The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-08-22


A sad, memorable day in the annals
Of Atlantic telegraph.
Amer midnight the wind arose, ac-
eOmpanied by heavy shOWerA Of rain
and dense drifts Of fOg, and increased
10 4 strong gale 70 the Southwest but
the ship scarcely felt Il, and went on
paying out the cable without hindrAnce
1t q high nate Of upeed--seven knots an
hour. About dhybTeak tho wind sud-
denly shifted TO north northwest, and
fell 70 light bFeCze, and at 4 a. ~. the
course was altered TO northwest by west
halt west, the sea following. Morning
broke In beautiful, and the cable ran
out easily at the rate Of seven miles an
hour.
Al 5:35 u. IN, ships time, the paddles
were stopped, and at 5:45 the Ship was
stopped BY orders from the electricians
room, In fact, ut 8 n, M, Greenwich
time. ora minute after, whilst the cleo
tFIcians were passing the flEst half hour
/ " signals Of currents 10 the shore, the
! galVanizeF suddenly detected dow OF
electricity which Indicated u serious
iAult The test gave no result a. TO To-
caIity, for the fault was very varying {;
| but 4 WnA generally believed 10 be not
fRF from the stern OF the steamship. II
appears that while Mr.. Cyrus Field was
on the watch In the tank, a little before
the time Oflhe accident, q grating noise
was audible rs the cable flow over the
coil aStern. One of the experienced
hands Immediately said, "there Is a
piece Of WIRE" and called 70 the look
oIG IMAM above 70 pass the information
AFT; hut no notice appears to have been
taken Of the circumstance. Amer tho
ship was stopped and the remainder OF
the fake paid out, piece Of wire was
seen projecting out Of the cable In the
flake, underneath that In which the
iAult was suspected to exist, and on one
OF the men taking IL in his fingers and
trying to bind It down, the wire broke
short OIL. II was nearly three inches
long, and had evidently been of hard,
ill-tempered metal, which had flown
out through the threads in the tank.
The discovery was in some measure u
relief to the mems minds that one GER
tninly, and possibly the second Of the
| previous faults, might have been the
result OF accident. II was remarked,
however, that this fRtllt occurred in the
same watch MS all the previous ones
hAd. The iault WINS too serious to be
overlooked, and as there was a ditilCul-
" in detecting It's situation, prepara-
lions were made TO get the picking-up
apparatus ready,
4 Previous TO doing so two cuts were
made in the cable, the first near the old
splice, between the main and the fore
tanks. Cable MI right. The second
cut was three miles on board, which
showed tho tault to be overheard. The
I wire rope and the chain wire were So
cured 10 the cable forward, which
showed q maximum strain of twenty
three Qnd a half hundred weight; and
at O:5 O'clock, Greenwich time, the cable
was severed and went over the stern,
ono thousand one hundred and sixty
six miles having been paid out when
the end splashed into the water.
With less difficulty than usual-in
fhct, with comparative facillty-the
cable was hauled in over the bows.
At eight minutes past 10 o'clock A; NJ,
Greenwich time, Il had been hauled by
the port side OF tho ship, and as the
wind stood, she drifted over the course
of the cable, but came up readily. The
strnin OH 1t, according 10 the indicator,
being from fifty to iifty.flve hundred
weight, although the latter figure rep
resented tho maximum, only reached
on one occasion. We were, however,
nearly In two thousand fathOms of VIM
tier, but II was considered u favorable
circumstance that we Ind not got in n
iBw miles further, rs we should then
have beOn In the Atlantic plateau. AS
far as could be RscOrtIined the ship WIS
now over a gentle elevation, on the top
Of which there was only one thousand
nine hundred and fifty iatlloms Of
water.
The picking up was as usual, exceed
ingly tedious, and one hour and forty
six minutes elapsed before one mile
was got on board. Then one OF the en-
glno's eccentric gear got out Of order,
so TINT n man had to stand by with u
haEdspike, aided by wedge of wood
and elastic band, to assist the engines.
Next the supply Of steam failed, and
when steam WIS got up 1t was found
! that there was not water enough in the
boilers, and so the picking up ceased
altogether. Then occurred the great
misfortune.
Lunch was Just over. Some had len
tho table, others were about leaving.
The scientific gentleman Ind worry much
chcered us by their stating that they
believed tho fault WINS only six miles
away, and so ere dead night falls we
might hope to have the fault on board,
make now splice, and proceed on our
way 10 Hearts Content, geographically
about COO miles away. Suddenly Mr..
Canning appeared in the saloon, and In
a manner which told all, said, att Is
all over. It Is gone,p then hRstened
onward TO the cabin. Ere the thrill of
surprise and pain ocCasioncd by those
words had passed away, Mr.. Field came
from the companion into the saloon and
said, with eomposure admirable under
the circumstances, though his lips Quiv-
cred and his check was blnnched, 6The
cable has parted and has gone over.
board" All were on deck in a mo-
msnt, aud there indeed a glance reveal.
cd the truth.
win endeavor now 10 explain to you
how the fltnl accident occurred. / say
fatal, for although as II write we are
drifting down upon thespot 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 turn his face toward
q window, imagining that he Is stand
ing on the bows oftRe Great Eastern,
and then, OF course, on his right will be
the starboard, and on his lGit the port
side Of the ship. When the cable was
hauled aroundo ON the left hand side and
passed over the four wheels, It WINS car.
fied over a drum, which we must sup
pose to DO behind the spectators, and
cOiled uIpNs ihst as Il was delived from
tho niAltinR.uO nOOAfHfUl, lint VyhNn