I feel rather sad....

"_June 28._

"Since I could not go to Annie I took down Shakespeare, and by the
time I had finished _Antony and Cleopatra_, read the second half of
_Troilus_ and got some way in _Coriolanus_, I felt it was childish to
regret the accident had happened in my watch, and moreover I felt
myself not much to blame in the tubing matter--it had been torn down,
it had not fallen down; so I went to bed, and slept without fretting,
and woke this morning in the same good mood--for which thank you and
our friend Shakespeare. I am happy to say Mr. Liddell said the loss of
the cable did not much matter; though this would have been no
consolation had I felt myself to blame.--This morning we have grappled
for and found another length of small cable which Mr. ---- dropped in
100 fathoms of water. If this also gets full of kinks, we shall
probably have to cut it after 10 miles or so, or, more probably still,
it will part of its own free will or weight.

"10 P.M.--This second length of three-wire cable soon got into the
same condition as its fellow--_i.e._ came up twenty kinks an hour--and
after seven miles were in, parted on the pulley over the bows at one
of the said kinks: during my watch again, but this time no earthly
power could have saved it. I had taken all manner of precautions to
prevent the end doing any damage when the smash came, for come I knew
it must. We now return to the six-wire cable. As I sat watching the
cable to-night, large phosphorescent globes kept rolling from it and
fading in the black water.

"_29th._

"To-day we returned to the buoy we had left at the end of the six-wire
cable, and after much trouble from a series of tangles, got a fair
start at noon. You will easily believe a tangle of iron rope inch and
a half diameter is not easy to unravel, especially with a ton or so
hanging to the ends. It is now eight o'clock, and we have about six
and a half miles safe: it becomes very exciting, however, for the
kinks are coming fast and furious.

"_July 2._

"Twenty-eight miles safe in the hold. The ship is now so deep that the
men are to be turned out of their aft hold, and the remainder coiled
there; so the good _Elba's_ nose need not burrow too far into the
waves. There can only be about 10 or 12 miles more, but these weigh 80
or 100 tons.

"_July 5._

"Our first mate was much hurt in