The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-26 00:00:00

Captain Sir James Anderson, of the Great

Eastern.

(Abridged from the Euiqfries Standard).
The commander of the Great Eastern was on Fri-
day presented with the freedom of the town of Dum-
fries, his native place, in recognition of his great
services in the successful laying of the Atlantic
Cable. In the evening his fellow-citizens enter-
tained him to a banquet, the Provost in the chair,
and Mr. Al‘Diarmid of the Dumfries Courier crou-
pier. The gallant officer spoke modestly of his
honours :
" Aline," he said, " was the opportunity, and st"

holding the command of that grand ship gives me
ample reason for wearing my honours calmly. An
error of judgment, or want of nerve that might re-
sult in damage to a ship so pre-eminently national,
would go far to reverse my present position, and
perhaps change your estimate of the man you now
so highly honour. Yet it would have been bad
taste, if not moral cowardice, to have declined the
honour of knighthood, or this honour of public re-
cognition in my native town." (Loud cheers.)
Of the great enterprise Sir James said—
" We were supplied with everything of the kind
and quantity we asked for, with as large a margin
for contingencies as our experience and foresight
could suggest. We only wanted one thing that we
could not control, and that was a favourable season.
This we did not get. (Hear, hear.) We had a
constant recurrence of gales, fogs, and long high
seas ; and one attempt after another was frustrated
by such accidents as the breaking of a chain, the
drawing of a splice, the driving pull of our ocean-
buoys, or with gales springing up after we had
lowered our grapnels, and at times when we had
hooked our prey and got it a mile away from its
oozy bed ; until after thirty attempts over a period
of 18 days, our 20 miles of strong grapnel line were
twisted and shattered and reduced. The three ac-
companying ships were out of provisions, and one
of them had to leave us for want of coals. It really
seemed as if we were only wasting energy and ma-
terial, and the reflection would thrust itself on the
minds of those of us who were responsible whether
we were gratifying a personal tenacity of purpose
or honeStly doing our duty to the shareholders. Very
little was ever said, and when we changed our
ground it was still with strong hope and more faith
than ever in its practicability ; but we felt that the
season was far advanced, and that if we ever were
to succeed it must be with such weather as we were
having, and we placed our first buoy upon the new
grappling ground while a gale was blowing and
commenced grappling as soon as day broke. The
interval betwixt this gale and the next—exactly 50
hours—was the only favourable opportunity we ever
had, and we got the cable. (Great applause.) Three
hours afterwards another gale had begun ; and I
need hardly assure you that the feeling of gratifi-
cation was deepened into gratitude with the difficulty
of the achievement, and our nearness. (Cheers.)
Had no word of praise been offered us upon our
arrival I should all my life have felt proud of having
shared in an enterprise that required all the fore-
sight, energy, and intense watchfulness of which all
of us were capable. (Cheers.) Nor do I consider
it a small privilege to have been associated with the
talented men who have been engaged in construct-
ing that simple-looking cable with all the appliances
for placing it safely in its ocean bed ; and still more
wonderful, perhaps, the talent required to make the
electric spark carry the signal with such marvellous
precision." (Cheers.)
It appears that Captain Anderson is in his 42d
year. He has been at sea since he was a lad of 16.
In 1851 he joined the Cunard service, and has com-
manded successfully no fewer than fourteen steamers
in the Mediterranean and Atlantic trades. Latterly
he sailed in the China, and it was while in command
of this vessel that he was selected to take part in
the laying of the Atlantic cable. The gallant officer,
we trust, will long enjoy his well-won honours.