3-028-158 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Brisk telegraph-ship at her moorings in the Channel, 1870. 'Her Majesty's ship Brisk, granted by the Admiralty to the International Mid-Channel Telegraph Company, has been moored at the entrance to the English Channel, in about fifty fathom of water, by Rear-Admiral Hall, C.B. She lies forty-nine miles N.E. ½ E. from Land's End, and fifty-six miles E. by N. ½ N. from the Lizard. At the top of her mainmast a large black cone will be hoisted during the daytime, and a powerful globular light at night, elevated thirty feet above the sea. A flaring light will also be shown every fifteen minutes from an hour after sunset till an hour before sunrise. During foggy weather, day and night, a bell will be rung for half a minute every quarter of an hour, and a gun will be fired every quarter of an hour for the first six months, and after that date every hour. The vessel will also have on board a stock of provisions and a supply of coal for vessels in immediate need. A steam-tug, having her headquarters at Penzance, is attached, to attend to orders by telegraph from the telegraph-ship'. From "Illustrated London News", 1870.