All this is very tiresome for
me. The buoying and dredging are managed entirely by W-, who has
had much experience in this sort of thing; so I have not enough to
do and get very homesick. At noon the wind freshened and the sea
rose so high that we had to run for land and are once more this
evening anchored at Chia.
'June 24.
'The whole day spent in dredging without success. This operation
consists in allowing the ship to drift slowly across the line where
you expect the cable to be, while at the end of a long rope, fast
either to the bow or stern, a grapnel drags along the ground. This
grapnel is a small anchor, made like four pot-hooks tied back to
back. When the rope gets taut, the ship is stopped and the grapnel
hauled up to the surface in the hopes of finding the cable on its
prongs. - I am much discontented with myself for idly lounging
about and reading WESTWARD HO! for the second time, instead of
taking to electricity or picking up nautical information.
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