'We are silent and shy of one another, and soon go out to watch
while turbaned, blue-breeched, barelegged Arabs dig holes for the
land telegraph posts on the following principle: one man takes a
pick and bangs lazily at the hard earth; when a little is loosened,
his mate with a small spade lifts it on one side; and DA CAPO.
They have regular features and look quite in place among the palms.
Our English workmen screw the earthenware insulators on the posts,
strain the wire, and order Arabs about by the generic term of
Johnny. I find W- has nothing for me to do; and that in fact no
one has anything to do. Some instruments for testing have stuck at
Lyons, some at Cagliari; and nothing can be done - or at any rate,
is done. I wander about, thinking of you and staring at big, green
grasshoppers - locusts, some people call them - and smelling the
rich brushwood. There was nothing for a pencil to sketch, and I
soon got tired of this work, though I have paid willingly much
money for far less strange and lovely sights.
'Off Cape Spartivento: June 8.
'At two this morning, we left Cagliari; at five cast anchor here.
I got up and began preparing for the final trial; and shortly
afterwards everyone else of note on board went ashore to make
experiments on the state of the cable, leaving me with the prospect
of beginning to lift at 12 o'clock. I was not ready by that time;
but the experiments were not concluded and moreover the cable was
found to be imbedded some four or five feet in sand, so that the
boat could not bring off the end. At three, Messrs. Liddell, &c.,
came on board in good spirits, having found two wires good or in
such a state as permitted messages to be transmitted freely. The
boat now went to grapple for the cable some way from shore while
the ELBA towed a small lateen craft which was to take back the
consul to Cagliari some distance on its way. On our return we
found the boat had been unsuccessful; she was allowed to drop
astern, while we grappled for the cable in the ELBA [without more
success]. The coast is a low mountain range covered with brushwood
or heather - pools of water and a sandy beach at their feet. I
have not yet been ashore, my hands having been very full all day.
'June 9.
'Grappling for the cable outside the bank had been voted too
uncertain; [and the day was spent in] efforts to pull the cable off
through the sand which has accumulated over it. By getting the
cable tight on to the boat, and letting the swell pitch her about
till it got slack, and then tightening again with blocks and
pulleys, we managed to get out from the beach towards the ship at
the rate of about twenty yards an hour. When they had got about
100 yards from shore, we ran round in the ELBA to try and help
them, letting go the anchor in the shallowest possible water, this
was about sunset. Suddenly someone calls out he sees the cable at
the bottom: there it was sure enough, apparently wriggling about
as the waves rippled. Great excitement; still greater when we find
our own anchor is foul of it and has been the means of bringing it
to light. We let go a grapnel, get the cable clear of the anchor
on to the grapnel - the captain in an agony lest we should drift
ashore meanwhile - hand the grappling line into the big boat, steam
out far enough, and anchor again. A little more work and one end
of the cable is up over the bows round my drum. I go to my engine
and we start hauling in. All goes pretty well, but it is quite
dark. Lamps are got at last, and men arranged. We go on for a
quarter of a mile or so from shore and then stop at about half-past
nine with orders to be up at three. Grand work at last! A number
of the SATURDAY REVIEW here; it reads so hot and feverish, so
tomblike and unhealthy, in the midst of dear Nature's hills and
sea, with good wholesome work to do. Pray that all go well to-
morrow.
'June 10.
'Thank heaven for a most fortunate day. At three o'clock this
morning in a damp, chill mist all hands were roused to work. With
a small delay, for one or two improvements I had seen to be
necessary last night, the engine started and since that time I do
not think there has been half an hour's stoppage. A rope to
splice, a block to change, a wheel to oil, an old rusted anchor to
disengage from the cable which brought it up, these have been our
only obstructions. Sixty, seventy, eighty, a hundred, a hundred
and twenty revolutions at last, my little engine tears away. The
even black rope comes straight out of the blue heaving water:
passes slowly round an open-hearted, good-tempered looking pulley,
five feet diameter; aft past a vicious nipper, to bring all up
should anything go wrong; through a gentle guide; on to a huge
bluff drum, who wraps him round his body and says "Come you must,"
as plain as drum can speak: the chattering pauls say "I've got
him, I've got him, he can't get back:" whilst black cable, much
slacker and easier in mind and body, is taken by a slim V-pulley
and passed down into the huge hold, where half a dozen men put him
comfortably to bed after his exertion in rising from his long bath.
In good sooth, it is one of the strangest sights I know to see that
black fellow rising up so steadily in the midst of the blue sea.
We are more than half way to the place where we expect the fault;
and already the one wire, supposed previously to be quite bad near
the African coast, can be spoken through. I am very glad I am
here, for my machines are my own children and I look on their
little failings with a parent's eye and lead them into the path of
duty with gentleness and firmness. I am naturally in good spirits,
but keep very quiet, for misfortunes may arise at any instant;
moreover to-morrow my paying-out apparatus will be wanted should
all go well, and that will be another nervous operation. Fifteen
miles are safely in; but no one knows better than I do that nothing
is done till all is done.
'June 11.
'9 A.M. - We have reached the splice supposed to be faulty, and no
fault has been found. The two men learned in electricity, L- and
W-, squabble where the fault is.
'EVENING. - A weary day in a hot broiling sun; no air. After the
experiments, L- said the fault might be ten miles ahead: by that
time, we should be according to a chart in about a thousand fathoms
of water - rather more than a mile. It was most difficult to
decide whether to go on or not. I made preparations for a heavy
pull, set small things to rights and went to sleep. About four in
the afternoon, Mr. Liddell decided to proceed, and we are now (at
seven) grinding it in at the rate of a mile and three-quarters per
hour, which appears a grand speed to us. If the paying-out only
works well! I have just thought of a great improvement in it; I
can't apply it this time, however. - The sea is of an oily calm,
and a perfect fleet of brigs and ships surrounds us, their sails
hardly filling in the lazy breeze. The sun sets behind the dim
coast of the Isola San Pietro, the coast of Sardinia high and
rugged becomes softer and softer in the distance, while to the
westward still the isolated rock of Toro springs from the horizon.
- It would amuse you to see how cool (in head) and jolly everybody
is. A testy word now and then shows the wires are strained a
little, but everyone laughs and makes his little jokes as if it
were all in fun: yet we are all as much in earnest as the most
earnest of the earnest bastard German school or demonstrative of
Frenchmen. I enjoy it very much.
'June 12.
'5.30 A.M. - Out of sight of land: about thirty nautical miles in
the hold; the wind rising a little; experiments being made for a
fault, while the engine slowly revolves to keep us hanging at the
same spot: depth supposed about a mile. The machinery has behaved
admirably. Oh! that the paying-out were over! The new machinery
there is but rough, meant for an experiment in shallow water, and
here we are in a mile of water.
'6.30. - I have made my calculations and find the new paying-out
gear cannot possibly answer at this depth, some portion would give
way. Luckily, I have brought the old things with me and am getting
them rigged up as fast as may be. Bad news from the cable. Number
four has given in some portion of the last ten miles: the fault in
number three is still at the bottom of the sea: number two is now
the only good wire and the hold is getting in such a mess, through
keeping bad bits out and cutting for splicing and testing, that
there will be great risk in paying out. The cable is somewhat
strained in its ascent from one mile below us; what it will be when
we get to two miles is a problem we may have to determine.
'9 P.M. - A most provoking unsatisfactory day. We have done
nothing. The wind and sea have both risen. Too little notice has
been given to the telegraphists who accompany this expedition; they
had to leave all their instruments at Lyons in order to arrive at
Bona in time; our tests are therefore of the roughest, and no one
really knows where the faults are. Mr. L- in the morning lost much
time; then he told us, after we had been inactive for about eight
hours, that the fault in number three was within six miles; and at
six o'clock in the evening, when all was ready for a start to pick
up these six miles, he comes and says there must be a fault about
thirty miles from Bona! By this time it was too late to begin
paying out today, and we must lie here moored in a thousand fathoms
till light to-morrow morning. The ship pitches a good deal, but
the wind is going down.
'June 13, Sunday.
'The wind has not gone down, however. It now (at 10.30) blows a
pretty stiff gale, the sea has also risen; and the ELBA'S bows rise
and fall about 9 feet. We make twelve pitches to the minute, and
the poor cable must feel very sea-sick by this time. We are quite
unable to do anything, and continue riding at anchor in one
thousand fathoms, the engines going constantly so as to keep the
ship's bows up to the cable, which by this means hangs nearly
vertical and sustains no strain but that caused by its own weight
and the pitching of the vessel. We were all up at four, but the
weather entirely forbade work for to-day, so some went to bed and
most lay down, making up our leeway as we nautically term our loss
of sleep. I must say Liddell is a fine fellow and keeps his
patience and temper wonderfully; and yet how he does fret and fume
about trifles at home! This wind has blown now for 36 hours, and
yet we have telegrams from Bona to say the sea there is as calm as
a mirror. It makes one laugh to remember one is still tied to the
shore. Click, click, click, the pecker is at work: I wonder what
Herr P- says to Herr L-, - tests, tests, tests, nothing more. This
will be a very anxious day.
'June 14.
'Another day of fatal inaction.
'June 15.
'9.30. - The wind has gone down a deal; but even now there are
doubts whether we shall start to-day. When shall I get back to
you?
'9 P.M. - Four miles from land. Our run has been successful and
eventless. Now the work is nearly over I feel a little out of
spirits - why, I should be puzzled to say - mere wantonness, or
reaction perhaps after suspense.
'June 16.
'Up this morning at three, coupled my self-acting gear to the brake
and had the satisfaction of seeing it pay out the last four miles
in very good style. With one or two little improvements, I hope to
make it a capital thing. The end has just gone ashore in two
boats, three out of four wires good. Thus ends our first
expedition. By some odd chance a TIMES of June the 7th has found
its way on board through the agency of a wretched old peasant who
watches the end of the line here. A long account of breakages in
the Atlantic trial trip. To-night we grapple for the heavy cable,
eight tons to the mile. I long to have a tug at him; he may puzzle
me, and though misfortunes or rather difficulties are a bore at the
time, life when working with cables is tame without them.
'2 P.M. - Hurrah, he is hooked, the big fellow, almost at the first
cast. He hangs under our bows looking so huge and imposing that I
could find it in my heart to be afraid of him.
'June 17.
'We went to a little bay called Chia, where a fresh-water stream
falls into the sea, and took in water. This is rather a long
operation, so I went a walk up the valley with Mr. Liddell. The
coast here consists of rocky mountains 800 to 1,000 feet high
covered with shrubs of a brilliant green. On landing our first
amusement was watching the hundreds of large fish who lazily swam
in shoals about the river; the big canes on the further side hold
numberless tortoises, we are told, but see none, for just now they
prefer taking a siesta. A little further on, and what is this with
large pink flowers in such abundance? - the oleander in full
flower. At first I fear to pluck them, thinking they must be
cultivated and valuable; but soon the banks show a long line of
thick tall shrubs, one mass of glorious pink and green. Set these
in a little valley, framed by mountains whose rocks gleam out blue
and purple colours such as pre-Raphaelites only dare attempt,
shining out hard and weird-like amongst the clumps of castor-oil
plants, oistus, arbor vitae and many other evergreens, whose names,
alas! I know not; the cistus is brown now, the rest all deep or
brilliant green. Large herds of cattle browse on the baked deposit
at the foot of these large crags. One or two half-savage herdsmen
in sheepskin kilts, &c., ask for cigars; partridges whirr up on
either side of us; pigeons coo and nightingales sing amongst the
blooming oleander. We get six sheep and many fowls, too, from the
priest of the small village; and then run back to Spartivento and
make preparations for the morning.
'June 18.
'The big cable is stubborn and will not behave like his smaller
brother. The gear employed to take him off the drum is not strong
enough; he gets slack on the drum and plays the mischief. Luckily
for my own conscience, the gear I had wanted was negatived by Mr.
Newall. Mr. Liddell does not exactly blame me, but he says we
might have had a silver pulley cheaper than the cost of this delay.
He has telegraphed for more men to Cagliari, to try to pull the
cable off the drum into the hold, by hand. I look as comfortable
as I can, but feel as if people were blaming me. I am trying my
best to get something rigged which may help us; I wanted a little
difficulty, and feel much better. - The short length we have picked
up was covered at places with beautiful sprays of coral, twisted
and twined with shells of those small, fairy animals we saw in the
aquarium at home; poor little things, they died at once, with their
little bells and delicate bright tints.
'12 O'CLOCK. - Hurrah, victory! for the present anyhow. Whilst in
our first dejection, I thought I saw a place where a flat roller
would remedy the whole misfortune; but a flat roller at Cape
Spartivento, hard, easily unshipped, running freely! There was a
grooved pulley used for the paying-out machinery with a spindle
wheel, which might suit me. I filled him up with tarry spunyarn,
nailed sheet copper round him, bent some parts in the fire; and we
are paying-in without more trouble now. You would think some one
would praise me; no, no more praise than blame before; perhaps now
they think better of me, though.
'10 P.M. - We have gone on very comfortably for nearly six miles.
An hour and a half was spent washing down; for along with many
coloured polypi, from corals, shells and insects, the big cable
brings up much mud and rust, and makes a fishy smell by no means
pleasant: the bottom seems to teem with life. - But now we are
startled by a most unpleasant, grinding noise; which appeared at
first to come from the large low pulley, but when the engines
stopped, the noise continued; and we now imagine it is something
slipping down the cable, and the pulley but acts as sounding-board
to the big fiddle. Whether it is only an anchor or one of the two
other cables, we know not. We hope it is not the cable just laid
down.
'June 19.
'10 A.M. - All our alarm groundless, it would appear: the odd
noise ceased after a time, and there was no mark sufficiently
strong on the large cable to warrant the suspicion that we had cut
another line through. I stopped up on the look-out till three in
the morning, which made 23 hours between sleep and sleep. One goes
dozing about, though, most of the day, for it is only when
something goes wrong that one has to look alive. Hour after hour,
I stand on the forecastle-head, picking off little specimens of
polypi and coral, or lie on the saloon deck reading back numbers of
the TIMES - till something hitches, and then all is hurly-burly
once more. There are awnings all along the ship, and a most
ancient, fish-like smell beneath.
'1 O'CLOCK. - Suddenly a great strain in only 95 fathoms of water -
belts surging and general dismay; grapnels being thrown out in the
hope of finding what holds the cable. - Should it prove the young
cable! We are apparently crossing its path - not the working one,
but the lost child; Mr. Liddell WOULD start the big one first
though it was laid first: he wanted to see the job done, and meant
to leave us to the small one unaided by his presence.
'3.30. - Grapnel caught something, lost it again; it left its marks
on the prongs. Started lifting gear again; and after hauling in
some 50 fathoms - grunt, grunt, grunt - we hear the other cable
slipping down our big one, playing the selfsame tune we heard last
night - louder, however.
'10 P.M. - The pull on the deck engines became harder and harder.
I got steam up in a boiler on deck, and another little engine
starts hauling at the grapnel. I wonder if there ever was such a
scene of confusion: Mr. Liddell and W- and the captain all giving
orders contradictory, &c., on the forecastle; D-, the foreman of
our men, the mates, &c., following the example of our superiors;
the ship's engine and boilers below, a 50-horse engine on deck, a
boiler 14 feet long on deck beside it, a little steam winch tearing
round; a dozen Italians (20 have come to relieve our hands, the men
we telegraphed for to Cagliari) hauling at the rope; wiremen,
sailors, in the crevices left by ropes and machinery; everything
that could swear swearing - I found myself swearing like a trooper
at last. We got the unknown difficulty within ten fathoms of the
surface; but then the forecastle got frightened that, if it was the
small cable which we had got hold of, we should certainly break it
by continuing the tremendous and increasing strain. So at last Mr.
Liddell decided to stop; cut the big cable, buoying its end; go
back to our pleasant watering-place at Chia, take more water and
start lifting the small cable. The end of the large one has even
now regained its sandy bed; and three buoys - one to grapnel foul
of the supposed small cable, two to the big cable - are dipping
about on the surface. One more - a flag-buoy - will soon follow,
and then straight for shore.
'June 20.
'It is an ill-wind, &c. I have an unexpected opportunity of
forwarding this engineering letter; for the craft which brought out
our Italian sailors must return to Cagliari to-night, as the little
cable will take us nearly to Galita, and the Italian skipper could
hardly find his way from thence. To-day - Sunday - not much rest.
Mr. Liddell is at Spartivento telegraphing. We are at Chia, and
shall shortly go to help our boat's crew in getting the small cable
on board. We dropped them some time since in order that they might
dig it out of the sand as far as possible.
'June 21.
'Yesterday - Sunday as it was - all hands were kept at work all
day, coaling, watering, and making a futile attempt to pull the
cable from the shore on board through the sand. This attempt was
rather silly after the experience we had gained at Cape
Spartivento. This morning we grappled, hooked the cable at once,
and have made an excellent start. Though I have called this the
small cable, it is much larger than the Bona one. - Here comes a
break down and a bad one.
'June 22.
'We got over it, however; but it is a warning to me that my future
difficulties will arise from parts wearing out. Yesterday the
cable was often a lovely sight, coming out of the water one large
incrustation of delicate, net-like corals and long, white curling
shells. No portion of the dirty black wires was visible; instead
we had a garland of soft pink with little scarlet sprays and white
enamel intermixed. All was fragile, however, and could hardly be
secured in safety; and inexorable iron crushed the tender leaves to
atoms. - This morning at the end of my watch, about 4 o'clock, we
came to the buoys, proving our anticipations right concerning the
crossing of the cables. I went to bed for four hours, and on
getting up, found a sad mess. A tangle of the six-wire cable hung
to the grapnel which had been left buoyed, and the small cable had
parted and is lost for the present. Our hauling of the other day
must have done the mischief.
'June 23.
'We contrived to get the two ends of the large cable and to pick
the short end up. The long end, leading us seaward, was next put
round the drum and a mile of it picked up; but then, fearing
another tangle, the end was cut and buoyed, and we returned to
grapple for the three-wire cable. All this is very tiresome for
me. The buoying and dredging are managed entirely by W-, who has
had much experience in this sort of thing; so I have not enough to
do and get very homesick. At noon the wind freshened and the sea
rose so high that we had to run for land and are once more this
evening anchored at Chia.
'June 24.
'The whole day spent in dredging without success. This operation
consists in allowing the ship to drift slowly across the line where
you expect the cable to be, while at the end of a long rope, fast
either to the bow or stern, a grapnel drags along the ground. This
grapnel is a small anchor, made like four pot-hooks tied back to
back. When the rope gets taut, the ship is stopped and the grapnel
hauled up to the surface in the hopes of finding the cable on its
prongs. - I am much discontented with myself for idly lounging
about and reading WESTWARD HO! for the second time, instead of
taking to electricity or picking up nautical information. I am
uncommonly idle. The sea is not quite so rough, but the weather is
squally and the rain comes in frequent gusts.
'June 25.
'To-day about 1 o'clock we hooked the three-wire cable, buoyed the
long sea end, and picked up the short [or shore] end. Now it is
dark and we must wait for morning before lifting the buoy we
lowered to-day and proceeding seawards. - The depth of water here
is about 600 feet, the height of a respectable English hill; our
fishing line was about a quarter of a mile long. It blows pretty
fresh, and there is a great deal of sea.
'26th.
'This morning it came on to blow so heavily that it was impossible
to take up our buoy. The ELBA recommenced rolling in true Baltic
style and towards noon we ran for land.
'27th, Sunday.
'This morning was a beautiful calm. We reached the buoys at about
4.30 and commenced picking up at 6.30. Shortly a new cause of
anxiety arose. Kinks came up in great quantities, about thirty in
the hour. To have a true conception of a kink, you must see one:
it is a loop drawn tight, all the wires get twisted and the gutta-
percha inside pushed out. These much diminish the value of the
cable, as they must all be cut out, the gutta-percha made good, and
the cable spliced. They arise from the cable having been badly
laid down so that it forms folds and tails at the bottom of the
sea. These kinks have another disadvantage: they weaken the cable
very much. - At about six o'clock [P.M.] we had some twelve miles
lifted, when I went to the bows; the kinks were exceedingly tight
and were giving way in a most alarming manner. I got a cage rigged
up to prevent the end (if it broke) from hurting anyone, and sat
down on the bowsprit, thinking I should describe kinks to Annie:-
suddenly I saw a great many coils and kinks altogether at the
surface. I jumped to the gutta-percha pipe, by blowing through
which the signal is given to stop the engine. I blow, but the
engine does not stop; again - no answer: the coils and kinks jam
in the bows and I rush aft shouting stop. Too late: the cable had
parted and must lie in peace at the bottom. Someone had pulled the
gutta-percha tube across a bare part of the steam pipe and melted
it. It had been used hundreds of times in the last few days and
gave no symptoms of failing. I believe the cable must have gone at
any rate; however, since it went in my watch and since I might have
secured the tubing more strongly, I feel rather sad. . . .
'June 28.
'Since I could not go to Annie I took down Shakespeare, and by the
time I had finished ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA, read the second half of
TROILUS and got some way in CORIOLANUS, I felt it was childish to
regret the accident had happened in my watch, and moreover I felt
myself not much to blame in the tubing matter - it had been torn
down, it had not fallen down; so I went to bed, and slept without
fretting, and woke this morning in the same good mood - for which
thank you and our friend Shakespeare. I am happy to say Mr.
Liddell said the loss of the cable did not much matter; though this
would have been no consolation had I felt myself to blame. - This
morning we have grappled for and found another length of small
cable which Mr. - dropped in 100 fathoms of water. If this also
gets full of kinks, we shall probably have to cut it after 10 miles
or so, or more probably still it will part of its own free will or
weight.
'10 P.M. - This second length of three-wire cable soon got into the
same condition as its fellow - i.e. came up twenty kinks an hour -
and after seven miles were in, parted on the pulley over the bows
at one of the said kinks; during my watch again, but this time no
earthly power could have saved it. I had taken all manner of
precautions to prevent the end doing any damage when the smash
came, for come I knew it must. We now return to the six-wire
cable. As I sat watching the cable to-night, large phosphorescent
globes kept rolling from it and fading in the black water.
'29th.
'To-day we returned to the buoy we had left at the end of the six-
wire cable, and after much trouble from a series of tangles, got a
fair start at noon. You will easily believe a tangle of iron rope
inch and a half diameter is not easy to unravel, especially with a
ton or so hanging to the ends. It is now eight o'clock and we have
about six and a half miles safe: it becomes very exciting,
however, for the kinks are coming fast and furious.
'July 2.
'Twenty-eight miles safe in the hold. The ship is now so deep,
that the men are to be turned out of their aft hold, and the
remainder coiled there; so the good ELBA'S nose need not burrow too
far into the waves. There can only be about 10 or 12 miles more,
but these weigh 80 or 100 tons.
'July 5.
'Our first mate was much hurt in securing a buoy on the evening of
the 2nd. As interpreter [with the Italians] I am useful in all
these cases; but for no fortune would I be a doctor to witness
these scenes continually. Pain is a terrible thing. - Our work is
done: the whole of the six-wire cable has been recovered; only a
small part of the three-wire, but that wire was bad and, owing to
its twisted state, the value small. We may therefore be said to
have been very successful.'
II.
I have given this cruise nearly in full. From the notes, unhappily
imperfect, of two others, I will take only specimens; for in all
there are features of similarity and it is possible to have too
much even of submarine telegraphy and the romance of engineering.
And first from the cruise of 1859 in the Greek Islands and to
Alexandria, take a few traits, incidents and pictures.
'May 10, 1859.
'We had a fair wind and we did very well, seeing a little bit of
Cerig or Cythera, and lots of turtle-doves wandering about over the
sea and perching, tired and timid, in the rigging of our little
craft. Then Falconera, Antimilo, and Milo, topped with huge white
clouds, barren, deserted, rising bold and mysterious from the blue,
chafing sea; - Argentiera, Siphano, Scapho, Paros, Antiparos, and
late at night Syra itself. ADAM BEDE in one hand, a sketch-book in
the other, lying on rugs under an awning, I enjoyed a very pleasant
day.
'May 14.
'Syra is semi-eastern. The pavement, huge shapeless blocks sloping
to a central gutter; from this bare two-storied houses, sometimes
plaster many coloured, sometimes rough-hewn marble, rise, dirty and
ill-finished to straight, plain, flat roofs; shops guiltless of
windows, with signs in Greek letters; dogs, Greeks in blue, baggy,
Zouave breeches and a fez, a few narghilehs and a sprinkling of the
ordinary continental shopboys. - In the evening I tried one more
walk in Syra with A-, but in vain endeavoured to amuse myself or to
spend money; the first effort resulting in singing DOODAH to a
passing Greek or two, the second in spending, no, in making A-
spend, threepence on coffee for three.
'May 16.
'On coming on deck, I found we were at anchor in Canea bay, and saw
one of the most lovely sights man could witness. Far on either
hand stretch bold mountain capes, Spada and Maleka, tender in
colour, bold in outline; rich sunny levels lie beneath them, framed
by the azure sea. Right in front, a dark brown fortress girdles
white mosques and minarets. Rich and green, our mountain capes
here join to form a setting for the town, in whose dark walls -
still darker - open a dozen high-arched caves in which the huge
Venetian galleys used to lie in wait. High above all, higher and
higher yet, up into the firmament, range after range of blue and
snow-capped mountains. I was bewildered and amazed, having heard
nothing of this great beauty. The town when entered is quite
eastern. The streets are formed of open stalls under the first
story, in which squat tailors, cooks, sherbet vendors and the like,
busy at their work or smoking narghilehs. Cloths stretched from
house to house keep out the sun. Mules rattle through the crowd;
curs yelp between your legs; negroes are as hideous and bright
clothed as usual; grave Turks with long chibouques continue to
march solemnly without breaking them; a little Arab in one dirty
rag pokes fun at two splendid little Turks with brilliant fezzes;
wiry mountaineers in dirty, full, white kilts, shouldering long
guns and one hand on their pistols, stalk untamed past a dozen
Turkish soldiers, who look sheepish and brutal in worn cloth jacket
and cotton trousers. A headless, wingless lion of St. Mark still
stands upon a gate, and has left the mark of his strong clutch. Of
ancient times when Crete was Crete, not a trace remains; save
perhaps in the full, well-cut nostril and firm tread of that
mountaineer, and I suspect that even his sires were Albanians, mere
outer barbarians.
'May 17.
I spent the day at the little station where the cable was landed,
which has apparently been first a Venetian monastery and then a
Turkish mosque. At any rate the big dome is very cool, and the
little ones hold [our electric] batteries capitally. A handsome
young Bashibazouk guards it, and a still handsomer mountaineer is
the servant; so I draw them and the monastery and the hill, till
I'm black in the face with heat and come on board to hear the Canea
cable is still bad.
'May 23.
'We arrived in the morning at the east end of Candia, and had a
glorious scramble over the mountains which seem built of adamant.
Time has worn away the softer portions of the rock, only leaving
sharp jagged edges of steel. Sea eagles soaring above our heads;
old tanks, ruins, and desolation at our feet. The ancient Arsinoe
stood here; a few blocks of marble with the cross attest the
presence of Venetian Christians; but now - the desolation of
desolations. Mr. Liddell and I separated from the rest, and when
we had found a sure bay for the cable, had a tremendous lively
scramble back to the boat. These are the bits of our life which I
enjoy, which have some poetry, some grandeur in them.
'May 29 (?).
'Yesterday we ran round to the new harbour [of Alexandria], landed
the shore end of the cable close to Cleopatra's bath, and made a
very satisfactory start about one in the afternoon. We had
scarcely gone 200 yards when I noticed that the cable ceased to run
out, and I wondered why the ship had stopped. People ran aft to
tell me not to put such a strain on the cable; I answered
indignantly that there was no strain; and suddenly it broke on
every one in the ship at once that we were aground. Here was a
nice mess. A violent scirocco blew from the land; making one's
skin feel as if it belonged to some one else and didn't fit, making
the horizon dim and yellow with fine sand, oppressing every sense
and raising the thermometer 20 degrees in an hour, but making calm
water round us which enabled the ship to lie for the time in
safety. The wind might change at any moment, since the scirocco
was only accidental; and at the first wave from seaward bump would
go the poor ship, and there would [might] be an end of our voyage.
The captain, without waiting to sound, began to make an effort to
put the ship over what was supposed to be a sandbank; but by the
time soundings were made, this was found to be impossible, and he
had only been jamming the poor ELBA faster on a rock. Now every
effort was made to get her astern, an anchor taken out, a rope
brought to a winch I had for the cable, and the engines backed; but
all in vain. A small Turkish Government steamer, which is to be
our consort, came to our assistance, but of course very slowly, and
much time was occupied before we could get a hawser to her. I
could do no good after having made a chart of the soundings round
the ship, and went at last on to the bridge to sketch the scene.
But at that moment the strain from the winch and a jerk from the
Turkish steamer got off the boat, after we had been some hours
aground. The carpenter reported that she had made only two inches
of water in one compartment; the cable was still uninjured astern,
and our spirits rose; when, will you believe it? after going a
short distance astern, the pilot ran us once more fast aground on
what seemed to me nearly the same spot. The very same scene was
gone through as on the first occasion, and dark came on whilst the
wind shifted, and we were still aground. Dinner was served up, but
poor Mr. Liddell could eat very little; and bump, bump, grind,
grind, went the ship fifteen or sixteen times as we sat at dinner.
The slight sea, however, did enable us to bump off. This morning
we appear not to have suffered in any way; but a sea is rolling in,
which a few hours ago would have settled the poor old ELBA.
'June -.
'The Alexandria cable has again failed; after paying out two-thirds
of the distance successfully, an unlucky touch in deep water
snapped the line. Luckily the accident occurred in Mr. Liddell's
watch. Though personally it may not really concern me, the
accident weighs like a personal misfortune. Still I am glad I was
present: a failure is probably more instructive than a success;
and this experience may enable us to avoid misfortune in still
greater undertakings.
'June -.
'We left Syra the morning after our arrival on Saturday the 4th.
This we did (first) because we were in a hurry to do something and
(second) because, coming from Alexandria, we had four days'
quarantine to perform. We were all mustered along the side while
the doctor counted us; the letters were popped into a little tin
box and taken away to be smoked; the guardians put on board to see
that we held no communication with the shore - without them we
should still have had four more days' quarantine; and with twelve
Greek sailors besides, we started merrily enough picking up the
Canea cable. . . . To our utter dismay, the yarn covering began to
come up quite decayed, and the cable, which when laid should have
borne half a ton, was now in danger of snapping with a tenth part
of that strain. We went as slow as possible in fear of a break at
every instant. My watch was from eight to twelve in the morning,
and during that time we had barely secured three miles of cable.
Once it broke inside the ship, but I seized hold of it in time -
the weight being hardly anything - and the line for the nonce was
saved. Regular nooses were then planted inboard with men to draw
them taut, should the cable break inboard. A-, who should have
relieved me, was unwell, so I had to continue my look-out; and
about one o'clock the line again parted, but was again caught in
the last noose, with about four inches to spare. Five minutes
afterwards it again parted and was yet once more caught. Mr.
Liddell (whom I had called) could stand this no longer; so we
buoyed the line and ran into a bay in Siphano, waiting for calm
weather, though I was by no means of opinion that the slight sea
and wind had been the cause of our failures. - All next day
(Monday) we lay off Siphano, amusing ourselves on shore with
fowling pieces and navy revolvers. I need not say we killed
nothing; and luckily we did not wound any of ourselves. A
guardiano accompanied us, his functions being limited to preventing
actual contact with the natives, for they might come as near and
talk as much as they pleased. These isles of Greece are sad,
interesting places. They are not really barren all over, but they
are quite destitute of verdure; and tufts of thyme, wild mastic or
mint, though they sound well, are not nearly so pretty as grass.
Many little churches, glittering white, dot the islands; most of
them, I believe, abandoned during the whole year with the exception
of one day sacred to their patron saint. The villages are mean,
but the inhabitants do not look wretched and the men are good
sailors. There is something in this Greek race yet; they will
become a powerful Levantine nation in the course of time. - What a
lovely moonlight evening that was! the barren island cutting the
clear sky with fantastic outline, marble cliffs on either hand
fairly gleaming over the calm sea. Next day, the wind still
continuing, I proposed a boating excursion and decoyed A-, L-, and
S- into accompanying me. We took the little gig, and sailed away
merrily enough round a point to a beautiful white bay, flanked with
two glistening little churches, fronted by beautiful distant
islands; when suddenly, to my horror, I discovered the ELBA
steaming full speed out from the island. Of course we steered
after her; but the wind that instant ceased, and we were left in a
dead calm. There was nothing for it but to unship the mast, get
out the oars and pull. The ship was nearly certain to stop at the
buoy; and I wanted to learn how to take an oar, so here was a
chance with a vengeance! L- steered, and we three pulled - a
broiling pull it was about half way across to Palikandro - still we
did come in, pulling an uncommon good stroke, and I had learned to
hang on my oar. L- had pressed me to let him take my place; but
though I was very tired at the end of the first quarter of an hour,
and then every successive half hour, I would not give in. I nearly
paid dear for my obstinacy, however; for in the evening I had
alternate fits of shivering and burning.'
III.
The next extracts, and I am sorry to say the last, are from
Fleeming's letters of 1860, when he was back at Bona and
Spartivento and for the first time at the head of an expedition.
Unhappily these letters are not only the last, but the series is
quite imperfect; and this is the more to be lamented as he had now
begun to use a pen more skilfully, and in the following notes there
is at times a touch of real distinction in the manner.
'Cagliari: October 5, 1860.
'All Tuesday I spent examining what was on board the ELBA, and
trying to start the repairs of the Spartivento land line, which has
been entirely neglected, and no wonder, for no one has been paid
for three months, no, not even the poor guards who have to keep
themselves, their horses and their families, on their pay.
Wednesday morning, I started for Spartivento and got there in time
to try a good many experiments. Spartivento looks more wild and
savage than ever, but is not without a strange deadly beauty: the
hills covered with bushes of a metallic green with coppery patches
of soil in between; the valleys filled with dry salt mud and a
little stagnant water; where that very morning the deer had drunk,
where herons, curlews, and other fowl abound, and where, alas!
malaria is breeding with this rain. (No fear for those who do not
sleep on shore.) A little iron hut had been placed there since
1858; but the windows had been carried off, the door broken down,
the roof pierced all over. In it, we sat to make experiments; and
how it recalled Birkenhead! There was Thomson, there was my
testing board, the strings of gutta-percha; Harry P- even,
battering with the batteries; but where was my darling Annie?
Whilst I sat feet in sand, with Harry alone inside the hut -mats,
coats, and wood to darken the window - the others visited the
murderous old friar, who is of the order of Scaloppi, and for whom
I brought a letter from his superior, ordering him to pay us
attention; but he was away from home, gone to Cagliari in a boat
with the produce of the farm belonging to his convent. Then they
visited the tower of Chia, but could not get in because the door is
thirty feet off the ground; so they came back and pitched a
magnificent tent which I brought from the BAHIANA a long time ago -
and where they will live (if I mistake not) in preference to the
friar's, or the owl- and bat-haunted tower. MM. T- and S- will be
left there: T-, an intelligent, hard-working Frenchman, with whom
I am well pleased; he can speak English and Italian well, and has
been two years at Genoa. S- is a French German with a face like an
ancient Gaul, who has been sergeant-major in the French line and
who is, I see, a great, big, muscular FAINEANT. We left the tent
pitched and some stores in charge of a guide, and ran back to
Cagliari.
'Certainly, being at the head of things is pleasanter than being
subordinate. We all agree very well; and I have made the testing
office into a kind of private room where I can come and write to
you undisturbed, surrounded by my dear, bright brass things which
all of them remind me of our nights at Birkenhead. Then I can work
here, too, and try lots of experiments; you know how I like that!
and now and then I read - Shakespeare principally. Thank you so
much for making me bring him: I think I must get a pocket edition
of Hamlet and Henry the Fifth, so as never to be without them.
'Cagliari: October 7.
'[The town was full?] . . . of red-shirted English Garibaldini. A
very fine looking set of fellows they are, too: the officers
rather raffish, but with medals Crimean and Indian; the men a very
sturdy set, with many lads of good birth I should say. They still
wait their consort the Emperor and will, I fear, be too late to do
anything. I meant to have called on them, but they are all gone
into barracks some way from the town, and I have been much too busy
to go far.
'The view from the ramparts was very strange and beautiful.
Cagliari rises on a very steep rock, at the mouth of a wide plain
circled by large hills and three-quarters filled with lagoons; it
looks, therefore, like an old island citadel. Large heaps of salt
mark the border between the sea and the lagoons; thousands of
flamingoes whiten the centre of the huge shallow marsh; hawks hover
and scream among the trees under the high mouldering battlements. -
A little lower down, the band played. Men and ladies bowed and
pranced, the costumes posed, church bells tinkled, processions
processed, the sun set behind thick clouds capping the hills; I
pondered on you and enjoyed it all.
'Decidedly I prefer being master to being man: boats at all hours,
stewards flying for marmalade, captain enquiring when ship is to
sail, clerks to copy my writing, the boat to steer when we go out -
I have run her nose on several times; decidedly, I begin to feel
quite a little king. Confound the cable, though! I shall never be
able to repair it.
'Bona: October 14.
'We left Cagliari at 4.30 on the 9th and soon got to Spartivento.
I repeated some of my experiments, but found Thomson, who was to
have been my grand stand-by, would not work on that day in the
wretched little hut. Even if the windows and door had been put in,
the wind which was very high made the lamp flicker about and blew
it out; so I sent on board and got old sails, and fairly wrapped
the hut up in them; and then we were as snug as could be, and I
left the hut in glorious condition with a nice little stove in it.
The tent which should have been forthcoming from the cure's for the
guards, had gone to Cagliari; but I found another, [a] green,
Turkish tent, in the ELBA and soon had him up. The square tent
left on the last occasion was standing all right and tight in spite
of wind and rain. We landed provisions, two beds, plates, knives,
forks, candles, cooking utensils, and were ready for a start at 6
P.M.; but the wind meanwhile had come on to blow at such a rate
that I thought better of it, and we stopped. T- and S- slept
ashore, however, to see how they liked it, at least they tried to
sleep, for S- the ancient sergeant-major had a toothache, and T-
thought the tent was coming down every minute. Next morning they
could only complain of sand and a leaky coffee-pot, so I leave them
with a good conscience. The little encampment looked quite
picturesque: the green round tent, the square white tent and the
hut all wrapped up in sails, on a sand hill, looking on the sea and
masking those confounded marshes at the back. One would have
thought the Cagliaritans were in a conspiracy to frighten the two
poor fellows, who (I believe) will be safe enough if they do not go
into the marshes after nightfall. S- brought a little dog to amuse
them, such a jolly, ugly little cur without a tail, but full of
fun; he will be better than quinine.
'The wind drove a barque, which had anchored near us for shelter,
out to sea. We started, however, at 2 P.M., and had a quick
passage but a very rough one, getting to Bona by daylight [on the
11th]. Such a place as this is for getting anything done! The
health boat went away from us at 7.30 with W- on board; and we
heard nothing of them till 9.30, when W- came back with two fat
Frenchmen who are to look on on the part of the Government. They
are exactly alike: only one has four bands and the other three
round his cap, and so I know them. Then I sent a boat round to
Fort Genois [Fort Genova of 1858], where the cable is landed, with
all sorts of things and directions, whilst I went ashore to see
about coals and a room at the fort. We hunted people in the little
square in their shops and offices, but only found them in cafes.
One amiable gentleman wasn't up at 9.30, was out at 10, and as soon
as he came back the servant said he would go to bed and not get up
till 3: he came, however, to find us at a cafe, and said that, on
the contrary, two days in the week he did not do so! Then my two
fat friends must have their breakfast after their "something" at a
cafe; and all the shops shut from 10 to 2; and the post does not
open till 12; and there was a road to Fort Genois, only a bridge
had been carried away, &c. At last I got off, and we rowed round
to Fort Genois, where my men had put up a capital gipsy tent with
sails, and there was my big board and Thomson's number 5 in great
glory. I soon came to the conclusion there was a break. Two of my
faithful Cagliaritans slept all night in the little tent, to guard
it and my precious instruments; and the sea, which was rather
rough, silenced my Frenchmen.
'Next day I went on with my experiments, whilst a boat grappled for
the cable a little way from shore and buoyed it where the ELBA
could get hold. I brought all back to the ELBA, tried my machinery
and was all ready for a start next morning. But the wretched coal
had not come yet; Government permission from Algiers to be got;
lighters, men, baskets, and I know not what forms to be got or got
through - and everybody asleep! Coals or no coals, I was
determined to start next morning; and start we did at four in the
morning, picked up the buoy with our deck engine, popped the cable
across a boat, tested the wires to make sure the fault was not
behind us, and started picking up at 11. Everything worked
admirably, and about 2 P.M., in came the fault. There is no doubt
the cable was broken by coral fishers; twice they have had it up to
their own knowledge.
'Many men have been ashore to-day and have come back tipsy, and the
whole ship is in a state of quarrel from top to bottom, and they
will gossip just within my hearing. And we have had, moreover,
three French gentlemen and a French lady to dinner, and I had to
act host and try to manage the mixtures to their taste. The good-
natured little Frenchwoman was most amusing; when I asked her if
she would have some apple tart - "MON DIEU," with heroic
resignation, "JE VEUX BIEN"; or a little PLOMBODDING - "MAIS CE QUE
VOUS VOUDREZ, MONSIEUR!"
