Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-08-25

gone overheard" All we're on deck in
moment, and there indeed q glance
revealed the truth.

I 1he Aeca1ens EzptGtHed e. IN.
1 I win now endeavor to expIain TO you
how the fatal accident occurred. / saw
fatal, for although as Z write we are
drifting down upon the spot in the hope
OF getting hold of the cable, With Crap
nels, / scarcely venture to hope the at
tempt will be crowned with success.
Let the reader tuFU bis face toward q
window imagine that he Is standing on
the bows Of the Great Eastern, and thea
OF course on bis right will be the star
board, on bis left the port side of the
ship. When the cable was hauied round
to the left hand side, and passed over
the four wheels, it was passed over
drum, which we must suppose to be be-
hind the spectator, and coilsd up as fast
ss it vas delivered from the picking up
apparatus. Bat when the en- yines failed
70 work this apparatus, Of course the
cable became motionless, and, as the
ship was drifted by the wind from right
TO left and slightly forward, al last the
cable came close mp TO the bow, and nn-
der the fore foot Of the ship.
zhs Position on lie Ship.
There are aft The bows Of the Great
4
rims Of which prqjsc, for more than
foot Beyond the stem. Against one OF.
these the cable caught on the left hand
side, While the ship kept moving to the
left, and thus chafed and strained sbe
cable greatly against the bow, The
Great Eastern could not 90 astern, lest
the cable would be besuapped, and without
motion some way there 10 no power of
steerage. ..fasdg lTn IA I'D
The Critical Moment.
At this critical moment, too, the wind
shifted so as to render 1t more difficult
to keep the head Of the ship mp to the
cable, as the cable then chafed so much
that in two places damage was done
/ to IL hopMoNe44 E18 lFb H@fso<D
A shackle pin and q wire rope Belong
ing 70 one of the cable bouys were passed
over the cable and secured in O bieht
below the hawser holes; these were
hauled 90 as to bring the cable to the
right hand side Of the boat, the ship
still drifting to the left. Il vas neces-
sary to do-this instead Of bearing away,
as We we're near the end Of the cut OF
the cable. asss "a f9iaw .aI. icaa Il
The =. Wheel ~ i5 ssa.
In the boatthers is an, iron, wheel with
deep groove and "V" wheel from the
groove, by the side Of which is q similar
but smaller wheel On the same axis
the cable. and the wire rope together
were coming in, over the bows of the
groove in the larger wheel, the cable be-
ing wound upon q drum behind BY the
machinery which was once more in mo-
ton, and the wire rope being taken in
round the cspstan BY bars; but The rope,
and cable were not coming up in q right
line, bat were being hauled in with
| great strain on them at an angle from
the right hand side so that they did not
work directly in the ", in the wheel;
still, up they came, With the strain shown
on the indicator to be very high, but not
near the 5eaking point At last up came
the cable and the wire rope shsckling
tcgether in the v wheel IN the bow.
The Winding Up.
They we're wound round it slowly aud
we're passing over the wheel together,
the 6rst damaged part being on board,
when q jar was given 10 the dynamorne-
ter which few up from sixty cwt, the
highest point marked, with q sudden
jerk, three and q half inches. In fact
the chain shackle and wire rope cham
ber rs it wore up out Of the groove on
the rightha hand side of the V of the heel,
got on the top Of the rim of the v Wheel
and rushed down with a crash on the
email wheel, giving, no doubt, a severe
shock to the cable to which il Was at
tached.
ds.a A Terrible Bound.
| The mechinery was still in motion;
the cable and the rope travelled aft to-
| gether, one toward the oapstau theolher.
toward the drum, when, just as the cable
reached the dynamometer, it parted, and
with one bound, leaped, as it werr, over
q few feet of intervening space, and
| splashed into thesea. 1t is not possible
for any words to portray the dismay
with which the sight was witnessed and
the noise heard
1t was enough to move one to tears
when q man came aft With piece of
| the inner end lashed still to the chain;
and 90 one saw the tortured strands, the
torn wires, and the lacerated core, it is
no exaggeration to say that strange feel.
lings of pity, as though for some sentient
creature mutilated and dragged asunder
By brutal force, passed thfo6eh the
hearts of the spectators Captain Mo-
riarty was just coming TO the foot Of the
companion way to put mp his
Daily Statement
of the ships position, having hSd'Axcel-
lent observations, when the news came.
"Ifear," he said, I'VE will not feel much
interested now in knowing shewafarwe
are from Hearts Content" However.
i 1t was something to know, though it was
but little comfort, that we had at noon
run precisely ll6 miles since YESTERDAY;
that Ne we're 1852 miles FROM yalentis,
$50 miles from Hearts Content, attn
| Lat .5ls 25', Long. 39e 81 OF course
being 799 soHsh aud 25' west. l sasz7'.- 4
! The Terrible SignGled
The Terribfe was signaIled that the
/ cable had parted and was requested to
bear down to us, which. she did. and
came to of our port beam. After q
brief consideration, Mr.. Canning, whose
presence of mind and self possession
never left him, determined, though IL
seemed egregious folly, to seek for the
cable in the bottom of the Atlantic, to
get out his grapnels, drop down on il
and try to pick it up. The Great East
ern steamed ten or twelve mile to wind
ward and eastward ofvthe position i'm
which she wasN when the cable went
down, in order to throw cut the grspnels
and wire rope aud drift down across the
course of the track in which the cable
was supposed to be lying. Although all
utterance Of hope was suppressed, and
no word Of confidence escaped ahe bps,
the mocking shadows of both were treas
ursd in some quiet nook Of the, fancy;
the doctrine of chances ccnld not fouch /
such contingency nc wa had to specu.
late upon, Andnow cona forth, -
The Grapnels,
Two ave armed anchors. with sfukSss