"it is believed that such ships, when not engaged
in laying cables, would be found useful for the
ordinary purposes of commerce."

Supposing the ship ready, the cable is coiled
in the hold with as much regularity as possible,
each layer kept in its place under the old
arrangements, by lashings of hemp, and sometimes
by palings of wood. Relays of hands must be
ready, while the ship is going at full speed, to
hand out the coils with great rapidity, and yet
with great regularity, to prevent their being
thrown into the brake more speedily than
required, while the lashings and palings must
not be removed before the cable is wanted. But
an arrangement, patented by Messrs. Newall,
renders this part of the work much more simple
and easy. It consists of a cone in the centre of
a circular hold, round which the cable is coiled.
Rings suspended round this cone guide the leading
part of the rope up to the deck, from whence it
finds its way to the brake over the stern. Under
this arrangement few hands are required in the
hold, and the rope sweeps regularly and smoothly
round, so that all danger of fouling is removed.
It next passes through the brake, and requires
most delicate handling to ensure the proper
strain. If sufficient pressure be not put on the
brake, the cable runs out, from its own weight,
with greater speed than the ship, and there is
not only a waste of slack cable, but it is liable to
get into "kinks." Personal skill on the part of
the crew and engineer is of the utmost
importance in doing this part of the work—of more
importance than any mechanical arrangements,
however theoretically perfect. Of course the
greatest difficulties occur in deep waters.
During this time it is to be hoped that not only
has a correct calculation been made of the length
of rope required, allowing for the inevitable
slack in great depths, but that a straight course
has been steered, and that can only be
maintained by very exact precautions.

The earliest cables were laid under the directions
of engineers who had had some experience
in nautical matters, and who therefore adopted
the precautions for securing a straight course
that would occur to a seaman, whilst, at a
more recent date, cables were laid with about
as much care as a schoolboy employs to fly a
kite.

In the first cable between England and Holland,
though the operation was performed during
a gale of wind and in a rapid tideway, only three
and a half per cent. of length beyond that
required for the direct measured distance was laid.
The actual distance across was 114½ miles; the
length of the cable laid was 119 miles. The
tide being transverse to the course, first on
one side and then on the other, the following
was the plan adopted: Two tugs were employed
always ahead of the vessel containing the cable.
A straight course was made by these tugs
alternately. As it was in shallow seas, buoys were
placed, to make for alternately during the day;
at night, Bengal lights were exhibited from the
tugs. Thus, the whole distance was, as it were,
"ranged" beforehand. The smallness of the
per-centage of waste must be attributed to these
precautions. "A vessel to show the way is
essential, because the compasses of the conveying
vessel must be affected by the varying quantity
of iron cable as it is veered over the stern."

But, should the wire be unbroken when it
reaches the ship's hold—should it not "kink"
or twist preparatory to snapping—should it, in
short, be duly laid, other unobserved defects may
destroy its use weeks or months after it has been
set to work. Among the most fatal things that
can happen to a submarine cable are "faults" by
which "conducting communicators" are
established between the copper wire and the
surrounding water. An almost imperceptible
fissure is sufficient to effect this. It may arise
from air holes in the process of manufacturing
gutta-percha, or from the wire not being in the
centre of the insulating material, and thus a
slight abrasion may cause it to protrude. A
wire properly centred may be displaced in
consequence of the softening of the insulating
material when exposed to high temperature.
The presence of any of the foreign bodies which
are found in unpurified gutta-percha and india-
rubber is a certain cause of defective insulation.
Nevertheless, the Blue-book committee report
that very efficient tests have been devised to
ascertain the existence of faults in a covered
wire during or after the process of manufacture,
"and we do not doubt that a cable may be
delivered by a manufacturer entirely exempt from
faults."

But, although the perfect cable has been laid
at the bottom of the sea, it has still to undergo
the dangers of the deep. It may be cut through
by ships' anchors or dredges; it may be cut by
the friction of a current across sharp rocks; it
may be corroded by some mysterious action; in
a word, from some cause or other it may be
spoiled or broken.

It then becomes necessary to lift it and
repair it if it lies within liftable distance. To
this operation we must again turn to the
evidence of the one witness who combined nautical
training with electrical engineering experience,
ranging over not one great submarine but a
series of cables, from the earliest to the latest.
The repair of the Cagliari and Malta cable in
1859 is a good example of what has been done,
and can be done, in this department of
submarine engineering.

Mr. Webb (we quote from the Blue-book)
made his electrical tests at Malta, calculated
that the fault was a hundred and eighty-eight
nautical miles from that island, and wrote to
the directors of the Company to that effect. He
then went out in the Elba steamer, grappled up
the cable off the coast of Sicily, cut it, and
buoyed the end leading to Malta, and then
began picking up towards the fault. When
twenty miles of cable were got in, it parted at
the bottom, there being evidently some heavy
weight there. This was in a hundred and sixty
fathoms of water. After two more partings of
cable and three weeks' work, the cable was
spliced and completely repaired, and the fault was