perchainsidepushedout。Thesemuchdiminishthevalueofthecable，astheymustallbecutout，thegutta—perchamadegood，andthecablespliced。Theyarisefromthecablehavingbeenbadlylaiddownsothatitformsfoldsandtailsatthebottomofthesea。Thesekinkshaveanotherdisadvantage：theyweakenthecableverymuch。—Ataboutsixo’clock[P。M。]wehadsometwelvemileslifted，whenIwenttothebows;thekinkswereexceedinglytightandweregivingwayinamostalarmingmanner。Igotacageriggeduptopreventtheend（ifitbroke）fromhurtinganyone，andsatdownonthebowsprit，thinkingIshoulddescribekinkstoAnnie：—
suddenlyIsawagreatmanycoilsandkinksaltogetheratthesurface。Ijumpedtothegutta—perchapipe，byblowingthroughwhichthesignalisgiventostoptheengine。Iblow，buttheenginedoesnotstop;again—noanswer：thecoilsandkinksjaminthebowsandIrushaftshoutingstop。Toolate：thecablehadpartedandmustlieinpeaceatthebottom。Someonehadpulledthegutta—perchatubeacrossabarepartofthesteampipeandmeltedit。Ithadbeenusedhundredsoftimesinthelastfewdaysandgavenosymptomsoffailing。Ibelievethecablemusthavegoneatanyrate;however，sinceitwentinmywatchandsinceImighthavesecuredthetubingmorestrongly，Ifeelrathersad……
’June28。
’SinceIcouldnotgotoAnnieItookdownShakespeare，andbythetimeIhadfinishedANTONYANDCLEOPATRA，readthesecondhalfofTROILUSandgotsomewayinCORIOLANUS，Ifeltitwaschildishtoregrettheaccidenthadhappenedinmywatch，andmoreoverIfeltmyselfnotmuchtoblameinthetubingmatter—ithadbeentorndown，ithadnotfallendown;soIwenttobed，andsleptwithoutfretting，andwokethismorninginthesamegoodmood—forwhichthankyouandourfriendShakespeare。IamhappytosayMr。
Liddellsaidthelossofthecabledidnotmuchmatter;thoughthiswouldhavebeennoconsolationhadIfeltmyselftoblame。—ThismorningwehavegrappledforandfoundanotherlengthofsmallcablewhichMr。—droppedin100fathomsofwater。Ifthisalsogetsfullofkinks，weshallprobablyhavetocutitafter10milesorso，ormoreprobablystillitwillpartofitsownfreewillorweight。