- 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.
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