In these pages we have led our readers through twelve long years, and have had to tell many a tale of disaster and defeat. It is now our privilege to tell of triumphant success. Victory has come at last, but not by the chance of fortune, but by the utmost efforts of man, by the union of science and skill with indomitable perseverance. The failure of the last year was a sad disappointment; but so far from damping the courage of those embarked in the enterprise, it only roused them to a more gigantic effort. They were now to prepare for a fifth expedition. In this they set themselves to anticipate every possible emergency, and to combine the elements of success so as to render failure impossible.

The Great Eastern herself, which they had come to regard with a kind of fondness, a feeling of affection and pride, as the ark that was to bear their fortunes across the deep, was made ready for her crowning achievement. For months Captain Anderson and Mr. Halpin, his chief officer, worked day and night to get her into perfect trim. She had become sadly fouled in her many voyages. As she swam the seas, a thousand things clung to her as to a floating island, till her hull was encrusted with mussels and barnacles two feet thick, and long seaweed flaunted from her sides. Like a brave old war-horse, long neglected, she needed a thorough grooming, to have her hair combed and her limbs well rubbed down, to fit her to take the field. But it was not an easy matter to get under the huge creature, to give her such a dressing. Yet Captain Anderson was equal to the emergency. He contrived a simple instrument by which every part of her bottom was raked and scrubbed. Getting rid of this rough, shapeless mass would make her feel easy and comfortable at sea, and add at least a knot an hour to her speed.

The boilers too were thoroughly cleansed and repaired in every part, and the paddle-engines were so arranged that in five minutes they could be disconnected, so that by going ahead with one and backing with the other, the ship could be held perfectly at rest or be turned around in her own length, a very important matter when they should come to fish in deep waters for the broken end of the cable. To prepare for this, she was armed with chains and ropes and irons of the most formidable kind. For grappling the cable, she took on board twenty miles of rope, which would bear a strain of thirty tons, probably the largest fishing-line used since the days of Noah!

The cable was manufactured at the rate of twenty miles a day, and as fast as delivered and found perfect, was coiled on board. And now the electricians tried their skill to outdo all that they had done before. As Captain Anderson observed, it seemed as if never had so much brain power been concentrated on the problem of success. The cable itself furnished the grandest subject of experiment. As every week added more than a hundred miles to its length, there was constant opportunity to try the electric current on longer distances and with new conditions. The results obtained showed the rapid and marvellous progress of electrical science. Said The Times:

"The science of making, testing, and laying cables has so much improved that an undetected fault in an insulated wire has now become literally impossible, while so much are the instruments for signalling improved, that not only can a slight fault be disregarded if necessary, but it is even easy to work through a submarine wire with a foot of its copper conductor stripped and bare to the water. This latter result, astonishing as it may appear, has actually been achieved for some days past with the whole Atlantic cable on board the Great Eastern. Out of a length of more than one thousand seven hundred miles, a coil has been taken from the centre, the copper conductor stripped clean of its insulation for a foot in length, and in this condition lowered over the vessel's side till it rested on the ground. Yet through this the clearest signals have been sent—so clear, indeed, as at one time to raise the question whether it would not be worth while to grapple for the first old Atlantic cable ever laid, and with these new instruments working gently through it for a year or so, at least make it pay cost."

As other things were on the same gigantic scale, by the time the big ship had her cargo and stores on board, she was well laden. Of the cable alone there were two thousand four hundred miles, coiled in three immense tanks as the year before. Of this seven hundred and forty-eight miles were a part of the cable of the last expedition. The tanks alone, with the water in them, weighed over a thousand tons; and the cable which they held, four thousand tons more; besides which she had to carry eight thousand five hundred tons of coal and five hundred tons of telegraph stores, making fourteen thousand tons, besides engines, rigging, etc., which made nearly as much more. So enormous was the burden, that it was thought prudent not to take on board all her coal before she left the Medway, especially as the channel was winding and shallow. It was therefore arranged that about a third of her coal should be taken in at Berehaven, on the south-west coast of Ireland. With this exception, her lading was complete.

The time for departure had been fixed for the last day of June, and so admirable had been the arrangements, and such the diligence of all concerned, that exactly at the hour of noon, she loosened from her moorings, and began to move. It was well that she had not on board her whole cargo; for as it was, she drew nearly thirty-two feet. Never had any keel pressed so deep in those waters. It required skilful handling to get her safely to the sea. Gently and softly she floated down, over bars where she almost grazed the sand, where but a few inches lifted her enormous hull above the river's bed. But at length the rising tide bears her safely over, and she is afloat in the deeper waters of the Channel. At first the sea did not give her a very gracious welcome. The wind was dead ahead, and the waves dashed furiously against her; but she kept steadily on, tossing their spray on high, as if they had struck against the rocks of Eddystone lighthouse. In four or five days she had passed down the Irish coast, and was quietly anchored in the harbor at Berehaven, where she was soon joined by the other vessels of the squadron.

The Telegraph fleet was not the same as that of the last year. The Government could spare but a single ship; but the Terrible, which had accompanied the Great Eastern on the former expedition, was still there to represent the majesty of England. The William Corry, a vessel of two thousand tons, bore the ponderous shore end, which was to be laid out thirty miles from the Irish coast, while the Albany and the Medway were ships chartered by the Company. The latter carried several hundred miles of the last year's cable, besides one of heavier proportions, ninety miles long, to be stretched across the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

While the Great Eastern remained at Berehaven, to take in her final stores of coal, the William Corry proceeded around the coast to Valentia to lay the shore end. She arrived off the harbor on the morning of Saturday, the seventh of July, and immediately began to prepare for her heavy task. This shore end was of tremendous size, weighing twenty tons to the mile. It was by far the strongest wire cable ever made, and in short lengths was stiff as an iron bar. As the year before, the cable was to be brought off on a bridge of boats reaching from the ship to the foot of the cliff. All the fishermen's boats were gathered from along the shore, while H. M. S. Raccoon, which was guarding that part of the coast, sent up her boats to help, so that, as they all mustered in line, there were forty of them, making a long pontoon-bridge; and Irish boatmen with eager looks and strong hands were standing along the line, to grasp the ponderous chain. All went well, and by one o'clock the cable was landed, and its end brought up the cliff to the station. The signals were found to be perfect, and the William Corry then slowly drew off to sea, unlimbering her stiff shore end, till she had cast over the whole thirty miles. At three o'clock next morning she telegraphed through the cable that her work was done, and she had buoyed the end in water a hundred fathoms deep. Describing the scene, the correspondent of the London News says:

"In its leading features it presented a striking difference to the ceremony of last year. Earnest gravity and a deep-seated determination to repress all show of the enthusiasm of which everybody was full, was very manifest. The excitement was below, instead of above, the surface. Speech-making, hurrahing, public congratulations, and vaunts of confidence were, as it seemed, avoided as if on purpose. There was something far more touching in the quiet and reverent solemnity of the spectators yesterday than in the slightly boisterous joviality of the peasantry last year. Nothing could prevent the scene being intensely dramatic, but the prevailing tone of the drama was serious instead of comic and triumphant. The old crones in tattered garments who cowered together, dudheen in mouth, their gaudy colored shawls tightly drawn over head and under the chin—the barefooted boys and girls, who by long practice walked over sharp and jagged rocks, which cut up boots and shoes, with perfect impunity—the men at work uncovering the trench, and winding in single file up and down the hazardous path cut by the cablemen in the otherwise inaccessible rock—the patches of bright color furnished by the red petticoats and cloaks—the ragged garments, only kept from falling to pieces by bits of string and tape—the good old parish priest, who exercises mild and gentle spiritual sway over the loving subjects of whom the ever-popular Knight of Kerry is the temporal head, looking on benignly from his car—the bright eyes, supple figures, and innocent faces of the peasant lasses, and the earnestly hopeful expression of all—made up a picture impossible to describe with justice. Add to this, the startling abruptness with which the tremendous cliffs stand flush out of the water, the alternations of bright wild flowers and patches of verdure with the most desolate barrenness, the mountain sheep indifferently cropping the short, sweet grass, and the undercurrent of consciousness of the mighty interests at stake, and few scenes will seem more important and interesting than that of yesterday."

As the ships are now ready for sea, and all who are to embark have come on board, we may look about us at the personnel of the expedition. Who are here? We recognize many old familiar faces, that we have seen in former campaigns—gallant men who have had many a sea-fight in this peaceful war. First, the eye seeks the tall form of Captain Anderson. There he is, modest and grave, of few words, but seeing every thing, watching every thing, and ruling every thing with a quiet power. And there is his second officer, Mr. Halpin, who keeps a sharp lookout after the crew, to see that every man does his duty. While he thus keeps watch of all on board, Staff Commander Moriarty, R. N., comes on deck, with instruments in hand, to look after the heavenly bodies, and reckon the ship's latitude and longitude. This is an old veteran in the service, who has been in all the expeditions, and it would be quite "improper," even if it were possible, for a cable to be laid across the Atlantic without his presence and aid. And here comes Mr. Canning, the engineer, whose deep-sea soundings, the last year, were on a scale of such magnitude, and who, if he cannot well dive deeper, means to pull stronger the next time. That slight form yonder is Professor Thomson, of Glasgow, a man who in his knowledge of the subtle element to be brought into play, and the enthusiasm he brings to its study, is the very genius of electrical science; and this is Mr. Varley, who seems to have the lightning in his fingers, and to whom the world owes some marvellous discoveries of the laws of electricity. Mr. Willoughby Smith, a worthy associate in these studies and discoveries, goes out on the ship as electrician.

And here is Mr. Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, which has undertaken by contract to manufacture this cable and lay it safely across the ocean; and Mr. Gooch, chairman of the company that owns the Great Eastern—two gentlemen to whom the Atlantic Telegraph is under the greatest obligation, since it was they who, six months before, when the project seemed in danger of being given up or postponed for years, took Mr. Field by the hand, and cheered him on to a last effort. Blessings on their hearts of oak! Mr. Gooch accompanies the ship, while Mr. Glass, keeping Mr. Varley at his side as electrician, remains on shore, to receive reports of the daily progress of the expedition, and to issue his orders. What a post of observation was that telegraph house on the cliffs of Valentia! It commanded a far broader horizon than the top of FiesolÉ, from which Galileo looked down on the valley of the Arno, and up at the stars. Was there ever a naval commander favored with a power of vision that could sweep the boundless sea? What would Nelson have said, if he had had a spy-glass with which he could watch ships in action two thousand miles away, and issue his orders to a fleet on the other side of the ocean? With such a long range, he might almost have fought the Battle of the Nile from his home in England.

Standing on such a spot, and surrounded by such men, representing the capital, the science, and the skill of England, with all those gallant ships in sight, one's heart might well beat high. But there were other reflections that saddened the hour, and caused some at least to look once more on the rocks of Valentia with deep emotion. Some of their old companions-in-arms had fallen out of the ranks, while the battle was not yet won. Brett, Mr. Field's first friend in England, was in his grave. Beyond the Atlantic, Captains Hudson and Berryman slept the sleep that knows no waking. They were not forgotten by their survivors, who mourned that those who had toiled with them in former days, were not here to share their triumph.

The feeling, therefore, of many on this occasion, was not one elate with pride and hope, but subdued by serious thoughts and tender memories. In harmony with this feeling, and with the great work which they were about to undertake, it was proposed that before the expedition sailed they should hold a solemn religious service.

Was there ever a fitter place or a fitter hour for prayer than here, in the presence of the great sea to which they were about to commit their lives and their precious trust? The first expedition ever sent forth had been consecrated by prayer. On that very spot, nine years before, all heads were uncovered and all forms bent low, at the solemn words of supplication; and there had the Earl of Carlisle—since gone to his honored grave—cheered them on with high religious hopes, describing the ships which were sent forth on such a mission, as "beautiful upon the waters as were the feet upon the mountains of them that publish the gospel of peace."

In such a spirit two of the directors—Mr. Bevan, of London, and Mr. Bewley, of Dublin—sent invitations to a number of persons to meet at Valentia, as the expedition was about to sail, and commend it to the favor of Almighty God. Captain Anderson had greatly desired to be with them at this parting service, but the ships were at Berehaven, and they were just embarking for sea. But though the officers could not be present, a large company came together. Said an Irish paper: "Men of different religious denomination, and of various professions in life—Irishmen, Englishmen, and Scotchmen—joined in such a service as has never been held in this island." It was a scene long to be remembered, as they bowed together before the God and Father of all. Their brethren, who were about to go down to the sea in ships, felt their dependence on a Higher Power. Their preparations were complete. All that man could do was done. They had exhausted every resource of science and skill. The issue now remained with Him who controls the winds and waves. Therefore was it most fit that, at the very moment of embarking, those who remained behind should, as it were, kneel upon the cliff, and, with outstretched hands, commit them to Him who alone spreadeth out the heavens and ruleth the raging of the sea.

In all this there is something of antique stamp, something which makes us think of the sublime men of an earlier and better time; of the Pilgrim Fathers kneeling on the deck of their little ship at Leyden, as they were about to seek a refuge and a home in the forests of the New World; and of Columbus and his companions celebrating a solemn service before their departure from Spain. And so with labor and with prayer did this great expedition go forth once more from the shores of Ireland, bearing the hopes of science and of civilization—with courage and skill looking out from the bow across the stormy waters, and a religious faith, like that of Columbus, standing at the helm.

On Friday morning, the thirteenth of July, the fleet finally bade adieu to the land. Was Friday an unlucky day? Some of the sailors thought so, and would have been glad to leave a day before or after. But Columbus sailed on Friday, and discovered the New World on Friday; and so this expedition put to sea on Friday, and, as a good Providence would have it, reached land on the other side of the Atlantic on the same day of the week! As the ships disappeared below the horizon, Mr. Glass and Mr. Varley went up on their watch-tower—not to look, but to listen for the first voice from the sea. The ships bore away for the buoy where lay the end of the shore line; but the weather was thick and foggy, with frequent bursts of rain, and they could not see far on the water. For an hour or two they went sailing round and round, like sea-gulls in search of prey. At length the Albany caught sight of the buoy tossing on the waves, and, firing a signal gun, bore down straight upon it. The cable was soon hauled up from its bed, a hundred fathoms deep, and brought over the stern of the Great Eastern; and the watchers on shore, who had been waiting with some impatience, saw the first flash, and Varley read, "Got the shore end—all right—going to make the splice." Then all was still, and they knew that that delicate operation was going on. Quick, nimble hands tore off the covering from some yards of the shore end of the main cable, till they came to the core; then, swiftly unwinding the copper wires, they laid them together, twining them as closely and carefully as a silken braid. Thus stripped and bare this new-born child of the sea was wrapped in swaddling-clothes, covered up with many coatings of gutta-percha, and hempen rope, and strong iron wires, the whole bound round and round with heavy bands, and the splicing was complete. Signals were now sent through the whole cable on board the Great Eastern and back to the telegraph-house at Valentia, and the whole length, two thousand four hundred and forty nautical miles, was reported perfect. And so with light hearts they bore away. It was a little after three o'clock. As they turned to the west, the following was the "order of battle": the Terrible went ahead, standing off on the starboard bow, to keep other vessels out of the course; the Medway was on the port, and the Albany on the starboard quarter, ready to pick up or let go a buoy, or to do other work that might be required. All these ships were to keep their allotted positions, within signalling distance of the Great Eastern, and at any time that she was heard firing guns, they were to close in with her to render assistance. Their course lay thirty miles to the south of that of the last year, so that there could be no danger, in fishing for the old cable, of disturbing the new.

Dr. Russell, the brilliant historian of the Expedition of 1865, was not on board the Great Eastern this year. He had left England a few weeks before for the scene of the war in Germany. His place was supplied by Mr. John C. Deane, the Secretary of the Anglo-American Company, whose "Diary of the Expedition" furnishes a faithful record of the incidents of this memorable voyage. If the story be not quite so thrilling as that of the year before, it is because it has not to tell of such fatal accidents. It has the monotony of success. A few pages from this diary, giving its most important portions, will render this narrative complete.

The voyage began with good weather and every omen of success. Friday, indeed, was a day of fog and rain. At the very time they were making the splice with the shore end, the rain was pouring on the deck. But in a few hours it cleared off, and Saturday and Sunday, Mr. Field writes in his journal, "Weather fine;" and Monday, "Calm, beautiful day. Signals perfect." Owing to the improved system adopted by the chief electrician, communication with the shore was kept up even while the tests for insulation were going on.[A]

Every possible precaution was taken to guard against such accidents as had marred the success of the year before. Remembering how small a thing had sufficed to puncture the cable, the men in the tank were not allowed to wear boots or shoes with nails in their heels, but were cased from head to foot in canvas dresses, drawn over their ordinary sailor costume, and, with slippers on their feet, they glided about softly as ghosts. But we turn to Mr. Deane's diary for a record of the progress from day to day:

"Sunday, July 15.—All through yesterday the paying-out machinery worked so smoothly—the electrical tests were so perfect—the weather was so fine, that fresh confidence in the ultimate result has been naturally inspired. The recollection, however, of the reverses of the expedition of 1865 is always before those who have the greatest reliance on success; and there is a quiet repose about the manner of the chief practical men on board, which is an earnest that they will not allow themselves to be carried away by the smoothness of twenty-four hours' events. The convoy kept their position accurately during the day. The Terrible signalled that a man had fallen overboard. Her cutter was speedily lowered. The sailor had, however, laid hold of a rope thrown to him from the frigate, before the boat reached him.

"Monday.—Still everything going on well. The sea like a mill-pond. The paying out of the cable from the after tank progressing with uniformity and steadiness, and the electrical tests perfect.

"Our track is about thirty miles to the south of that of last year, and at that distance we passed parallel to where the telegraph cable parted in August, 1857. Our average speed has been about five knots. We were obliged to stop the screw engines in order to bring down to that speed, and, moreover, to reduce the paddle boiler power. Captain Anderson's ingenious mode of cleaning the ship's bottom, which he carried out last winter at Sheerness, has proved to have effected this very desirable object. Mr. Beckwith, the engineer, is now enabled to regulate and adjust her speed, and get more out of the ship than he could last year, when her bottom was one incrusted mass of mussels.

"Tuesday.—Another twenty-four hours of uninterrupted success. All day yesterday it was so calm that the masts of our convoy were reflected in the ocean, an unusual thing to see. A large shoal of porpoises gambolled about us for half an hour. A glorious sunset, and later, a crescent moon, which we hope to see in the brightness of her full, lighting our way into Trinity Bay before the days of this July shall have ended."

But the whole night did not pass away so tranquilly. By midnight the rain fell fast, and the wind blew fiercely, and then occurred the only real alarm of the voyage. The scene is thus described by Mr. Deane:

"All went on well until twenty minutes past twelve a.m., Greenwich time, when the first real shock was given to the success which has hitherto attended us, and this time we had real cause to be alarmed. A foul flake took place in the after tank. The engines were immediately turned astern, and the paying out of the cable stopped. We were all soon on deck, and learned that the running or paying-out part of the coil had caught three turns of the flake immediately under it, carried them into the eye of the coil, fouling the lay out, and hauling up one and a half turns from the outside, and five turns in the eye of the under flake. This was stopped, fortunately, before entering the paying out machinery. Stoppers of hemp also were put on near the V-wheel astern, and Mr. Canning gave orders to stand by to let go the buoy. This was not very cheering to hear, but his calm and collected manner gave us all confidence that his skill and experience would extricate the cable from the obvious danger in which it was placed. No fishing line was ever entangled worse than the rope was when thrust up in apparently hopeless knots from the eye of the coil to the deck. There at least five hundred feet of rope lay in this state, in the midst of thick rain and increasing wind. The cable crew set to work under their chief engineer's instructions to disentangle it. Mr. Halpin was there too, patiently following the bights as they showed themselves; the crew now passing them forward, now aft, until at last the character of the tangle was seen, and soon it became apparent that ere long the cable would be cleared. All this time Captain Anderson was at the taffrail anxiously watching the strain on the rope, which he could scarcely make out, the night was so dark, and endeavoring to keep it up and down, going on and reversing with paddle and screw. When one reflects for a moment upon the size of the ship, and the enormous mass she presents to the wind, the difficulty of keeping her stern, under the circumstances, over the cable, can be appreciated. The port paddle-wheel was disconnected; but shortly afterward there was a shift of wind, and the vessel canted the wrong way. Welcome voices were now heard passing the word aft from the tank that the bights were cleared, and to pay out. Then the huge stoppers were gently loosened, and at five minutes past two a.m., to the joy of all, we were once more discharging the cable. They veered it away in the tank to clear away the foul flake until three a.m., when the screw and paddle engines were slowed so as to reduce the speed of the ship to four and a half knots. During all this critical time there was an entire absence of noise and confusion. Every order was silently obeyed, and the cable men and crew worked with hearty good-will. Mr. Canning has had experience of foul flakes before, and showed that he knew what to do in the emergency. But what of the electrical condition of the cable during this period? Simply, that through its entire length it was perfect."

Thus, after three anxious hours, the danger was past, and the next morning the report of the ship is, "A fresh breeze from the southward, a dull gray sky, with occasional rain, and a moderate sea."

"Thursday.—There was a fresh breeze in the afternoon yesterday, increasing toward evening. It brought a heavy swell on the port quarter, which caused the ship to roll. The paying out from the after tank went on steadily. Two of the large buoys were lifted by derrick from the deck near the bows of the ship, and placed in position on the port and starboard side of the forward pick-up machinery, ready for letting go if necessary. The sun went down with an angry look, and the scud came rapidly from the eastward, the sea rising. A wind dead aft is not the best for cable laying, particularly if any accident should take place. By half-past eleven to-night we shall have exhausted the contents of the after tank, and the cable will then be paid out from the fore tank along the trough to the stern, the distance from the centre of the tank to the paying-out machinery being four hundred and ninety-four feet. Last night the swell was very heavy, to which the Great Eastern proved herself not insensible. Her rolling, like everything else appertaining to her, is done on a grand scale. We see the liveliness with which that operation is performed on board the Albany and Medway, and we are not at all disposed to be too critical in our observations on our own movements. The speed of the ship was kept at four and a half during the night—the slower the better, is the opinion of all on board—festina lente. We are consuming about one hundred tons a day of the seven thousand tons of coal which we had on board when we left Berehaven, and Mr. Beckwith, who has been engineer of the Great Eastern from her first voyage to the present moment, says her engines were never in better order; and their appearance and working do him and his able staff of assistant engineers the greatest credit.

"Friday.—Yesterday was a day of complete success, the paying out in every respect satisfactory. The wind still from the eastward, but inclined to draw to the northward, the sea entirely gone down. As Mr. Canning told us we should see the after tank emptied at eleven o'clock, ship's time, we were all collected there about ten o'clock, by which time the cable was down to the last flake. Next to having daylight for changing from the after to the fore tank, we could not have had a more favorable time—clear starlight, no wind, and a smooth sea. Looking down into the tank, the scene was highly picturesque. The cable-watch, whose figures were lighted up by the lamps suspended from above, slowly and cautiously lifted the turns of the coil to ease their path to the eye. As each found its way to the drum, the wooden floor of the tank showed itself, and then we saw more floor, and as its area increased the cable swept along its surface with a low, subdued noise, until, with a graceful curve, it mounted to the outlet, where it was soon to join a fresh supply; and now we hear the word passed that they have arrived at the last turn, and the men who stood on the stages of the platform of the eye with the bight, watch the arrival of the cable and pass it up with tender caution, until it reaches the summit; then it rushes down a wooden incline to meet the spliced rope, which had by this time come down along the trough leading from the forward tank. This operation was conducted with great skill by Mr. Canning and his experienced assistants, Messrs. Clifford and Temple. At eleven minutes past one a.m. (Greenwich time), the fresh rope was going over the stern, and the screw engines going ahead at thirteen minutes past one. A watch of four men is now stationed, fore and aft, all along the trough, which is illuminated by many lamps at short distances from each other. A lamp with a green light indicates the mile-mark as it comes up from the tank, and this signal is repeated until it reaches the stern, where it is recorded by the clerk who keeps the cable-log, in an office adjoining the paying-out machinery. A red lamp indicates danger. During the daytime red and blue flags are used. All through the night the sea was smooth as glass, and by this morning we saw that a sensible impression had been made on the contents of the fore tank. The ship begins to lighten at the bows, and by this time to-morrow will come up more as the cable passes out of the tank.

"Saturday.—Yesterday was our seventh day of paying out cable, and so far we have been more fortunate than the expedition of last year. During the same period of 1865, two faults had occurred—one on the twenty-fourth July, the other on the twenty-ninth—causing a detention of fifty-six hours. At three p.m. we were half-way, and passed where the Atlantic Cable of 1858 parted twice, on the twenty-sixth and twenty-eighth of June—sad memories to many! We feel, however, that every hour is increasing our chance of effecting this great work. 'I believe we shall do it this time, Jack,' I heard one of our crew say to another last night. 'I believe so too, Bill,' was the reply; 'and if we don't, we deserve to do it, and that's all.' It blew very hard from two o'clock yesterday, up to 10 p.m., by which time the wind gradually found its way from south-west to north-west, which is right ahead, just what we want for cable-laying. The Terrible and the two other ships plunged into the very heavy sea which the southwester raised, and we made up our minds, from what we saw, that the Great Eastern is the right ship to be in, in a gale of wind. During the night heavy showers of rain. This morning the sea was comparatively smooth, and the sky showed welcome patches of bright blue. If all goes well, we shall be up to-morrow evening at the place where last year's cable parted. A couple of days would bring us to shallower water, and then we may fairly look out for our 'Heart's Content.' Messages come from England, with the news, regularly and speedily—excellent practice for the clerks on shore and on board ship—great comfort to us, and the best evidence to those who will read this journal, of the great fact that, up to this time, the cable is doing its electric work efficiently."

The interest of the voyage was greatly increased by the news daily received from Europe. Though in the middle of the Atlantic, they were still joined with the Old World, and messages came to the "Great Eastern Telegraph" as regularly as to the Times in London; reporting the quotations of the Stock Exchange, the debates in Parliament, and all the news of home. But what was far more exciting, was the tidings of the great events transpiring on the Continent. While the expedition had been preparing in England, a war had broken out of tremendous magnitude. Austria, Prussia, and Italy had rushed into the field. Armies, such as had not met since the fatal day of Leipsic, stood in battle array, and the thunder of war was echoing and reËchoing among the mountains of Bohemia. Amid these convulsions the fleet set sail; but it was still linked with the nations which it left behind, and received tidings from day to day. What great events were thus heralded to them in mid-ocean may be seen by a few items gleaned from the numerous despatches:

"Saturday evening, July 14th.—General Cialdini is moving upon Rovigo with an army of one hundred thousand men and two hundred guns. The Austrians have evacuated the whole country between the Mincio and Adige."

A day or two later:

"Cialdini has occupied Padua, twenty-three miles from Venice, on the railway connecting that city with the Quadrilateral, and the Austrians are shut up in Venice."

"Tuesday, 17th.—Prussians had successful engagement before OlmÜtz yesterday; captured six guns. Further fighting expected to-day. Austrians withdrawing from Moldavia toward Vienna."——"Conflict between Prussians and Federals. Prussians completely victorious. Federals evacuating Frankfort, and Prussians marching there."

"Thursday, 19th.—Prussians repeating victories, and gaining adhesions from small States. The main army within fifty miles of Vienna—have cut the railway to Vienna. Austrian army between Prussians and Vienna, under Archduke, one hundred and sixty thousand men. Money and archives removed from Vienna to Comorn."

"20th.—Frankfort occupied by the Prussians, who are marching on Vienna. Yesterday, Italian fleet, consisting of iron-clad vessels and several steamers, opened attack on Island of Lissa on the coast of Dalmatia—result not known."

The next day it is reported thus:

"Severe naval engagement off Lissa. Austrians claim the victory. Sunk one Italian iron-clad, run down another, blew up a third."

"July 21st.—Prussians crossed river; march near Holitzon, Hungary. Austria accepted proposal of armistice. Prussia will abstain from hostilities for five days, during which Austria will have to notify acceptance of preliminaries. A long letter published from the King of Prussia to the Queen, giving account of battle of KÖniggrÄtz."

The interest excited by such news may be imagined, coming while the events were yet fresh. Twice a day was the bulletin set up on the deck, and was surrounded by an eager crowd reading what had transpired on the Continent but a few hours before. Nor was the intelligence confined to the Great Eastern. By an arrangement of signals, more complete than ever was used in a squadron before, the news was telegraphed to the convoy. All the ships had been furnished with experienced signal-men by the Admiralty. The system adopted was that known as Colomb's Flash Signals, by which, even in the darkest night, messages could easily be flashed to a distance of several miles. Thus all the ships were supplied with news twice a day, and the great military events in Europe were discussed in every cabin as eagerly as in the clubs of London. Again Deane's Diary reports:

"Sunday, July 22d.—Still success to record. A bright clear day, with a fresh and invigorating breeze from the north-west. Cable going out with unerring smoothness, at the rate of six miles an hour. There has been great improvement in the insulation. This remarkable improvement is attributable to the greatly decreased temperature of, and pressure on, the cable in the sea. This is a very satisfactory result to Mr. Willoughby Smith. Signals, too, come every hour more distinctly. This morning the breeze freshened. We are now about thirty miles to the southward of the place where the cable parted on the second of August, 1865, having then paid out one thousand two hundred and thirteen miles. Captain Anderson read divine service in the dining saloon.

"Monday.—Between six and seven p.m. yesterday, we passed over the deepest part of our course. There was no additional strain on the dynamometer, which indicated from ten to fourteen hundred, the cable going out with its accustomed regularity. The wind still fresh from the north-west. During the night it went round to the southwest, and this morning there is a long roll from the southward.

"At forty-six minutes past eleven a.m., Mr. Cyrus Field sent a message to Valentia, requesting Mr. Glass to obtain the latest news from Egypt, India, and China, and other distant countries, so that on our arrival at Heart's Content we shall be able to transmit it to the principal cities of the United States. In just eight minutes he had a reply in these words: 'Your message received, and is in London by this.' Outside the telegraph room there is a placard put up, on which is posted the news shortly after its arrival, and groups of the crew may be seen reading it, just as we see a crowd at a newspaper office in London. Mr. Dudley, the artist, has made a very spirited sketch of 'Jack' reading the morning news, for he is supplied with the latest intelligence from the seat of war twice a day![B] How he will grumble when he gets ashore! He is not going to pay a pound a word for news, but his newspapers will supply it to him, and he does not know or care what it costs. But what a sum has been spent in Atlantic telegraphs! It cannot now fall short of two millions and a half of pounds, or over twelve millions of dollars. More millions will be found if it shall be practically proved that America can permanently talk to England, and through her to the eastern hemisphere, and England to America by this ocean wire. At a quarter to twelve to-day but two hundred and fifteen miles of cable remained to be paid out of the fore tank. To-morrow night we hope to see it empty—then, for a small supply from the main tank, and then——but, hopeful though we are, let us not anticipate.

"Tuesday.—Breakfast at eight. Lunch at one. Dinner at six. Tea at eight. Five hundred and two souls who live on board this huge ship following their prescribed occupations. Cable going out merrily. Electrical tests and signals perfect, and this is the history of what has taken place from noon yesterday to noon to-day. May we have three days more of such delightful monotony! It rained very hard during yesterday evening, and as we approach the Banks of Newfoundland we get thick and hazy weather."

The latter part of the voyage did not fulfil in all respects the promise of the first. The bright skies were gone; and instead perpetual fog hung over the water, while often the clouds poured down their floods. Thus the diary continues:

"Wednesday.—Fog and thick rain—just the weather to expect on approaching the Banks of Newfoundland. The convoy keep their position, and though sometimes the fog hides the ships from our view, yet we know where they are by their signal-whistles—two from the Terrible, three from the Medway, and four from the Albany, which are replied to by the prolonged single shriek from our whistle. At fifty-two minutes past one, Greenwich time (ship's time, forty-five minutes past ten p.m., last night), the fore tank being nearly empty, preparations were made for passing the bight of the cable into the main tank. At fifteen minutes past two all the jockey-wheels of the paying-out machinery were up, and the brakes released. Twenty-three minutes past two the bight was passed steadily and cautiously by the cable hands outside of the trough to the main tank, and at thirty-five minutes past two the splice went over the stern in 1542.8 fathoms. By arrangement with Sir James Hope, the admiral of the North-American station, who has received instructions from the Admiralty to give the present expedition every assistance in his power, a frigate or sloop will be placed in longitude 48°, 25', 52", which is just thirty miles from the entrance of Trinity Bay, and sixty from Heart's Content. She will probably hang on by a kedge in that position, which shows the 'fair way' right up the bay; and if it be clear, we ought to see her about daybreak on Friday morning. The fog was very thick this morning, but occasionally lifts; as long as the wind is from south-west we cannot expect clear weather."

As the week drew on, it was evident that they were approaching the end of their voyage. By Thursday they had passed the great depths of the Atlantic, and were off soundings. Besides their daily observations, there were many signs, well known to mariners, that they were near the coast. There were the sea-birds, and they could almost snuff the smell of the land, such as once greeted the sharp senses of Columbus, and made him sure that he was floating to some undiscovered shore. Captain Anderson had timed his departure so that he should approach the American coast at the full moon; but for the last two or three nights, as the round orb rose behind them, banks of cloud hung so heavily upon the water, that the moonlight only gleamed faintly through the vaporous air, and the fleet seemed like the phantom ships of the Ancient Mariner, drifting on through fog and mist.

"Thursday.—All day yesterday it was as 'thick as mustard.' We have had now forty-eight hours of fog. Though it lifted a little this morning, at five a.m., it still looks like more of it. Captain Anderson signalled to the Albany, at fifteen minutes past ten last night, to start at daybreak, and proceed to discover the station ship, and report us at hand. Should she fail to find her, then to try and make the land and guide us up Trinity Bay. Another signal was sent at half-past twelve to the effect that the Terrible and Medway would be sent ahead to meet the Albany and establish a line to lead us in even with a fog. The Albany started at half-past three. At forty-five minutes past four, Greenwich time, the cable engineer in charge took one weight off each brake of the paying-out machinery. At forty minutes past seven all weights taken off, the assumed depth being three hundred fathoms. The indicated strain on the dynamometer gradually decreasing. Speed of ship five knots. We are going to try and pick up the cable of 1865 in two thousand five hundred fathoms (and we mean to succeed too); therefore should the cable we are now paying out part, it can be understood how easy it would be to raise it from a depth of three hundred fathoms. At fifty-five minutes past eight we signalled to the Terrible to sound, and received a reply, one hundred and sixty fathoms. At half-past eleven we informed her that when at the buoy off Heart's Content she should have her paddle-box boat and two cutters ready to be alongside immediately, for holding the bight of the cable during the splice and laying the shore end. The Medway was told at the same time to prepare two five-inch ropes, and two large mushroom anchors, with fifty fathoms of chain, for anchoring during the splice in one hundred and seventy fathoms of water, and we intimated to her that when inside of Trinity Bay we should signal for two boats to take hands on board her for shore end. News of to-day, telegram from Mr. Glass in reply to one from Mr. Canning: I congratulate you all most sincerely on your arrival in one hundred and thirty fathoms. I hope nothing will interfere to mar the hitherto brilliant success, and that the cable will be landed to-morrow.'"

As the voyage is about to end, we give the distances run from day to day, which show a remarkable uniformity of progress:

From this it appears that the speed of the ship was exactly according to the running time fixed before she left England. On the last voyage it was thought that she had once or twice run too fast, and thus exposed the cable to danger. It was, therefore, decided to go slowly but surely. Holding her back to this moderate pace, her average speed, from the time the splice was made till they saw land, was a little less than five nautical miles an hour, while the cable was paid out at an average of not quite five and a half miles. Thus the total slack was about eleven per cent, showing that the cable was laid almost in a straight line, allowing for the swells and hollows in the bottom of the sea.

"Friday, July 27th.—Shortly after two p.m., yesterday, two ships, which were soon made out to be steamers, were seen to the westward; and the Terrible, steaming on ahead, in about an hour signalled to us that H.M.S. Niger was one of them, accompanied by the Albany. The Niger, Captain Bruce, sent a boat to the Terrible as soon as he came up with her. The Albany shortly afterward took up her position on our starboard quarter, and signalled that she spoke the Niger at noon, bearing E. by N., and that the Lily was anchored at the station in the entrance of Trinity Bay, as arranged with the Admiral. The Albany also reported that she had passed an iceberg about sixty feet high. At twenty minutes after four p.m., the Niger came on our port side, quite close, and Captain Bruce, sending the crew to the rigging and manning the yards, gave us three cheers, which were heartily returned by the Great Eastern. She then steamed ahead toward Trinity Bay. The Albany was signalled to go on immediately to Heart's Content, clear the northeast side of the harbor of shipping, and place a boat with a red flag for Captain Anderson to steer to, for anchorage. Just before dinner we saw on the southern horizon, distant about ten miles, an iceberg, probably the one which the Albany met with. It was apparently about fifty or sixty feet in height. The fog came on very thick about eight p.m., and between that and ten we were constantly exchanging guns and burning blue lights with the Terrible, which, with the Niger, went in search of the Lily, station ship. The Terrible being signalled to come up and take her position, informed us they had made the Lily out, and that she bore then about E.N.E. distant four miles. Later in the night Captain Commerill said that if Captain Anderson would stop the Great Eastern, he would send the surveyor Mr. Robinson, R. N., who came out in the Niger, on board of us, and about three the engines were slowed, and the Terrible shortly afterwards came alongside with that officer. Catalina light, at the entrance of Trinity Bay, had been made out three hours before this, and the loom of the coast had also been seen. Fog still prevailing! According to Mr. Robinson's account, if they got one clear day in seven at the entrance of Trinity Bay, they considered themselves fortunate. Here we are now (six a.m.), within ten miles of Heart's Content, and we can scarcely see more than a ship's length. The Niger, however, is ahead, and her repeated guns tell us where we are with accuracy. Good fortune follows us, and scarcely has eight o'clock arrived when the massive curtain of fog raises itself gradually from both shores of Trinity Bay, disclosing to us the entrance of Heart's Content, the Albany making for the harbor, the Margaretta Stevenson, surveying vessel, steaming out to meet us, the preÄrranged pathway all marked with buoys by Mr. J. H. Kerr, R. N., and a whole fleet of fishing boats fishing at the entrance.

"We could now plainly see that Heart's Content, so far as its capabilities permitted, was prepared to welcome us. The British and American flags floated from the church and telegraph station and other buildings. We had dressed ship, fired a salute, and given three cheers, and Captain Commerill of H.M.S. Terrible was soon on board to congratulate us on our success. At nine o'clock, ship's time, just as we had cut the cable and made arrangements for the Medway to lay the shore end, a message arrived giving us the concluding words of a leader in this morning's Times: 'It is a great work, a glory to our age and nation, and the men who have achieved it deserve to be honored among the benefactors of their race.'—'Treaty of peace signed between Prussia and Austria!' It was now time for the chief engineer, Mr. Canning, to make the necessary preparations for splicing on board the Medway. Accompanied by Mr. Gooch, M.P., Mr. Clifford, Mr. Willoughby Smith, and Messrs. Temple and Deane, he went on board, the Terrible and Niger having sent their paddle-box boats and cutters to assist. Shortly afterward the Great Eastern steamed into the harbor and anchored on the north-east side, and was quickly surrounded by boats laden with visitors. Mr. Cyrus Field had come on shore before the Great Eastern had left the offing, with a view of telegraphing to St. John's to hire a vessel to repair the cable unhappily broken between Cape Ray, in Newfoundland, and Cape North, in Breton Island. Before a couple of hours the shore end will be landed, and it is impossible to conceive a finer day for effecting this our final operation. Even here, people can scarcely realize the fact that the Atlantic Telegraph Cable has been laid. To-morrow, however, Heart's Content[C] will awaken to the fact that it is a highly favored place in the world's esteem, the western landing-place of that marvel of electric communication with the Eastern hemisphere, which is now happily, and we hope finally, established."

This simple record, so modestly termed the Diary of the Expedition, tells the story of this memorable voyage in a way that needs no embellishment. But if from the ship's deck we transfer ourselves to the shore, we may get a new impression of the closing scene. We can well believe the sensation of wonder and almost of awe, on the morning when the ships entered that little harbor of Newfoundland. In England the progress of the expedition was known from day to day, but on this side of the ocean all was uncertainty. Some had gone to Heart's Content, hoping to witness the arrival of the fleet, but not so many as the year before, for the memory of the last failure was too fresh, and they feared another disappointment. But still a faithful few were there, who kept their daily watch. The correspondents of the American papers report only a long and anxious suspense, till the morning when the first ship was seen in the offing. As they looked toward her, she came nearer—and see, there is another and another! And now the hull of the Great Eastern loomed up all glorious in the morning sky. They were coming! Instantly all was wild excitement on shore. Boats put off to row toward the fleet. The Albany was the first to round the point and enter the bay. The Terrible was close behind. The Medway stopped an hour or two to join on the heavy shore end, while the Great Eastern, gliding calmly in as if she had done nothing remarkable, dropped her anchor in front of the telegraph house, having trailed behind her a chain of two thousand miles, to bind the Old World to the New.

That same afternoon, as soon as the shore end was landed, Captain Anderson and the officers of the fleet went in a body to the little church in Heart's Content, to render thanks for the success of the expedition. A sermon was preached on the text, "There shall be no more sea," and all joined in the sublime prayers and thanksgivings of the Church of England. Thus the voyage ended as it began. It left the shores of Ireland with prayers wafted after it as a benediction. And now, safely landed on the shores of the New World, this gallant company, like Columbus and his companions, made it their first thought to render homage to the Being who had borne them safely across the deep.

But though their voyage was ended, there was still a work to be done. Having crossed the Atlantic, the first thing was to open communication with the cities of the United States. And now Mr. Field was extremely mortified to find that there was a large gap in the line this side of the ocean. His first question to the Superintendent, who came out in a boat to meet him, was in regard to the cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which had been interrupted the year before; and it was a bitter pang to hear that it lay still broken, so that a message which came from Ireland in a moment of time, was delayed twenty-four hours in its way to New York. Of course the public grew impatient, and there were many sneers at the want of foresight which had failed to provide against such a contingency; and, as he was the one chiefly known in connection with the enterprise, these reproaches fell upon him. He did not tell the public, what was the truth, that he had anticipated this very trouble long ago, and entreated his associates to be prepared for it. Months before he left for England, he urged upon the Company in New York the necessity of rebuilding their lines in Newfoundland, which had been standing over ten years, and of repairing the old cable, and also laying a new one across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. But this would cost a large sum of money, and as their faith and purses had been sorely tried by repeated disasters, they were not willing to spend more in the uncertainty of the future. They wished to see the result of this new expedition, before advancing further capital. We do not blame them, but only mention the fact to show that Mr. Field had foreseen this very thing, and endeavored to guard against it.

But regrets were idle. What could he do to repair the injury? "Is there a steamer," he asked, "to be had in these waters?" "The Bloodhound is at St. John's." "Telegraph instantly to charter her to go around to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and fish up the old cable and repair it. But that may take several weeks. Is there nothing else that can serve in the mean time to carry despatches across the Gulf?" "There is a little steamer, called the Dauntless." "Well, telegraph for her too. Secure her at all hazards; only see that the work is done." All this was the work of a few minutes. The answers came back quickly, and in a day or two came the steamers themselves. The arrangement was immediately carried out. The Dauntless took her place in the Gulf, where she made her regular trips from Port au Basque, in Newfoundland, to Aspee Bay, in Cape Breton, keeping up daily communication with the States. The Bloodhound, which had a more difficult task, first took on board eleven miles of cable from the Great Eastern, to repair that which was broken. The expedition was put in charge of Mr. A. M. Mackay, the indefatigable Superintendent of the Company in Newfoundland, who had had the care of their lines for ten years. He sailed for Aspee Bay, and made short work of the business, dragging the Gulf and raising the cable, which he found had been broken by an anchor, in water seventy fathoms deep, a few miles from shore. This was spliced out with a portion of the new cable, and the whole was as perfect as ever, giving a fresh proof that cables well made are likely to be permanent, if not indestructible.

Meanwhile, owing to this interruption of the cable across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the news of the success of the expedition, which reached Newfoundland on Friday, the twenty-seventh, did not reach New York till the twenty-ninth. It was early Sunday morning, before the Sabbath bells had rung their call to prayer, that the tidings came. The first announcement was brief: "Heart's Content, July 27.—We arrived here at nine o'clock this morning. All well. Thank God, the cable is laid, and is in perfect working order.

Cyrus W. Field."

Soon followed the despatch to the Associated Press, giving the details of the voyage, and ending with a just tribute to the skill and devotion of all who had contributed to its success. Said Mr. Field: "I cannot find words suitable to convey my admiration for the men who have so ably conducted the nautical, engineering, and electrical departments of this enterprise, amidst difficulties which must be seen to be appreciated. In fact, all on board of the telegraph fleet, and all connected with the enterprise, have done their best to have the cable made and laid in a perfect condition; and He who rules the winds and the waves has crowned their united efforts with perfect success."

Other despatches followed in quick succession, giving the latest events of the war in Europe, which startled the public just reading news a fortnight old. All this confirmed the great triumph, and filled every heart with wonder and gratitude on the Sunday morning, as they went again to the little church and rendered thanks to Him who is Lord of the earth and sea.

While the Great Eastern was lying in the harbor of Heart's Content, she was overrun with visitors. The news of her arrival had spread over the island, and from far and near the people flocked to see her. Over the hills they came on foot and on horseback, and in wagons and carts of every description; and from along the shore in boats and fishing-smacks, and sloops and schooners. They came from the most remote parts of the island—a distance of three hundred miles—and even from the province of New Brunswick. Several parties made the excursion in steamers from St. John's. The wondering country folk climbed up the sides of the ship, and wandered for hours through its spacious rooms and long passages. All were welcomed with hearty sailor courtesy.

As soon as communication was opened with New York, and other cities, congratulations poured in from every quarter. Friendly messages were exchanged—as eight years before—between the sovereign of England and the head of the Great Republic. The President also, and Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, sent their congratulations to Mr. Field—greetings that were repeated from the most distant States. Among others was a message from San Francisco, which was put into his hand almost at the same moment with one from M. de Lesseps, dated at Alexandria in Egypt! What a meeting and mingling of voices was this, when a winged salutation flying over the tops of the Rocky Mountains, reached the same ear with a message which had been whispered along the Mediterranean and under the Atlantic: when the farthest East touched the farthest West—the most ancient of kingdoms answering to the new-born empire of the Pacific.