The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-17 00:00:00

SPLICING THE MAIN CABLE WITH THE

SHORE END.

(nor ors BPICIAL COBRZSPONDINf.)

VALKNTIA, FRIDAY now, JULY 13.
The splice of the main coil with the shore end
was made to-day, and the final preliminaries of
this vast enterprise brought to a satisfactory con-
clusion. H.M.S. Terrible, H.M.S. Racoon, the
Medway, and the Albany, succursals to the expe-
dition, were all within signalling distance, the
ocean buoy left by the William Corry was found
with but little delay, and at three yesterday after-
noon the Great Eastern started for Newfoundland,
after giving the significant words, " Splice made
and all right," and receiving a parting salute from
the Racoon.
About six yesterday evening Captain Armitage
sent a boat to the Great Eastern, to take oft those
whose duties had detained them on board till the
last moment. This was the final opportunity for
leaving the great ship, as it had been wisely de-
cided to admit no visitors, either during the ope-
ration of splicing or while Mr. Canning and his
staff were engaged in picking up the buoy. Last
year Sir Robert Peel, the Knight of Kerry, and
other well /rushers, paid a parting visit from the
Hawk, while Mr. W. H. Russell, Mr. J. C. Deane,
and Mr. Dudley, joined the cable-vessel in the
same way. But passing from ship to ship in small
boats involves both difficulty and danger in the
Atlantic, and it was fully understood that those
accompanying the expedition to America
should tender their parting good wishes last
night. Accordingly Mr. Gurney, M.P., Mr. H.
F. Barclay, Mr. Elliot, Captain Bolton, Mr.
Barber, Mr. Latimer Clarke, and a few other
gentlemen were taken on board the Racoon,
Captain Armitage having courteously given them
invitations to go out in her to see the splice made.
Directly afterwards both ships got up their steam,
and slowly passing out of the magnificent natural
harbour they were in, proceeded to the rendezvous.
For the first few hours the evening was bright
and clear, and the Racoon kept the Great Eastern
and her passengers well in sight. Foilhommerum
Bay and the white telegraph house ,the Skelligs,Bray-
head, the inlet leading to the spot where the shore-
end of 1858 was laid, and the quaint crags and
rocks of the coast were all easily discerned, and it
was not until dusk that Captain Armitage's inten-
tion of keeping the Great Eastern's mast lights in
view throughout the night was found to be im-
possible. Once more a heavy, lowering mist set in,
and an interchange of dismal wheezy screeches
from fog horns was the only sign each ship bad
of the other's vicinity. The Racoon is emphatically
a lively vessel. She does not take in water, and
with the head wind of yesterday did not roll. But
she lifted to the waves, and plunged gaily at and
over them with a playfulness not a little embarrass-
ing to men whose " sea legs" had been attuned
to the stately motions of the Great Eastern.
Every moment the fog grew denser. First gently
touching the upper spars of the huge floating mass
we were all watching, it gained courage as dark-
ness approached and enveloped it like a pall. Just
before the Great Eastern was finally hidden this
mist produced a curious optical effect. The dis-
tance between her and the Racoon was increased,
and her size and bulk augmented by it, so that
masts and hull and ropes waxed larger and larger
as they became more and more wavy and indistinct.
A few seconds more and the enormous shadowy
outline was merged into the mass of rain-laden
vapour we were ploughing through, and was seen
no more until the morning. The tacit support
given by the Admiralty to the expedition and the
hearty co-operation afforded by Captain Cornmerell,
of the Terrible, is already known. The same warm
interest in everything pertaining to the Atlantic
cable was very marked on board the Racoon. Out
of the two hundred and ninety-five men who make
up her roll of officers and crew there was not one
who did not manifest the heartiest feeling for the'
undertaking. At the different messes and coteries of
last night the one subject seemed always upper-
most. At the midshipmen's merry party in the
gun-room American songs were the ditties of the
hour, while from the captain's cabin to the fore-
castle the all-pervading topic was the Great Eastern
and her prospects of success.
The fog made the time of finding the buoy a
matter of some uncertainty. The strong cur-
rents running in these seas make keeping
in one position long a sheer impossibility for an
unanchored ship, and it was thought that even if
the buoy had been discovered, and were now
being steamed round by the Terrible, the Medway,
and the Albany, they might all three miss it
again in the night, and cause the splice to be de-
ferred. To every faint-hearted surmise of this
nature, the hoot of the fog-horn made dismal re-
ply, and the sailors agreed that the present " dirty
weather " heralded a wet and probably foggy day
for the morrow. Many an anxious visit was paid
to the deck that night by those vainly endeavour-
ing to peer through the pitchy darkness for some
slight sign of clearing up. But the night grew
worse and worse, and at 12 o'clock a heavy blind-
ing rain set in. A couple of hours later there
seemed some hope of change, and at 4 o'clock,
when word was passed that the Great Eastern and
her squadron were all to be seen, the mist had so
far lessened that signals were interchanged with
the Terrible. The buoy had not yet been seen, and
it was nearly half-past 6 when a gun was fired
from the Racoon to announce its discovery to the
great ship. The bearings given by Captain Donald-
son, of the Corry, as to the whereabouts of the
buoy were incorrect ; for, as is frequently the case,
his ship's compass was affected by the amount of
cable on board, and calculations made by it were
considerably thrown out. The hours following
the discovery of the buoy were both tedious and
critical. The squadron was nearly thirty miles
from land—the Terrible, the Albany, the Medway,
and the Racoon all keeping within a mile or so of
the Great Eastern. Time after time did the latter
steam up to and pus the buoy. This, though a
massive affair weighing 7 tons, bobbed up and
down upon the water—its red flagfluttering gaily in
the wind, as if exulting in defeating the huge
creature bent upon carrying off its prey. Moored
by what is known as a mushroom grapnel by means
of 120 fathoms of stout chain, this buoy really re-
mained stationary, though to those on board the
other vessels it seemed to frequently change its
course. The Great Eastern signalled the Terrible
for a boat, and sent two down of her own—one of
these remained close by the buoy, while the other
plied busily to and fro. It was essential that the
Great Eastern should bring her 'tern fairly up to
the buoy to avoid unduly straining the cable, and
in attempting to do this she overshot her mark
again and again. Meanwhile the weather again
thickened. Heavy rain, and blinding fog banks
came up, until the Great Eastern alone was visible,
while her consorts were hidden in the heavy mist-
Then it would suddenly clear, and the ships would
be seen to bays changed theirrelative positions, and to