tely put about and returned to England, where Mr. Field
at once informed the directors of the extent of the disaster. The
remaining portions of the cable were landed and stored safely away, and
the vessels were returned to their respective Governments. Orders were
given for the manufacture of seven hundred miles of cable to replace the
portion which had been lost, and to allow for waste in paying it out,
and the most energetic preparations were made for another attempt.

Being satisfied that the machine used for paying out the cable was
defective, Mr. Field went to Washington and procured from the Navy
Department the services of Mr. Wm. E. Everett, the chief engineer of the
"Niagara," stating to that gentleman the necessity for a new machine,
and urging him to invent it. This Mr. Everett succeeded in doing during
the winter. His machine was regarded as a great improvement on that
which had been used on the "Niagara." "It was much smaller and lighter.
It would take up only about one third as much room on the deck, and had
only one fourth the weight of the old machine. Its construction was much
more simple. Instead of four heavy wheels, it had but two, and these
were made to revolve with ease, and without danger of sudden check, by
the application of what were known as self-releasing brakes. These were
the invention of Mr. Appold, of London, a gentleman of fortune, but with
a strong taste for mechanics, which led him to spend his time and wealth
in exercising his mechanical ingenuity. These brakes were so adjusted as
to bear only a certain strain, when they released themselves. This
ingenious contrivance was applied by Mr. Everett to the paying-out
machinery. The strength of the cable was such that it would not break
except under a pressure of a little over three tons. The machinery was
so adjusted that not more than half that strain could possibly come upon
the cable, when the brakes would relax their grasp, the wheels revolve
easily, and the cable run out into the sea 'at its own sweet will.' The
paying-out machine, therefore, we are far from claiming as wholly an
American invention. This part of the mechanism was English. The merit of
Mr. Everett lay in the skill with which he adapted it to the laying of
the Atlantic cable, and in his great improvements of other parts of the
machinery. The whole construction, as it afterward stood upon the decks
of the 'Niagara' and the 'Agamemnon,' was the combined product of
English a