It took us till the evening to reach the buoys,
get the cable on board, test the first half, speak to Lowestoft,
make the splice, and start. H- had not finished his work at
Norderney, so I was alone on board for Reuter. Moreover the buoys
to guide us in our course were not placed, and the captain had very
vague ideas about keeping his course; so I had to do a good deal,
and only lay down as I was for two hours in the night. I managed
to run the course perfectly. Everything went well, and we found
Norderney just where we wanted it next afternoon, and if the shore
end had been laid, could have finished there and then, October 1st.
But when we got to Norderney, we found the CAROLINE with shore end
lying apparently aground, and could not understand her signals; so
we had to anchor suddenly and I went off in a small boat with the
captain to the CAROLINE. It was cold by this time, and my arm was
rather stiff and I was tired; I hauled myself up on board the
CAROLINE by a rope and found H- and two men on board. All the rest
were trying to get the shore end on shore, but had failed and
apparently had stuck on shore, and the waves were getting up.
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