The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-08-19
THE LOST CABLE.
DETAILS OF THE DISASTER.
The Unfortunate Circumstances
Under Which it Parted.
1t Chafes Against the Great Eastern
and Becomes Damaged.
THE SEVERAL TO cRAPpLEIr

Temporary Abandonment Of
the Enterprise,
Special Despatch to the Herald.
81. JOHNS N f. August 16,
VIA AsPY BAY, C. b. August Is, 1885.
tho following Is an abstract Of the report OF the Cable
expedition from the I'd of Augustine time of the
breaking Of tho cable-unt the Great Eastern parted
company with the Terrible:-
GREAT EASTERN, August 2, 1866.
sad, memorable day In the annals of Atlantic tele-
graph.
After midnight the wind arose. accompanied by heavy
showers Of rain and dense drifts OF fog and increased
strong gale to the southwest but the ship scarcely felt
It, and went paying out the cable without hindrauce
at high rate Of speed-seven knots hour. About
daybreak the wind suddenly shifted to north northwest
and fell to light breeze and at four A. NJ the
was altered to northwest by west half west, the
following Morning broke in beautiful and the cable ran
out easily at the rate OF seven miles an hour.
DISCOVERED
At 6:35 A. NJ, ships time the paddles stopped
and at 645 the ship was stopped by orders from the
electricians In fact, at eight A. NJ, Greenwich
time minute after whilst the elecrians were pass.
ing the first Of the half hourly signals OF currents to the
shore, the galvanometer suddenly detected flow of
electricity, which indicated serious fault The test
gave no result as to locality, for the fault very
varying but It generally believed to be not far from
the stern of the steamship. 1t appears that while Mr.
Cyrus Field the watch In the tank little before
the time Of the accident grating noise audible
the cable flew over tho coil astern. One of
the experienced hands Immediately said ssThere
is piece OF wire," and called to the lookout
man above to pass the information aft; but
no notice appears to have been taken of the
circumstance After the ship stopped and the
mainder Of the fake paid out piece of wire
projecting out Of tho cable In the fake underneath that
An which the fault suspected TO exist and of
the men taking II In his fingers and trying to bend II
down, the wire broke short of. II nearly three
inches long, and had evidently been of hard ill.tem.
pered metal which had flown out through the threads
che tank Tho discovery in measure relief
20 tho mems minds that certainly and possibly the
OF the previous faults might have the
OF accident II was remarked, however that this fault
occurred In the watch all the previous had
The fault too serious be overlooked and there
di6cuty In detecting Its situation. preparations
were made to get the picking up apparatus ready
CABLE
Previous 10 doing so two cuts madc In the cable,
the first near the old sphee between the main and the
fore tanks. Cable all right The second cut was three
miles on board which showed the fault to be overheard
The wire rope and the chain wire secured 10 tho
cable forward which showed a maximum strain OF
twenty three and half hundred weight; and at five
minutes past o'clock, Greenwich time, the cable
severed and went the stern thousand one
hundred and sixty-sx miles having been paved out
when tho end splashed into the water.
= HAULING THE CABLE.
With less dculty than usual-in fact, with compare
alive facity-the cable hauled in the bows At
eight minutes past ten O'Clock A. NJ, Greenwich time
Il had been hauled by the port side Of the ship and
che wind stood she drted the Of the cable
but came up readily The strain on 1t, according
10 the indicator being from City to ffty-fve
shxndred weight, although the latter figure re-
presented the maximum only reached occasion.
we werc however, nearly in two thousand athoms Of
Iwaaer but Il considered favorable circumstance
khat we had got in few miles further we should
then have been in the Atlantic plateau AS far as could
be ascertaned the ship gentle elevation,
on top OF which there only thousand nine
hundred and fifty fathoms of water.
PICKING
was as usual exceedingly tedious, and hour and
forty six minutes elapsed before mile got
board Chen of the ongines eccentric gear got out
.of order 80 that had to stand by with hand
spike aided by wedge Of wood and elastic band, to
sst the engines Next the supply Of steam aled and
when steam was got up 1t found that there not
water enough the boilers and the picking up ceased
altogcthes Then occurred
TIE GREAT MISFORTUNE.
Lunch was Just over Some had left the table; others
were about leaving The scientific gentlemen had very
much checred by their stating that they believed the
fault was only six miles away and so ere dead night
falls we might hope have the fault on board, make
new splice and proceed on way to Hearts Content,
tcix hundr mil
Mr. Canning appeared In the saloon, and In manner
which told all, said at is all over. 1t 10 gone, "
then fastened onward TO his cabin Ere the thrill OF
surprise and pain by those words had
= away Mr. Field from the companion into the sa
loon and sad with composure admirable under the cir
cumstances though his lips quivered and his cheek was
blanched. "The cable has parted and has gone over
board"
All were on deck In o moment, and there indeed a
glance revealed the truth.
- HOW 1T OCCURRED.
- ,deavor now TO explain to you how the fata
..,a.rs ,c ved say fatal for although as write W
drf,,pe down pon the spot In the hope Of settin
mold Of the cable wi,s srapnels scarcely venture
.lhope the assemp. will bfSrowned with success
Let the reader turn his sce towards window, imagn
ing that no s standing The bows OF the Great Eastern
and then q course on his right will be the sarboard
IN bIa Isft nc pot sde Of the ship. When tho cabl
was hauled ass1nd the left hand side and passed owe
che four wheels, Il was carried over drum which W
must suppose 10 be behind the spectators and coed VI
A fast as was delivered from the picking up apparatus
INIT when the engines failed 10 work this apparatus
course the cable remained motonless and a. tho shi
was drfsd by the wind from right 10 left aud slight
forward s last the cable close up TO the bow an
upder the forcfoot Of the ship There at the bows
abe crea. Eastern large hawser holes the Iron rims
which project for than foot beyond the line
che ssem. Against one Of them the cable caught 0
che lief. hand side, while the ship kept moving to th
lsf, aud thus chafcd and strained the cable great
seans. the bow The Grea. Eastern could not go aser
lest the cable should be snapped, and without motto
someway there Is no power Of steerage Al This critic
nomont, Soo the wind shifted go as 70 render IL mo