Year: 1866

the former. Anoeher screw steamer, the
Albany, belonging TO the Diamond Steam
Packet Company, has also been engaged to
assist in the enterprise, and the Government
have again granted the services Of ner Ma
jesty's ship Terrible 10 attend on the expedi-
ton. Several improvements to facilitate the
work have been made during the past winter
lfr. Willoughby Smith, the experimenting
electrician, has 50 far improved the testing
apparatus that messages can be transmitted
through the wire with an inch Of the cop
per conductor exposed, whereas last year it
win be remembered that small piece Of the
wire thrust through the cable so much dam
aged the insulation as TO produce very seri-
Gus effects. A house has been taken bv the
company on the banks of the Medway, about
half mile distant from the ship, and the
end Of the cable has been submerged in the
river and taken on shore, and me ssages from
the house to the ship are constantly sent
through the entire length of the cable on
board. Steam power has been applied TO
the paying-out machinery, so that in case q
fault is discovered in the cable after It has
been submerged, the machinery .can be re-
versed and used for the purpose Of winding
the c BILE on board again. A large crinoline





coming into contact with the screw. The
graphing apparatus for hooking the old ca
ble or recovering the present one in case OF
such an accident as marred the expedition
last year, is being manufactured by Messrs.
Penn Sons, marine engineers, of Green
wich, and by the company at their own
works, under the superintendent Of their
chief engineer, Mr.. II. Clifford The break
ing strain Of the graphing gear last year was
about ten tons; this year il will be thirty
tons. 1t is proposed that each Of the three
ships shall be fitted with this apparatus, and
that as soon as one Of the ships shall grapple
the cable, the others shall take up position
of mile or so apart, and BY graphing it in
three different parts so spread out the strain
on the cable as to give greater security both
against the breakage Of the cable and the
gearing. The paddle-wheels have been dis-
connected, 50 that in case Of its being neces-
sary to pick up the cable again, and strong
wind be blowing at the time, the working Of
only one paddle wheel will keep the head Of
the ship well up to the wind. During the
time the ship has been in harbor, Captain
Anderson and the officers on board have in
vented . set Of large ediamond-shapedb brushes,
made partly Of small wires and partly Of
very stiff fbres, such as those used in or
dinary brushes, which, worked by machinery
on deck, will clean the bottom Of the vessel
and remove marine accumulations without
taking her into dock. 1t is not intended
that the Great Eastern should this time re-
ceive the whole of her Goals on board in the
Midway, as it Is feared that the extra weight
Of cable on board, added to her usual COM
Lplement Of Goals, would render it unsafe to
take her out in the draught Of water ut the
ent- lce ofSheerness harbor. 1t has, there
fore, been decided to finish coaiiug at Beer
haven. According to present arrangements
advantage will be taken Of the spring tide
on the 2eth Of June to get the ship out Of
the harbor. In a day or two afterwards she
will start for Beerhaven, and remain there
for about fortnight, when she will again
start to lay the cable.