken by an anchor, in water seventy fathoms deep, a few miles from sh.o.r.e.

This was spliced out with a portion of the new cable, and the whole was as perfect as ever, giving a fresh proof that cables well made are likely to be permanent, if not indestructible.

Meanwhile, owing to this interruption of the cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the news of the success of the expedition, which reached Newfoundland on Friday, the twenty-seventh, did not reach New York till the twenty-ninth. It was early Sunday morning, before the Sabbath bells had rung their call to prayer, that the tidings came. The first announcement was brief: "Heart"s Content, July 27.--We arrived here at nine o"clock this morning. All well. Thank G.o.d, the cable is laid, and is in perfect working order.

Cyrus W. Field."

Soon followed the despatch to the a.s.sociated Press, giving the details of the voyage, and ending with a just tribute to the skill and devotion of all who had contributed to its success. Said Mr. Field: "I cannot find words suitable to convey my admiration for the men who have so ably conducted the nautical, engineering, and electrical departments of this enterprise, amidst difficulties which must be seen to be appreciated. In fact, all on board of the telegraph fleet, and all connected with the enterprise, have done their best to have the cable made and laid in a perfect condition; and He who rules the winds and the waves has crowned their united efforts with perfect success."

Other despatches followed in quick succession, giving the latest events of the war in Europe, which startled the public just reading news a fortnight old. All this confirmed the great triumph, and filled every heart with wonder and grat.i.tude on the Sunday morning, as they went again to the little church and rendered thanks to Him who is Lord of the earth and sea.

While the Great Eastern was lying in the harbor of Heart"s Content, she was overrun with visitors. The news of her arrival had spread over the island, and from far and near the people flocked to see her. Over the hills they came on foot and on horseback, and in wagons and carts of every description; and from along the sh.o.r.e in boats and fishing-smacks, and sloops and schooners. They came from the most remote parts of the island--a distance of three hundred miles--and even from the province of New Brunswick. Several parties made the excursion in steamers from St.

John"s. The wondering country folk climbed up the sides of the ship, and wandered for hours through its s.p.a.cious rooms and long pa.s.sages. All were welcomed with hearty sailor courtesy.

As soon as communication was opened with New York, and other cities, congratulations poured in from every quarter. Friendly messages were exchanged--as eight years before--between the sovereign of England and the head of the Great Republic. The President also, and Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, sent their congratulations to Mr. Field--greetings that were repeated from the most distant States. Among others was a message from San Francisco, which was put into his hand almost at the same moment with one from M. de Lesseps, dated at Alexandria in Egypt!

What a meeting and mingling of voices was this, when a winged salutation flying over the tops of the Rocky Mountains, reached the same ear with a message which had been whispered along the Mediterranean and under the Atlantic: when the farthest East touched the farthest West--the most ancient of kingdoms answering to the new-born empire of the Pacific.

FOOTNOTES:

[A] The new method is thus explained by Mr. Deane:

"The fundamental difference between last year"s system of testing and that of the present expedition is, that now all the ordinary tests for continuity may be made simultaneously with the test for insulation, which is not interrupted at all; whereas, last year, during half the time spent in laying the cable, the insulation test was wholly neglected.

"Last year, each hour was divided into four parts. The first half of the hour was spent in testing for insulation. During the second half, which was divided into three periods of ten minutes each, tests were made to ascertain the resistance of the conductor and to prove the continuity of the same. All these tests were of such a nature as to afford no criterion whatever of the state of the insulation during their continuance, so that during the half of each hour, or, in other words, during half the time spent in laying the cable, the insulation test was neglected. Also, while the insulation test was being made, there was no means of communicating with the sh.o.r.e, as the observations were taken on board only. This year, a test for insulation is constantly kept on, and, by Mr. Willoughby Smith"s arrangement, corresponding observations are made both on ship and sh.o.r.e. At stated times during the hour, the continuity test is made at the sh.o.r.e station by means of a condenser applied to the conductor of the cable. The effect of this is to increase the deflection on the ship"s insulation galvanometer, thus serving as a continuity test. Communications from sh.o.r.e to ship are also made by these means. The ship can send signals to the sh.o.r.e by simply reversing the current for certain lengths of time, answering to some understood code, or by increasing and diminishing the tension of the line, according to a prearranged plan. All these operations may be performed without interrupting the insulation test, except for a few seconds while the current is being reversed. So far for the new system in the electrical room as compared with last year."

[B] Mr. Dudley made a number of sketches for Mr. Field, with several large paintings, which have furnished the ill.u.s.trations for this volume.

[C] The little harbor that bears this gentle name, is a sheltered nook where ships may ride at anchor, safe from the storms of the ocean. It is but an inlet from the great arm of the sea known as Trinity Bay, which is sixty or seventy miles long, and twenty miles broad. On the beach is a small village of some sixty houses, most of which are the humble dwellings of those hardy men who vex the northern seas with their fisheries. The place was never heard of outside of Newfoundland till 1864, when Mr. Field, sailing up Trinity Bay in the surveying steamer Margaretta Stevenson, Captain Orlebar, R. N., in search of a place for the landing of the ocean cable, fixed upon this secluded spot. The old landing of 1858 was at the Bay of Bull"s Arm, at the head of Trinity Bay, twenty miles above. Heart"s Content was chosen now because its waters are still and deep, so that a cable skirting the north side of the Banks of Newfoundland can be brought in deep water almost till it touches the sh.o.r.e. All around the land rises to pine-crested heights; and here the telegraphic fleet, after its memorable voyage, lay in quiet, under the shadow of the encircling hills.

CHAPTER XVII.

RECOVERY OF THE LOST CABLE.

Though the Great Eastern was still lying in the little harbor of Heart"s Content, casting her mighty shadow on its tranquil waters, she was not "content" with her amazing victory, but sighed for another greater still. Though she had done enough to be laid up for a year, still she had one more test of her prowess--to recover the cable of 1865, which had been lost in the middle of the Atlantic. So eager were all for this second trial of their strength, that in less than five days two of the ships--the Albany and the Terrible--the vanguard of the telegraphic fleet, were on their way back to mid-ocean. Though it was only Friday, the 27th of July, that they reached land, they left early Wednesday morning, the first day of August. The Great Eastern was detained a week longer. She had to lay in immense supplies of coal. Antic.i.p.ating this want, six ships had been despatched from Cardiff, in Wales, weeks before, to await the arrival of the fleet. One of these foundered at sea; the others arrived out safely, and hardly had the Great Eastern cast anchor before they were alongside, ready to fill her bunkers. So ample was the provision, that, when she went to sea a few days after, she had nearly eight thousand tons of coal on board.

At the same time she had to receive some six hundred miles of the cable of 1865, which had been shipped from England in the Medway. The latter was now brought alongside, and the whole was transferred into the main tank of the Great Eastern, from which it was to be paid out in case the lost end were recovered.

At length all these preparations were completed, and on Thursday, the 9th of August, the Great Eastern and the Medway put to sea. The Governor of Newfoundland, who had come around from St. John"s and been received with the honors due his rank, accompanied them in the Lily down the broad expanse of Trinity Bay, and then bore away for St. John"s while the Great Eastern and Medway kept on their course to join their companions in the middle of the Atlantic. They had a little over six hundred miles to run to the "fishing ground," and made it in three days.

On Sunday noon they came in sight of the appointed rendezvous, and soon with gla.s.ses made out the Albany and the Terrible, which had arrived a week before and placed buoys to mark the line of the cable, and then, like giant sea-birds with folded wings, sat watching their prey. The sea was running high, so that boats could not come off, but the Albany signalled that she had not toiled for nothing; that she had once hooked the cable, but lost it in rough weather. The history of this first attempt, though brief, was cheering.

When the Albany left Heart"s Content, Captain Moriarty went in her. He had been in the Great Eastern the year before, and saw where the cable went down, and had had his eye on the spot ever since. He claimed, with Captain Anderson, that he could go straight to it and place the ship within half a mile of where it disappeared. At this old sailors shook their heads, and said, "They"d like to see him do it;" "No man could come within two or three miles of any given place in the ocean." Yet the result proved the exactness of his observations. With unerring eye he went straight to the spot, and set his buoys as exactly as a fisherman sets his nets.

In the Albany, also, had gone Mr. Temple, of Mr. Canning"s staff. The ship had been fitted up with a complete set of buoys and apparatus for grappling; and he was full of ambition to recover the cable before the Great Eastern should come up. In this he had nearly proved successful.

They had caught it once, and raised it a few hundred fathoms from the bottom, and buoyed it, but rough weather came on and tore away the buoy, so that the cable went down again, carrying two miles of rope.

This was a disappointment, but still, as their first attempt was only a "feeler," the result was encouraging. It showed that they had found the right place; that the cable was there; that it had not run away nor been floated off by those under-currents that exist in the imagination of some wise men of the sea; nor that it was so imbedded in the ooze of the deep as to be beyond reach or recovery. All this was cheering, but as it promised to be a more difficult job than they had supposed, they were glad when the Great Eastern hove in sight that Sunday noon.

The next morning Captain Moriarty and Mr. Temple came on board, and after reporting their experience, the chief officers of the Expedition held a council of war before opening the campaign. The fleet was all together, the weather was favorable, and it was determined at once to proceed to business.

As the attempt is now to be renewed on a grand scale, the reader may wish some further details of the means employed to insure success. As nothing in this whole enterprise has excited such astonishment, nothing merits a more careful history. When it was first proposed to drag the bottom of the Atlantic for a cable lost in waters two and a half miles deep, the project was so daring that it seemed to be almost a war of the t.i.tans upon the G.o.ds. Yet never was anything undertaken less in the spirit of reckless desperation. The cable was recovered, as a city is taken by siege--by slow approaches, and the sure and inevitable result of mathematical calculation. Every point was studied beforehand--the position of the broken end, the depth of the ocean, the length of rope needed to reach the bottom, and the strength required to lift the enormous weight. To find the place was a simple question of nautical astronomy--a calculation of lat.i.tude and longitude. It seemed providential that, when the cable broke on the second of August, 1865, it was a few minutes after noon; the sun was shining brightly, and they had just taken a perfect observation. This made it much easier to go back to the place again. The waters were very deep, but that they could touch bottom, and even grapple the cable, was proved by the experiments of the year before. But could any power be applied which should lift it without breaking, and bring it safely on board? This was a simple question of mechanics. Prof. Thomson had made a calculation that in raising the cable from a depth of two and a half miles, there would be about ten miles of its length suspended in the water. Of course, it was a very nice matter to graduate the strain so as not to break the cable.

For this it had been suggested that two or three ships should grapple it at once, and lifting it together, ease the strain on any one point--a method of meeting the danger that was finally adopted with success.

With such preparations, let us see how all this science and seamanship and engineering are applied. The ships are now all together in the middle of the Atlantic. The first point is achieved. They have found the place where the broken cable lies--they have laid their hands on the bottom of the ocean and "felt of it," and know that it is there. The next thing is to draw a line over it, to mark its course, for in fogs and dark nights it cannot be traced by observations. The watery line is therefore marked by a series of buoys a few miles apart, which are held in position by heavy mushroom-anchors, let down to the bottom by a huge buoy-rope, which is fastened at the top by a heavy chain. Each buoy is numbered, and has on the top a long staff with a flag, and a black ball over it, which can be seen at a distance. Thus the ships, ranging around in a circuit of many miles, can keep in sight this chain of sentinels.

The buoy which marks the spot where they wish to grapple has also a lantern placed upon it at night, which gleams afar upon the ocean.

Having thus fixed their bearings, the Great Eastern stands off, north or south according to the wind or current, three or four miles from where the cable lies, and then, casting over the grapnel, drifts slowly down upon the line, as ships going into action reef their sails, and drift under the enemy"s guns.