The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1865-09-07
HOW II OCCURRED.

! uOW II UCChltfhDs
I will endeavor now to explain to you
how the fatal accident occurred | say ia
! tai, for although as / write we are drifting
down upon the spot in the hope Of getting
hold Of the cable with grapneIs, | scarcely
venture to hope the attempt viii be crowned
with success. Let the reader turn his face
towards a window, imagining that he is
standing on the bows OF the Great Eastern
and then Of course on his right will be the
starboard and on his left the port side of
! the ship. When the cable was hauled
around on the left hand side and passed
/ over the four Wheels it was carried over a
drum which we must suppose to be behind
-, the spectators, and coiled up as fast as il
was delivered from the picking up aDpara-
| tus, of course the cable remained motioniess
and as the ship was drifted by the wind
from rig to left and slightly forward, at
last the cable came close up to the bow and
under the forefoot Of the ship There are
at the bows Of the Great Eastern, two large
| hawser holes, the iron rims of which project
Tor more than foot beyond the line OF the
I stem. Against one Of them the cable
caught on the left hand side, while the ship
/ kept moving TO the left, and thus chafed
aud strained the cable greatly against the
Ipow. The Great Eastern could not go
Eastern lest the cable should be snapped, and
without motion some way there is no power
/ of Storage. 1t this critical moment toe
the wind shifted TO render it more difficult
/ to keep the head e the ship to the cable
which then chafed so much that in two pla-
ces damage was done to it. \ shackle
chain and wire rope belonging to one of
the cable buoys were passed over the cable
and secured it tight below the hawser holes
These We're hauled so as TO bring the cable
to tile right side of the boat, the ship drift
ing TO the left. 1t was necessary to do this
instead of veering away, as we were near
/ The end cfthe cot Of the cable in the boat
/ There is a large iron wheel with deep
grove. and the circumference technically
q ''F'' wheel from the groove by the side Of
which is a ''Remitar,' Or smaller wheel on
| the same ''axis." The cable and the wire
rope together were coming in over the bows
and the groove in the larger wheel, the cable
wound upon a drum behind by the ma
| chinery which was once more in motion,
and the wire ropes being taken in laroun d
the capstau, by bars, but the rope and cable
were not coming up il a right line, but
were being hauled III with great strain on
| them at an angle from the right side, so
that they did not work directly in me 'V''
in the wheel Still the strain was shown
on the indicator to be very high, but not
near breaking strain At last up came
tue cable and wire rope Stacking together
on the ''V'' wheel in the boat. They were
wound round it slowly, wire passing over
these wheels, together, the first damaged
part being on board, when jar was given
to the dynamometer, which flew up from
sixty hundred weight, the highest point
marked, with sudden jerk, three and a
half inches In the chain shackle and wire
rope chamber, as it were, up out OF the
groove Oh the right hand of the ''V' of the
wheel, got on the stop Of the rim of the
''V" wheel, and rushed down with crash
on the small wheel, giving, no doubt, Sc
we're shake to the cable, to which it was
attached. The mach ne was still in motion,
and the rones travelled aft together, one to-
ward the capstan and the other toward the
drum, where, just as the cable reached the
! dyamometer, it parted, and with one bound
leaped, as it were, over few feet of inter
vening space, and spIashed into the sea.
It is not possible for any words to por-
tray the dismay with which the sight was
W messed and the news heard. When a
mAn came aft with peace of the inner end
dashed still to the cabin, and saw the tor
tured strands, torn wires and lacerated core,
it is no exaggeration to say that strange
feelings of pity, as though some human
creature had been mufilated and dragged
asunder by brutal force passed through the
heGgts of the spectators Captain Moriarty
was lust coming to the foot of the cOn1nau-
ion to put up the daily statement Of the
ships position, having had excellent obser-
vations, when the news came. Il feel, "
said he, 1--WE will rot feel much interested
now III knowing how far we are from
Hearts Content" However, it was some
thing to know, although it was little com
fort, that we run precisely 116 miles since
yesterday, that we were LOOP miles from
Valentia, $50 from Hearts Content, that
we were in 51.25 long 50 SO.