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
every one 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, etc., 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 in round the _Elba_ to try and help them, letting go the
anchor in the shallowest possible water; this was about sunset.
Suddenly some one 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 it 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 engin