The testing arrangements had been perfected by Mr. Willoughby Smith in such a way that insulation readings could be continuously observed,{194} even while measuring the copper resistance, or while exchanging signals with Valentia. Thus there was no longer any danger of a fault being paid overboard without instant detection. On this occasion also condensers were applied to the receiving-end of the cable, having the effect of very materially increasing—indeed, sometimes almost doubling—the working speed.
On June 30, 1866, the Great Eastern, steaming from the Thames—followed by the Medway and Albany—arrived at Valentia, where H.M.S. Terrible and Racoon were found, under orders to accompany the expedition. The Medway had on board forty-five miles of deep-sea cable in addition to the American shore end.
The principal members of the staff acting on behalf of the contractors in this expedition were the same as in that of the previous year. Mr. Canning was again in charge, with Mr. Clifford and Mr. Temple as his chief assistants. In the electrical department, however, the Telegraph Construction Company had since secured the services of Mr. Willoughby Smith as their chief electrician, while he still acted in that capacity at the Wharf Road Gutta-Percha Works. Mr. Smith, therefore, accompanied the expedition as chief electrician to the contractors. Captain James Anderson and Staff-Commander H. A. Moriarty, R.N., were once more to be seen on board the great ship, the former as her captain, and the latter as navigating officer. Professor Thomson was aboard as consulting electrical adviser to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, while Mr. C. F. Varley was ashore at Valentia as their electrician. Sir Charles Bright (then M.P. for{195} Greenwich) was at this period serving on various committees of the House of Commons;[63] but his partner, Mr. Latimer Clark, took up quarters at Valentia to personally represent the firm as consulting engineers to the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. Mr. J. C. Laws and Mr. Richard Collett[64] being respectively aboard and ashore at the Newfoundland end in the same interests. Mr. Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph Construction Company, was ashore at Valentia for the purpose of giving any instructions to his (the contractor’s) staff on board, while Mr. Gooch and Mr. Field were aboard the Great Eastern as onlookers and watchers of their individual interests.
Cable-Laying again.—On July 7th the William Cory—commonly known as the Dirty Billy—landed the shore end in Foilhommerum Bay, and afterward laid twenty-seven miles of the intermediate cable. On the 13th, the Great Eastern took the end on board, and having spliced on to her cable on board, started paying out. The track followed was parallel to that taken the year before, but about twenty-seven miles farther north. There were two instances of fouls in the tank, due to broken wires catching neighboring turns and flakes, and thus drawing up a whole bundle of cable in an apparently inextricable mass of kinks and twists quite close to the brake-drum. In{196} each case the ship was promptly got to a standstill and all hands set to unraveling the tangle. With a certain amount of luck, coupled with much care, neither accident ended fatally; and, after straightening out the wire as far as possible, paying out was resumed.
