CHAPTER X.
THE SECOND EXPEDITION SUCCESSFUL.
A bold decision needs to be followed by prompt action, lest the spirit that inspired it be weakened by delay. When once it had been fixed that there was to be another attempt to lay the Atlantic cable, no time was lost in carrying the resolve into execution. The telegraphic fleet was lying at Queenstown. The Niagara had arrived on the fifth of July, but the Agamemnon, which, through some misunderstanding, had returned to the rendezvous in mid-ocean, thus crossing the Niagara on her track, did not get in till a week later. However, all were now there, safe and sound, and Mr. Field and Mr. Samuel Gurney went to the Admiralty, and got an order which they telegraphed to the ships to get ready immediately to go to sea. Not an hour was lost. They had barely time to take in coal and other supplies for the voyage. Mr. Field hastened from England, and Prof. Thomson from his home in Scotland, and in five days the squadron was under way, bound once more for the middle of the Atlantic.
It was Saturday, the seventeenth of July, that the ships left on their second expedition. As they sailed out of the Cove of Cork, it was with none of the enthusiasm which attended their departure from Valentia the year before, or even from Plymouth on the tenth of June. Nobody cheered; nobody bade them God-speed. "As the ships left the harbor, there was apparently no notice taken of their departure by those on shore, or in the vessels anchored around them; every one seemed impressed with the conviction that they were engaged in a hopeless enterprise, and the squadron seemed rather to have slunk away on some discreditable mission, than to have sailed for the accomplishment of a grand national scheme." Many even of those on board felt that they were going on a fool's errand; that the Company was possessed by a kind of insanity, of which they would soon be cured by another bitter experience.
On leaving this second time, it was agreed that the squadron should not try to keep together, but each ship make its way to the given latitude and longitude which was the appointed rendezvous in mid-ocean. The Niagara, being the largest, and able to carry the most coal, kept under steam the whole way, and arrived first, and waited several days for the other ships to appear. The Valorous came next, and then the Gorgon, and, last of all, the Agamemnon, which had been saving her coal for the return voyage, and had been delayed for want of a little of that wind which, in the former expedition, she had had in too great abundance. Says the English correspondent on board:
"For several days in succession there was an uninterrupted calm. The moon was just at the full, and for several nights it shone with a brilliancy which turned the sea into one silvery sheet, which brought out the dark hull and white sails of the ship in strong contrast to the sea and sky, as the vessel lay all but motionless on the water, the very impersonation of solitude and repose. Indeed, until the rendezvous was gained, we had such a succession of beautiful sunrises, gorgeous sunsets, and tranquil moonlight nights, as would have excited the most enthusiastic admiration of any one but persons situated as we were. But by us such scenes were regarded only as the annoying indications of the calm, which delayed our progress and wasted our coal. By dint, however, of a judicious expenditure of fuel, and a liberal use of the cheaper motive power of sail, the rendezvous was reached on Wednesday, the twenty-eighth of July, just eleven days after our departure from Queenstown. The rest of the squadron came in sight at nightfall, but at such a distance that it was past ten o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the twenty-ninth, before the Agamemnon joined them.
"The day was beautifully calm, so no time was to be lost before making the splice; boats were soon lowered from the attendant ships, the two vessels made fast by a hawser, and the Niagara's end of the cable conveyed on board the Agamemnon. About half-past twelve o'clock the splice was effectually made. In hoisting it out from the side of the ship the leaden sinker broke short off and fell overboard; and there being no more convenient weight at hand, a thirty-two pound shot was fastened to the splice instead, and the whole apparatus was quickly dropped into the sea without any formality, and indeed almost without a spectator, for those on board the ship had witnessed so many beginnings to the telegraphic line, that it was evident they despaired of there ever being an end to it. The stipulated two hundred and ten fathoms having been paid out, the signal to start was hoisted, the hawser cast loose, and the Niagara and Agamemnon started for the last time for their opposite destinations."
At this moment the ships were nearly in mid-ocean, but not exactly. Mr. Field, who never indulged in poetical descriptions, but always gave the figures, stating the precise latitude and longitude, and from what quarter the wind blew, and how many fathoms deep the ocean was, and how many miles of cable were on board, made the following entry in his journal:
"Thursday, July twenty-ninth, latitude fifty-two degrees nine minutes north, longitude thirty-two degrees twenty-seven minutes west. Telegraph Fleet all in sight; sea smooth; light wind from S.E. to S.S.E.; cloudy. Splice made at one p.m. Signals through the whole length of the cable on board both ships perfect. Depth of water fifteen hundred fathoms; distance to the entrance of Valentia harbor eight hundred and thirteen nautical miles, and from there to the telegraph-house the shore end of the cable is laid. Distance to the entrance of Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, eight hundred and twenty-two nautical miles, and from there to the telegraph-house at the head of the bay of Bull's Arm, sixty miles, making in all eight hundred and eighty-two nautical miles. The Niagara has sixty-nine miles further to run than the Agamemnon. The Niagara and Agamemnon have each eleven hundred nautical miles of cable on board, about the same quantity as last year."
And now, as the ships are fairly apart, and will soon lose sight of each other, we will leave the Agamemnon for the present to pursue her course toward Ireland, while we follow our own Niagara to the shores of the New World. At first of course, while all hoped for success, no one dared to expect it. They said afterwards that "Mr. Field was the only man on board who kept up his courage through it all." But the chances seemed many to one against them; and the warnings were frequent to excite their fears. That very evening, about sunset, all again seemed lost. We quote from Mr. Field's journal: "At forty-five minutes past seven p.m., ship's time, signals from the Agamemnon ceased, and the tests applied by the electricians showed that there was a want of continuity in the cable, but the insulation was perfect. Kept on paying out from the Niagara very slowly, and constantly applying all kinds of electrical tests until ten minutes past nine, ship's time, when again commenced receiving perfect signals from the Agamemnon." At the same moment the English ship had the same relief from anxiety.