Henry Honeychruch Gorringe
NYC – Cleopatra’s Needle http://imagerysmith.wordpress.com/
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NYC – Cleopatra’s Needlehttp://imagerysmith.wordpress.com/by: ImagerySmith May 3, 2012 Location: Upon Graywacke Knoll, Central Park, NY, NY (near the Metropolitan Museum of Art). Built: Nearly 3,500 years ago from Red Aswan granite. Description: Cleopatra’s Needle in New York City was originally hewn out of a granite quarry in Aswan, Egypt around 1443 BC. A matching set of these obelisks was prepared for Pharaoh Thutmosis III’s Heb Sed and set in front of the Temple of the Sun, Lunu, Egypt (Place of Pillars). Each obelisk weighs about 220 tons, stands over 69 feet tall, with an 8-foot base and is set upon a 50-ton pedestal. Around 13 BC, the pair of obelisks was moved to Cleopatra’s Caesareum in Alexandria, Egypt by Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus. The damaged corners of these obelisks were “held up” (shimmed) by four specially-cast bronze crabs inscribed in Greek and Roman text that name the architect and builder who re-erected the obelisks and that they were done so on behalf of Emperor Augustus. 
Recast bronze copies of the original crabs inscribed with William H. Vanderbilt’s Name (keeping the tradition of naming those responsible for the re-placement of the obelisk) (Source: ImagerySmith) 
Detail of Crab Claws (Source: ImagerySmith) On May 18th, 1879, Egypt officially gifted the other obelisk to the United States for recognition of increased trade between the two countries. 
Obelisk in Alexandria, Egypt (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) 
Excavated Base of Obelisk in Alexandria, Egypt (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) The United States wasted little time in arranging transport for their treasure from Egypt (financed by a generous donation from William H. Vanderbilt of $100,000). 
Obelisk removed from base in Alexandria, Egypt On December 6, 1879 (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) After moving the obelisk along a seven-mile trip from the Caesareum site in Alexandria to the shipyard, the steamship SS Dessoug finally departed Alexandria Egypt with the obelisk onboard on July 12, 1880. The Dessoug was heavily modified with a large hole cut into the starboard side of its bow. The obelisk was loaded through this, where it was rolled upon cannonballs to somewhat ease this arduous task. 
Drawing showing the steamship Dessoug’s precious cargo (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) Despite a few setbacks during the voyage, not the least of which was a broken propeller, the SS Dessoug landed at Staten Island on July 20th 1880 from Egypt. 
Unloading the Obelisk from within the SS Dessoug in New York City (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) 
The Obelisk beginning its overland journey from the Hudson River and 96th Street (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York) From July 1880 through January 1881, the obelisk was slowly transported through the streets of New York City. In typical New York City fashion, the city’s occupants took the opportunity to throw a perpetual six-month long block party which followed the slow route of the obelisk. 
A hand-drawn map of the obelisk’s route through New York City (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) The last section leading to Graywacke Knoll was accomplished along a trestle, upon which the obelisk was pushed by steam engine across the unfavorable terrain to its final destination. 
The Obelisk along a trestle bridge leading to Graywacke Knoll, New York, New York [Jan 1881] On January 1881, the obelisk was set upon its base by way of an engineering structure built by Henry Honychurch Gorringe. This structure flipped the obelisk from horizontal to vertical, seating it upon its base in Central Park. 
Obelisk on Henry Honychurch Gorringe’s Turning Structure (Source: Livingston Masonic Library, New York, New York) 
Illustration of Cornerstone Laying from Masonic Outlook – Jan 1930  
Bronze Medal struck for the Presentation of the Obelisk, 22 Jan 1881 by the American Numismatic and Archaeological Society of the City of New York
DISCIPULUS EST PRIORI -- POSTERIOR DIES; Obelisk, eagle seated on arms, shield. Reverse PRESENTED TO THE UNITED STATES BY ISMAIL KHEDIVE OF EGYPT/ 1881; Quarried at Syene / and erected at Heliopolis by / THOTHMES III / re-erected at ALEXANDRIA / under AUGUSTUS / removed to New York / through the liberality of / W. H. Vanderbilt / by the skill / Lieu. Com. H. H. Gorringe U.S.N. http://numismatics.org/search/results?q=subjectPerson_facet:%22Vanderbilt,%20W.H.%22 -----
Egyptian obelisks by Henry Honeychurch Gorringe http://books.google.com/books?id=cRgjAQAAMAAJ&pg=PP12&lpg=PR8-IA56&ots=IrJhvZIh6Q&focus=viewport&dq=%22egyptian+obelisk%22++%22commandery%22&output=text LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PLATE FACING PAGE
I.— The Alexandrian obelisk, "Cleopatra's Needle." Alexandria, Egypt, October, 1879. ........ Artotype. 1 II.— Elevation of the obelisk, raised from pedestal, with machinery in position for turning. Alexandria. Photo-engraving. 2 III. — Side elevation. Preparations for releasing machinery. Alexandria. “ 2 IV. — Excavations at Alexandria, showing pedestal, steps and position of crabs. Artotype. 4 V.—The crabs as found. 6 VI.— The staging. November 5, 1879. 7 VII.— The obelisk encased and stayed. The hoisting shears with trunnions suspended to them. Artotype 10 VIII.— Turning the obelisk. December 6, 1879. “ 12 IX. — The obelisk horizontal. December 6, 1879. “ 14 X. — City and port of Alexandria. The overland route proposed. The water route followed. Photo-engraving 16 XI. — Steps and pedestal. Section and plan. “ 18 XII. — Preparations for launching. Section through caisson and obelisk. Caisson afloat. Alexandria “ 20 XIII. — Embarking the pedestal. Artotype 22 XIV. — Embarking the obelisk. “ 24 XV. — Embarking the obelisk. Section and plan. Photo-engraving 24 XVI. — The steamer “Dessoug,” with obelisk on board, ready for departure from Alexandria. Artotype 26 XVII. — Debarking the pedestal. New York. “ 28 XVIII. — Trucking the pedestal. ” 30 a. — Laying the corner-stone. “ 32 XIX. — Obelisk on pontoons entering landing stage at 96th Street, New York. Section and plan of disembarking stage. Photo-engraving 34 XX, — Disembarking the obelisk. Artotype 36 XXI. — Cross section through obelisk and pontoons. Side elevation of obelisk and pontoons. Photo-engraving 38 XXII. — Obelisk crossing the Hudson River Railroad. Artotype 40 XXIII. — Route of the obelisk in New York. Photo-engraving 42 XXIV. — Land transportation. Turning apparatus. Trestle in Central Park. “ 44 c. — Iron channels and marine railway. “ 46 XXV.— Transporting the obelisk. Artotype. 48 XXVI.— Obelisk crossing main drive in Central Park. “ 50 XXVII.— Turning the obelisk. The obelisk horizontal. . "52 D.—Turning the obelisk. Turned 45°. “ 54 XXVIII.— Placing the obelisk on its pedestal in Central Park, January 22, 1881. Photo-engraving. 56 XXIX.— The New York obelisk. Artotype. 58 XXX.— The four faces of the pyramidion. “ 62 XXXI.— The four sides of the obelisk. “ 64 XXXII— Antique model of the temple of On (Heliopolis). “ 70 E.— Portrait of Cleopatra, photographed from her coins. “ 72 XXXIII. — French apparatus for lowering and erecting the Luxor obelisk. Photo-engraving. 84 XXXIV. — Embarkation of the French obelisk. “ 86 XXXV.— The English method of erecting the London obelisk. “ 104 XXXVI.— The English cylinder for sea transport. “ 106 XXXVII.— The London obelisk. Artotype. 108 XXXVIII.— Apparatus for transporting and erecting the Vatican obelisk. Photo-engraving. 112 XXXIX.— The remaining obelisk and ruins of temple at Luxor. Artotype 120 XL.— The obelisks at Karnak. “ 122 XLI.— The obelisk at Heliopolis and Pompey's Pillar at Alexandria. “ 124 XLII.— The Constantinople and Paris obelisks. “ 126 XLIII.— The twelve Roman obelisks. “ 128 Re-erecting the Constantinople obelisk in the fourth century A.D. 159 XLIV.— Thin sections of the New York obelisk in polarized light. Chromo-lithograph. 162 XLV.— The Khedives Ismail and Tewfik. Artotype. 175
CHAPTER I REMOVAL OF THE NEW YORK OBELISK
THE standing obelisk of Alexandria was generally the first and the last of Egypt's numerous monuments to be visited by travelers. The accompanying illustration recalls the feeling of disgust aroused by some of its surroundings. Something more than curiosity was needed to induce one to approach near enough and remain long enough to examine and appreciate it. Situated in the outskirts of the city, near the Ramleh railway depot, it was a familiar object to the foreign element, many of whom live at Ramleh and passed it twice, often four times a day; and yet no one deemed it worthy of protection and care, even to the extent of preventing its defacement and the accumulation of offal around it. Two men made a business of breaking pieces from the angle of the shaft and edges of the intaglios for sale to relic hunters. The disagreeable odors and clamors for backsheesh 1 hastened the departure of strangers, who rarely devoted more than a few seconds to its examination. It would be impossible for any thing to have been more neglected and less appreciated than was the Alexandrian obelisk by the residents of Alexandria and tourists who passed through the city en route to the Nile. 1 Arabic for gift. There is, however, much that is attractive and worthy of attention in its former surroundings. The Arab fort, to the left in the picture, stands on the ruins of one of those magnificent structures that adorned the ancient city and made second only to Rome in the beginning of the Christian era. The shore is strewn with huge blocks of granite, syenite, and marble, many of them covered with Egyptian hieroglyphs and Greek and Roman inscriptions. Fragments of columns and capitals lie scattered about and buried in the debris that has accumulated in the vicinity; the bottom of the sea is so cumbered with the ruins of these structures that the shore is difficult to approach, even in a small boat, nearer than half a mile. The foundation of one very large building is distinctly traceable under water when the sea is smooth; and about one hundred yards from the beach there is a broken column sticking up from the bottom of the sea, nearly equal in diameter to Pompey's pillar. This was the quarter of the royal palaces, which included the gymnasium, the museum, containing the famous library, and the Caesareum. It was at the entrance to the last-mentioned that the Romans, to commemorate their conquests, re-erected the obelisks that had been removed from the ancient Egyptian temple of On, at Heliopolis. Nothing could have been more out of place and less in keeping with the purposes for which it was designed than was the obelisk as it stood at Alexandria. The gradual subsidence of the land in this part of North Africa has caused the sea to approach nearer to the site of the obelisk, until it was about eighty feet from the base, and its level about the same as that of the lower step. The constant washings of the surf had begun to affect the foundation, and for the last fifteen years the obelisk has been gradually inclining more and more toward the sea. In a few years it must have fallen, and almost certainly have been broken by the fall. But a more ignoble fate threatened it, in the proposition of some of the foreign residents of Alexandria to erect an apartment-house on the adjacent ground around the obelisk, which was to adorn the court-yard. Originally designed to symbolize the highest attribute of nature, the re-creative power; forming an essential feature of one of the most famous temples ever erected by man, in which Moses was educated and of which he became a high-priest; the votive offering of one of the most celebrated Pharaohs, and bearing the records of another equally celebrated, the obelisk had become a Roman trophy to commemorate the subjugation of Egypt, and was threatened either with destruction by neglect, or preservation as a means of advertising a hotel or apartment-house. His Highness, Ismail, the Khedive, who realized the importance of preserving so valuable and interesting a relic and record of the past, and his own inability to do so, merits the thanks not only of the nation to whom he intrusted its preservation, but of all those of every nation who appreciate the necessity of preserving such monuments as long as they will resist the ravages of time. Some objection has been made to removing it from its "antique surroundings." The most prominent surroundings in Alexandria were a railway depot, a new apartment-house, and an Arab fort. NEGOTIATIONS THAT LED TO THE GIFT AND ITS REMOVAL The first suggestion looking to the removal of an obelisk from Egypt to the United States was made by His Highness, Ismail, the Khedive of Egypt, at the time of the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, to Mr. William Henry Hurlbert. In September, 1877, after the removal of the prostrate obelisk of Alexandria to England by Mr. John Dixon, Mr. Louis Sterne of London, a friend of Mr. Dixon, being in New York, informed Mr. Hurlbert, then editor of the New York World, that Mr. Dixon, through his relations with Egypt, could secure the gift to the United States of the standing obelisk at Alexandria, and that he would be glad to do this, and to undertake to remove it to New York, if the cost of the operation could be defrayed. Mr. Hurlbert requested Mr. Sterne to open a correspondence on the subject with Mr. Dixon, which resulted in an understanding that Mr. Dixon would secure and bring to America the standing obelisk of Alexandria, if the sum of fifteen thousand pounds sterling could be guaranteed to him. After consulting with Mr. Chauncey M. Depew and Judge Ashbel Green, Mr. Hurlbert put himself in communication with Mr. William H. Vanderbilt, and Mr. Vanderbilt, as the result of a single conversation on the subject, liberally agreed to guarantee the payment of the sum named by Mr. Dixon. This was at once cabled to London by Mr. Hurlbert. A congratulatory reply by cable was received from Mr. Sterne in behalf of Mr. Dixon. But a correspondence followed from which it soon appeared that Mr. Dixon relied upon Mr. Hurlbert to secure the gift of the obelisk through the government of the United States. This materially changed the character of the negotiation; but finding Mr. Vanderbilt most willing to stand by his liberal offer as long as might be necessary to secure the desired result, Mr. Hurlbert consulted Mr. Evarts, then Secretary of State, who cordially agreed to instruct the agents of the State Department to undertake the matter. At the instance of Mr. Evarts, a letter was accordingly written to him as Secretary of State by Mr. Henry G. Stebbins, then Commissioner of Public Parks of New York City, requesting him to open negotiations with the Khedive for securing the standing obelisk of Alexandria for New York City. Mr. Evarts, in a letter dated October 19, 1877, wrote to Consul-General E. E. Farman that, "in view of the public object to be subserved, you are instructed to use all proper means of furthering the wishes expressed in Mr. Stebbins' letter," a copy of which was enclosed. In a letter dated November 24, 1877, Mr. Farman wrote to Mr. Evarts as follows: "I fear, however, that there will be serious opposition to the removal of the obelisk from the city of Alexandria, so much, in fact, that although the Khedive might personally desire to gratify the wishes of the citizens of New York, he would not think it best to grant their request." On March 4, 1878, Mr. Farman reported to Mr. Evarts that he had had an interview with the Khedive, who " made no special objection to the transportation of an obelisk to the city of New York," and that "during the conversation he (the Khedive) had said that he did not think it best to talk about the removal of the one at Alexandria, but he would take into consideration the question of one of those at Ancient Thebes." From March 4, 1878, to May 17, 1879, Mr. Farman was untiring in his efforts to obtain an obelisk. His negotiations were conducted verbally until the latter date, when the following correspondence ensued. 
The obelisk had been given to the United States and the money needed for its removal had been provided. Previously, however, I had become interested in the subject through a visit to Alexandria, where the removal of the fallen obelisk to London was frequently discussed. I communicated my intention to undertake the work of removal to no one but Lieutenant Seaton Schroeder, U. S. N., and obtained, under difficulties, the needed information from which to develop my plans. I examined those of the French officer, Lebas, who removed one of the Luxor obelisks to Paris, and those of Mr. Dixon, who removed the fallen obelisk to London, and rejected both as unsuited to the conditions under which the standing obelisk of Alexandria must be removed to New York. Careful development of original plans and an estimate of the cost of executing them resulted in an offer to Mr. Hurlbert to undertake the work, and, eventually, in the receipt, through Mr. Stebbins, of the following letter.
LIEUT. H. H. GORRINGE, U. S. Navy. Dear Sir: I have learned that you have or can procure the facilities to remove to the city of New York the obelisk now standing at Alexandria, in Egypt, known as "Cleopatra's Needle." As I desire that this obelisk may be secured for the city of New York, I make you the following proposition: If you will take down and remove said obelisk from its present position to this city, and place it on such site as may be selected with my approval by the Commissioners of Parks, and furnish and construct at your own expense on said site a foundation of mason work and granite base of such form and dimensions as said Commissioners and myself may approve, I will, on the completion of the whole work, pay to you seventy-five thousand dollars. It is understood, however, that there is to be no liability on my part until the obelisk shall be so received and placed in position in the city of New York, and the same to be in as good condition as it now is. It is understood, further, that this agreement binds also my executors and administrators; you to accept this proposition in writing on the receipt thereof, and agree to execute the same, and complete the work fully in every respect within one year from the date hereof. Very truly yours, (Signed) W. H. VANDERBILT.
DEAR Sir: I hereby acknowledge the receipt of your letter of August 4, 1879, relating to the removal of the obelisk from Alexandria, Egypt, to New York, and its erection on a site to be selected with your approval, and I accept the proposition and the conditions named therein. Very truly yours, (Signed) HENRY H. GORRINGE, Lieut.-Comdr., U. S. N. An almost insurmountable difficulty in securing the money to carry on the work ensued; but it was finally overcome by the tender of a sum sufficient to commence operations by a friend of many years' standing, Mr. Louis F. Whitin, of New York, who was unwilling to let such an important work escape me for want of means to undertake it. This essential preliminary having been arranged, a leave of absence was granted to me by the Navy Department at the request of Secretary Evarts, who also handed me the following letters.
This dispatch will be handed to you in person by Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, who is about to proceed to Egypt in fulfillment of the interesting and responsible task entrusted to him. I desire to bespeak for him all proper official and personal aid you can render him in his undertaking, and especially that you will accredit him to the government of the Khedive as the person authorized on behalf of this government to receive, in the name of the city of New York, and to convey thither, His Highness' generous gift. I am, sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) W. M. EVARTS. Department Of State, Washington, Aug. 21, 1879. N. D. COMANOS, Esquire, U. S. Vice-Consul-General at Cairo, Egypt. Sir: I have to inform you that Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe, of the United States Navy, has been detailed and directed by this government to proceed to Alexandria, Egypt, and receive the obelisk now standing in that city and known as Cleopatra's Needle and lately presented by the government of Egypt to the city of New York, and to transport the same to the last-named city. You are instructed to officially inform the Egyptian government, through its Minister of Foreign Affairs, that Lieutenant-Commander Gorringe is authorized, on the part of the government of the United States and as its representative, to receive and remove the obelisk. You will also extend to him such aid as you may be able to give and as he shall require in the accomplishment of his work. He will ship to Alexandria a considerable amount of machinery, lumber, etc., to be employed in removing the obelisk from its present position and placing it on board the steamer that will be sent to receive it, and you will aid him, if you are able to do so, in getting this machinery through the custom-house without payment of duties. As the machinery is only to be used in Egypt in removing and embarking the obelisk, and then is to be immediately re-shipped to the United States, this government does not think it should properly be subjected to duty. It will, however, be proper to follow such rules as have already been established in similar cases, for instance, in the case of the iron and other material used in the construction of the caisson and in the removal of the obelisk lately taken by Mr. Dixon to London, if the same was shipped to Alexandria expressly for that purpose. I am, sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) W. M. EVARTS. DEVELOPING THE PLANS The Paris and London obelisks were transported in vessels built expressly for the purpose. The "Luxor" was built of wood in Toulon, and sailed to Egypt; the "Cleopatra" was built of iron in London, and shipped in pieces to Alexandria. Neither of these vessels had adequate motive power. As the voyages they had to perform were coasting, and as it was not necessary for them to go out of sight of land or get beyond easy reach of safe harbors, there seemed no objection to their making the voyages in tow. Yet these voyages were made under the greatest difficulties; and the behavior of both vessels in a sea-way was very bad. The captain of the "Cleopatra" reported that she pitched sixteen times a minute. This is inexplicable, for the progressive motion of the waves and the speed of the vessel in an opposite direction would have to be exceptional to produce so many oscillations. The "Luxor" is reported to have rolled so violently that her crew had difficulty in holding on.
Its size was as embarrassing as its weight . No vessel has hatches that will admit a mass sixty-nine feet in length. It could not have been carried on deck in safety without strengthening the vessel at great expense. In the hold, below the water-line, was the only place where it could be securely stowed and safely transported, and how to get it there was the one thing on which the whole operation of removing it successfully turned. The plan devised and successfully executed consisted simply in embarking and disembarking the obelisk while the bow of the vessel was out of water, through an aperture opened expressly for the purpose and subsequently closed for the voyage. The details of execution will be given further on. Besides my own, three other plans were proposed for transporting the obelisk by sea. The first one was proposed by the owner of a bark that had been engaged in transporting heavy blocks of granite on deck; the weight of one block never exceeded thirty tons. He exhibited a photograph of the obelisk which showed water near by and a plan of the deck of his bark, and said: "I will moor my vessel here, lower the stone down on her deck, and then sail. When we reach New York we will not be in any hurry to set it up, for we will cart it about the country and make a good thing out of it exhibiting it to the country folks." The objections to this plan were: 1st. His bark could not get within a mile of the obelisk, afloat, as the shore is fringed with sand-banks and reefs that extend out this distance. 2d. His bark could not have remained in the position he pointed out, even if she could have got to it, as the bay is exposed to the prevailing northerly wind and a heavy surf almost continuously breaks on the shore. 3d. His bark was only four hundred tons capacity, and the obelisk weighs two hundred and twenty tons. It would have been interesting to witness, from the deck of some other vessel, the performances of the bark at sea with the obelisk on her spar-deck. 4th. There was not room enough anywhere on the deck of the bark for the obelisk. The next proposition was that the obelisk should somehow be got on the bottom of the bay with chains under it; these were to be taken on board of a steamer, and the obelisk lifted by them until it was suspended under the keel; in this position it was to make the sea-voyage. No plan was submitted for getting it on the bottom of the bay; and no arrangement was proposed for securing the services of mariners for the voyage. Another plan was to encase the obelisk in wood enough to float it, and then tow the mass without steering it. Elaborate drawings and interesting computations accompanied this proposition; but no provision was made for getting the mass afloat, nor was any thing said about the management of the towing vessel in a seaway. In order to get it afloat, launching ways half a mile in length would have been necessary, and their construction through the surf impossible. For lowering the obelisk the French method was the only precedent. The English operations began with the obelisk lying on the sea-shore. There is no record of how the ancients lowered theirs; and it is probable that obelisks were never removed from an erect position, and that only those that had fallen were removed from where the ancient Egyptians placed them. The French method is fully described further on. It has the advantage of being subjected to the severest test at a moment when the breaking of any essential part of the system would have been least likely to result disastrously to the obelisk; and the conspicuous disadvantage of multiplication of parts essential to safety, and division of responsibility at the critical moments. In devising a new plan for lowering the obelisk it was essential that the turning structure should be made available for lowering and erecting ; that it should be made in pieces of moderate weight and dimensions for facility of transport and handling; that it may be erected and taken apart without destroying it; that it should be adaptable to dimensions of the obelisk varying considerably from those given in books, which did not agree; and that it may have some value for other uses after the obelisk had been erected. The accompanying drawings (Plates ii and iii) present a front- and a side-view of the structure. The first shows the obelisk clasped at its centre of gravity in a pair of trunnions; these rest on steel t0wers having masonry foundations. The towers are formed of I beams held in position by screw bolts through angle plates, flat plates, angle and channel bars. The horizontal steel beams forming the bottom of the structure rest on wooden beams which lie on the top of the masonry foundations. The wooden beams were designed for increasing or diminishing the height of the towers to correspond with that of the centre of gravity, which could not be determined until accurate measurements had been made of the obelisk. The heaviest pieces of the turning structure are the trunnions ; each one weighs twelve thousand five hundred and seventy pounds ; next to these are the pillow-blocks, each weighing three thousand seven hundred pounds; the head-pieces weigh seventeen hundred and fifty pounds each; and the beams vary from thirteen hundred and sixty to eleven hundred and ninety pounds each. The device for lifting the obelisk clear of the pedestal and transferring its weight to the turning structure was a system of screws and turn-buckles. Tie-rods connected the lower edges of the trunnion-plates with beams under the bottom of the obelisk. Each tie-rod was in two sections, and on each end of each section there was cut a screw. The two sections were connected by a turn-buckle, and the upper and lower ends of the rods were held in position through the trunnion-plates and heel-beams by large nuts. As there were four tie-rods on each side the system comprised thirty-two screws, each with a diameter of three inches, which were capable of lifting at least double the weight of the obelisk with a large factor of safety. To prevent the obelisk from slipping through the trunnions after it was horizontal, lips were cast on the inside vertical edges of the trunnions, to carry heavy iron plates; these were held in position by three steel bolts on each side, passing from one trunnion to the other, which also served as additional support. The trunnions were further held in position by three iron bolts on each side, making twelve in all. These bolts were not tightened until the obelisk had been lifted clear of its supports and high enough to allow the heel to swing clear of the pedestal when turning, as it was necessary, in order to lift it, that it should pass freely through the trunnions. Although the section of the obelisk through the centre of gravity was found by computation to be strong enough to support the weight of the ends, with additions of twenty-eight tons suspended at the centre of gravity of each end, it was determined not to take any risk, in view of the length of time the syenite had been exposed to atmospheric influences and the possibility of deterioration. The simple device of trussing the ends of the shaft with steel cables was adopted as being most effective. Thirty tons of the weight of each section was in this manner transferred to the point of suspension. The truss and verticals are shown on Plate iii. For lowering the obelisk to the ground after it was horizontal two plans were devised, and the selection left to circumstances. One was by means of an inclined plane, the other by means of hydraulic pumps placed on stacks of timber built up under the ends. The inclined plane would have been adopted if the obelisk had been transported overland to the port for embarkation; but as this was not permitted, the plan adopted was that shown on Plate iii. The hydraulic pumps were fitted with lowering valves, designed by Richard Dudgeon, of New York, which permitted a descent so gradual that it could not be detected without measurement. When the weight of the obelisk had been transferred from the turning structure to the stacks of timber, by lifting it with the hydraulic pumps clear of the pillow-blocks on which the trunnions rested, the turning structure was removed and the descent effected by removing layers of timber alternately from the tops of the stacks and under the pumps. The obelisk rested on the two top piles of each section while the hydraulic pumps were being lowered by removing the timber from under them. There remained only the land transport of the obelisk to provide for to complete my plans for its removal from Alexandria. For this there were abundant precedents successfully applied in ancient and modern times. Of these the most ingenious is the method devised by Count Carburi, who was employed under the name of Lascari, to move the pedestal of the statue of Peter the Great from the forest of Karelia to St. Petersburg. The mass that was actually moved measured, approximately, twenty-one feet in height and breadth and thirty eight in length, and weighed about six hundred tons. The route by which it was transported was over a hill and across a marsh to the river bank; thence by river to the city quay, and thence again by land to the site. The total distance is forty-two thousand two hundred and fifty-feet, of which fifteen thousand is over land. The essential feature of Carburi's plan was the substitution of cannon-balls for the ordinary wheels or rollers and metal grooves for the ordinary tracks. A roadway was made across the marsh, and over this the mass of rock was moved, by tackles and capstans worked by two hundred men, a distance of six hundred feet per day.
Carburi's system was adopted. And in order to insure the obelisk against possible injury during its overland transport, and especially over yielding ground, two iron trusses were designed to form a carriage or cradle into which it was to have been lowered and to have remained until it was embarked. REMOVING THE OBELISK FROM ALEXANDRIA On August 4, 1879, execution of the foregoing plans was begun. A contract for the construction of the turning structure and transporting cradle was entered into with the firm of John A. Roebling's Sons, of Trenton. Lieutenant Seaton Schroeder, U. S. Navy, having previously accepted the position of assistant, was granted leave of absence by the Navy Department. A foreman for iron-work, Mr. Frank Price, of Glen Cove, New York, and one for wood-work were engaged; and on August 24th Lieutenant Schroeder, the foreman carpenter, and I sailed for England on the " Arizona," leaving Mr. Price to follow on the steamer that took the machinery. Every possible effort to charter an American steamer was made in the interval between August 4th and 26th, but not one available for the work could be secured. We reached Liverpool on September 4th, and spent the ensuing two weeks in fruitless efforts to charter an English steamer. The rates demanded for charter were equivalent to a purchase, and generally the explanation that the obelisk was to be embarked on the vessel in the manner proposed caused a sneer or a smile. As steamers could be purchased at any time, it was finally decided to make no further effort to charter one, but to wait until every thing was ready for embarking the obelisk before purchasing one. From England we travelled through France and Italy to Trieste with the intention of purchasing timber at Trieste. There we found that there would be no advantage in purchasing and shipping the timber to Alexandria, where, we were assured, there was an abundant supply on hand at rates less, if any thing, than it would cost to make especial shipment. We returned to Venice, sailed on the steamer "Ceylon" on October 9th, and arrived at Alexandria October 16th. The foreman carpenter having been sent by steamer direct from Liverpool had arrived about two weeks earlier. In this interval the Alexandrians had learned that the obelisk was really to be removed, and for the first time in many centuries it became an object of interest. The French waited about twenty-five years and the English nearly seventy-five before removing the obelisks they had selected for removal. There was a feeling in Egypt that the Americans would certainly require a century to perfect their arrangements; and although it was well known that the obelisk had been given to the United States, no one, not even the Khedive, believed that it would be removed. Our arrival was the signal for the beginning of an agitation by the foreign residents to prevent its removal. Violently abusive articles were published in newspapers, meetings were held, and petitions to the Khedive were circulated for signature; threats of personal violence against any one who attempted to commence the work of removal were made openly and by letter, and every other means of frightening us resorted to. One incident of this nature that occurred on the day after our arrival is recalled, in order to contrast it with another that occurred on the day of our departure seven months later. On both occasions I was passing through the street frequented by the younger merchants and brokers as a rendezvous, on my way to the telegraph office; on the first, I was greeted with a storm of hisses and a succession .of choice epithets; on the last, scores of these very men crowded around me, congratulating me on my final success and wishing me a pleasant and safe voyage. After having established ourselves at Alexandria in apartments near to the site of the obelisk we went to Cairo, and at an hour previously appointed, accompanied by Vice-Consul-General Comanos, we had an audience of the Khedive. He received us very cordially, and made inquiries about the plans for removing and transporting the obelisk, cautiously and delicately expressing anxiety that it should not be taken down unless we were sure of removing it. This, we assured him, there was no reason to doubt. After a long and very frank discussion about European influences on Egyptian affairs, he promised that orders would be sent to the Governor of Alexandria to formally deliver up the obelisk. Visits were made to all the Ministers, who received us very kindly, and offered, in the usual Eastern manner, to do all sorts of things, which we well understood as without meaning. Riaz Pacha, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Council of Ministers, gave directions that the order to the Governor of Alexandria should be made out without delay. The following is a translation. To His Excellency The Governor Of Alexandria: In the time of the ex-Khedive the Egyptian government gave Cleopatra's Needle, now standing on the sea-shore of Alexandria, to the- United States of America, to be erected in the city of New York. His Excellency Cherif Pacha, who was then Minister of Foreign Affairs, communicated the fact to the United States Consul-General in a dispatch dated May 18, 1879. An American officer having been sent here to receive and remove the said Cleopatra's Needle, and His Highness the Khedive having confirmed the gift by a decree, I hasten to instruct you to deliver that monument immediately to the said officer, and to offer him the same assistance for removing it from its site and embarking it as was offered at the time of removing the other obelisk that was given to the English government. All expenses will be paid by the officer of the United States. (Signed) MOUSTAPHA RIAZ, Minister of Foreign Affairs. We returned to Alexandria by the first train after the receipt of this order, and on arrival there we lost no time in presenting it to the Governor, and as soon as he had read it we urged him to execute it at once by a formal transfer of the obelisk. This was all accomplished within three days after our arrival. Considering with whom we were dealing there was reason for great satisfaction at the promptness with which possession of the obelisk had been secured. As long as it remained in the control of the Egyptian government there were reasons for anticipating pressure from the European consuls and resident foreigners to prevent its transfer; but the transfer was effected so quickly and so quietly that these gentlemen had no time to act in concert and with effect before it was too late. To their protests and petitions subsequently presented, the Khedive and his Ministers answered: "Too late; Cleopatra's Needle is the possession of the United States officer sent to receive it." The efforts of foreign residents were then directed to preventing its removal. Although the Governor had formally transferred the obelisk, he had stipulated that work should not be commenced for a day or two, and kindly suggested that the interval could be profitably spent in making our preparations. After a lapse of four days another visit was paid to him, and he authorized us to commence operations, and excused the delay on the ground of a legal complication about the land around the obelisk that he had been obliged to enquire into. At noon on October 27th, a force of laborers having begun clearing away the ground, an incident occurred that is related in the following letter. -----
Alexandria, Oct. 28, 1879. H. E. The Governor Of Alexandria. Sir; I regret extremely that it has become once more necessary for me to have recourse to your good-will and your duty to assist me in prosecuting the work with which I am entrusted by the government of the United States. Yesterday, having received authority from you, I set some men to work to remove the paving stones that surround the obelisk, the owner of the stones making no objection whatever. Another individual arrived, however, and ordered the work stopped. Arriving myself a few moments afterward, I learned that the man claimed possession of the ground and would allow no one to work there. He also added that if we persisted he would apply to the Italian Consul, whose janissaries would be sent to eject us from the premises. Not recognizing his right to interfere, but not wishing to bring about such a disturbance, I went to see the Italian Vice-Consul, accompanied by the Consul of the United States, to ask an explanation. He informed me that any Italian subject occupying a property belonging to him had a right to his protection, and that he would protect him, even by force of arms. I thought it strange that he should dare to prevent by main force what your Excellency had authorized me to do; but before notifying my government that the Italian Vice-Consul had defied the orders of the Egyptian government, and that I am thus stopped in the execution of a work with which I am charged, I thought it best to try to arrange it amicably, so as not to trouble your Excellency. During the dispute on the ground I had offered to the soi-disant proprietor to pay him a rent, just as though it really belonged to him; but he refused point-blank to rent the ground to me, and informed me through his lawyer that he would not permit the operations for removing the obelisk. Nevertheless, I begged the Italian Vice Consul to try his best to settle the matter, and he promised to give me an answer by four o'clock this afternoon. If he does not succeed I shall be obliged to request your Excellency to protect me against the Italian janissaries. Failing that, I shall be compelled to telegraph to my government that I have been forcibly ejected, and that Egyptian authority has failed to protect me. 
THE OBELISK ENCASED AND STAYED. The Hoisting Shears with Trunnions suspended to them Plate VII I beg your Excellency to so direct affairs as to enable me to begin operations at once, because it is needless to say that if the matter should take an official form between the two governments the situation would only become more grave. I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant, (Signed) HENRY H. GORRINGE, Lieutenant-Commander U. S. Navy.
In a subsequent interview with the Governor, he explained that the legal complication he had been investigating, that caused the delay in authorizing us to begin work, was the claim that the land around the obelisk was the property of some Italians; and in further explanation he related the circumstances substantially as follows: An Italian having been granted authority by Mohammed Ali Pacha, then ruler of Egypt, to build a bathing establishment on the sea-shore near the obelisk, was unfortunate enough to have his property destroyed by the sea during a gale. He subsequently made a claim against the Egyptian government for compensation for the damage done by the sea; and in order to secure himself against a possible adverse decision on his claim, he took possession of the land surrounding the obelisk and erected a shanty on it. This claim was still pending when the international courts were organized for the trial of causes between foreigners and the Egyptian government and between individuals of different nationalities. It was regarded as so absurd that difficulty was experienced in getting it placed on the docket, but the Italian Consul persisted, and it was finally so placed in the belief that it never would be pressed for trial by the government, and certainly not by the claimants. Four fifths of the claims of foreigners against the Egyptian government have no firmer basis than the one here cited, and at least four fifths of the foreign residents of Egypt have claims that are handed down in wills to heirs, just as this one was, the original claimant having died several years ago. Their attorney had kept himself well informed of the proceedings in connection with the removal of the obelisk, and had in concert with others deliberately planned the prohibition of the work in order to prevent its removal. The Governor expressed surprise at the presumption of the Italian Consul, and requested time to communicate with the Minister of Foreign Affairs at Cairo. I notified U. S. Vice-Consul-General Comanos by telegraph of the circumstance, and urged him to confer with the Italian Consul-General about it; and pending answers from the Governor and Mr. Comanos, I notified the Italian Consul that a suit for damages for £15,00o would be instituted against whoever attempted to interfere with the work of removing the obelisk, and that I limited the time for amicable settlement, by acceptance of my proposition to lease the ground, to four o'clock p. M. of that day. In reply to this the Italian Consul informed our consular agent that the claimant had accepted my offer to lease the ground, and proposed to appoint arbitrators to fix on a suitable sum. This was agreed to, arbitrators were selected, and the lease effected before night. Although there could have been no question as to the result of a determination to proceed without leasing the land, it was deemed advisable to get absolute control of the ground that must necessarily be covered with the works, so as to have a right to exclude from it undesirable persons. On the morning of October 29th work was begun by one hundred Arabs, varying from ten to seventy years of age, divided into three gangs. The middle-aged dug and filled baskets, the old lifted them to the backs of the young, who carried them to the shore and emptied them into the surf. By November 6th an excavation of seventeen hundred and thirty cubic yards had been completed. It had laid bare the pedestal and steps, and made a space large enough to construct a caisson in which to transport the obelisk to the port for embarkation. Several interesting fragments of statuary, a number of coins, and a few scarabee and other antique objects were found by the workmen, to whom liberal rewards were paid for each article delivered. Men accustomed to the work were employed to search the beach for other small objects that having escaped detecti0n would probably be washed up by the surf. In this way many interesting bronze fragments were recovered. The base of the obelisk and the position of one of the metal supports are shown on Plate iv, on the right. This is copied from a photograph taken at the time the London obelisk was being removed. One corner of the obelisk is shown, supported by a piece of stone that had been substituted for one of the metal supports. The corner diagonally opposite to it was supported in exactly the same manner, two of the metal supports having been removed. The two remaining ones were badly mutilated. Their condition is shown on Plate v, which is a photograph of one metal support in two positions and the other in one position. They had been cast in the form of sea-crabs, but when we uncovered them all the legs but one, and all the claws but a part of one, had been broken off and removed, doubtless for the value of the metal. Plate iv also shows the excavation and the condition of the base and steps when they were uncovered. The masonry on top of the pedestal around the base of the obelisk, shown in the picture on the left, was put there about the time the London obelisk was removed; owing to inferior mortar and other causes it was loose and gave no support to the shaft. Another feature in the picture to the left is the reft in the base of the obelisk, that has been misrepresented as a crack in the shaft, received during its transportation. It is in reality a vein of hornblende, the outer part of which has been decomposed, leaving an irregular shallow notch nowhere exceeding an inch in depth. But for this photograph, made before the obelisk had been lowered, there might have been some question as to the origin of this defect, which is now very noticeable from the drive in the Central Park, the dirt having been washed out of it. The bottom of the lower step was found to be nearly at mean sea level; as the foundation could not have sunk so nearly uniformly, it is certain that there has been a subsidence of the ground since the obelisk was erected; and if the level of the lower step was at the same height as the surface is at present, this subsidence is about seventeen feet in nineteen hundred years. Down to the level of the water there was nothing but loose earth and sand, mixed with all sorts of fragments of columns and statuary and pottery. In several places remains of old walls were met with. Surrounding the steps were fragments of a mosaic pavement, composed of alternate squares of white and dark marble. The sea end of the pit was left open down to the remains of an ancient massive wall that ran nearly parallel with the shore and close to the water. This wall served as a breakwater for the pit when the surf was high. While the excavations were in progress another attempt was made to prevent the removal of the obelisk, through a creditor of the Egyptian government who applied to the International Court to seize it and keep possession until his claim had been paid. Before serving the writ enquiries were made as to the probable result of doing so. On being assured that no notice would be taken of the writ, and that all the resistance possible would be offered to any use of force to take possession of the obelisk, the Court withheld the writ. The object of this proceeding was to arrest the work, get the obelisk into court, and keep the case pending until the attempt to remove it had been abandoned. It is inexplicable that the proposition should ever have been entertained; and yet it was not only entertained, but the process was actually begun, and would undoubtedly have been pushed but for prompt action that gave assurance of a determination to resist. The United States flag was conspicuously displayed on the obelisk to indicate ownership; and the means of defending it was provided and arranged in a manner that carried conviction to any one that had been in doubt about our sincerity and our determination to defend it and remove it. Soon after this affair had quieted down some of the consuls-general in Cairo, at the instigation of some resident European archaeologists, made an attempt to have the work of removal suspended until the matter could be referred to their governments. It appears that by the terms of a convention entered into with several of the European powers, the Egyptian government agreed to prevent the exportation of any object of antiquity. No attention had been paid to this convention when the English removed the fallen obelisk; and its provisions were commonly violated by the consuls and archaeologists themselves in the shipment of articles to Europe. Besides this, the firman that gave the Egyptian government existence stipulated that it should not make treaties with foreign powers, and it is clear that the convention in question was unauthorized. Fearing that the pressure on the Khedive and his Ministers might become more that they could resist, negotiations were commenced through a prominent, and at that time powerful, Pacha in Constantinople, whom it had been my good fortune to befriend, to insure the prompt confirmation of the gift by the Porte, in case of necessity. To put an end to these annoyances I determined to push the work of removal forward as rapidly as possible by working night and day, so as to get the obelisk off its pedestal. Every effort was devoted to this end, and it was accomplished within a month from the day the turning structure arrived. PREPARATIONS FOR TURNING THE OBELISK While the pit was being dug a staging was erected around the obelisk for sheathing it with planks, in order to protect the hieroglyphs from injury. (Plate vi.) The sheathing was held together by iron bands, similar to the hoops of a barrel. The top band was heavier than the others, and had loop at each angle, into which were shackled four steel wire cables. These were secured to anchors at suitable distances from the base of the obelisk, and tightened so as to support it until it was secured in the turning structure. The masonry and concrete piers on which this was to stand were commenced as soon as the pit was dug, and in order to have them dry quickly hydraulic cement was used. These piers are shown on Plate ii and iii. As soon as the staging had been removed four long spars were placed in position, opposite the angles of the obelisk, to form derricks for hoisting the pieces of the turning structure into position. Plate vii illustrates the plan adopted for supporting the obelisk, the sheathing banded around it, and the hosting shears with the trunnions suspended to them. For convenience in placing the trunnions on the pillow-blocks, they were hoisted first and left hanging until the turning structure had been erected. The machinery and material for removing the obelisk were shipped from New York on the steamer “Nevada,” of the Guion Line, which sailed on October 7th, and arrived in Liverpool on October 19th. There they were transshipped on the steamer “Mariotis,” which sailed on October 27th, and arrived at Alexandria November 11, 1879. Preparations had been made for their prompt disembarkation and transport from the port, through the town, to the side of the obelisk, and this was completed in four days. The trunnions were the only pieces that gave trouble, owing to there not being a truck in the city suitable for their transport. They were, however, place on the best truck obtainable, which was hauled by Arabs, who wisely selected the Christian Sabbath for the day to move them, owing to the diminution of traffic on that day. The Arabs were very noisy and attracted a large and increasing crowd, who followed the procession through the town. For this an American missionary roundly abused us from a borrowed pulpit, and took advantage of the occasion to denounce the removal of the obelisk as a work of the Devil. This act of “Christian charity” was of no consequence, beyond the amusement it afforded the editors and readers of local newspapers, who seized on it with much eagerness as evidence of the prevailing sentiment of Americans. In explanation of the missionary’s condition of mind on the subject it may be well to state on his authority that he wanted the money that was being spent on the removal given to his mission. In connection with this question of Sunday-work, which was commented on in a rational manner by many friends, it is well to recall the fact that the Mohammedan and Christian Sabbaths are on different days. It was impossible to observe both; and a respect for the opinions of both sects led to the rule that work would be carried on without intermission, and that the workmen were at liberty to select their own Sunday and observe it in their own fashion. Arab Mohammedans and Maltese and European Christians formed the majority of the men employed. The former spent Friday, their Sabbath, in a rational manner, sleeping during the early part of the day, attending services at the mosque at noon, and devoting the afternoon to social intercourse and amusement. The Christians, almost to a man, would devote the thirty-six hours from Saturday evening to Monday morning in drinking, gambling, fighting, and other excesses, and return to work drunk, sleepy, and bruised. By December 2d the turning structure had been placed in position, and so admirably were the several parts fitted that is was not even necessary to ream out a bolt hole.1 The process of lifting the obelisk clear of the pedestal and disengaging the metal supports or crabs occupied us until the evening of December 5th. With the bolts that clamped the trunnions together loosened so as to allow the obelisk to pass freely up through them, levers inserted in the turn-buckles of the tie-rods were turned simultaneously with the nuts on the upper and lower ends of the tie-rods. Some anxiety was caused by the buckling of the heel-beams, due to imperfect bearing against the bottom of the obelisk. After this had been provided against by wedges driven in the vacant spaces, the lifting was successfully and easily accomplished. The operation of lifting, here briefly described, will be made clear by referring to Plate ii, where the turn-buckles in the tie-rods C are shown inside of the steel towers, about midway between the tunnions B, and the heel-beams D. And on Plate iii the ends of the tie-rods are seen through the brackets on the trunnions and also through the ends of the heel-beams. 1. The contract for this work was sublet by John A. Roebling’s Sons to the Phoenix Iron Works of Trenton, to which all credit is due for its admirable execution. Before turning the obelisk horizontal the steel wire-rope truss A, shown on Plates iii, vii, and viii, was placed in position and tightened by means of screws and nuts to an estimated strain of sixty tons; thereby relieving the section of the obelisk through the point of suspension of this amount of the weight of the ends, and insuring it against fracture when it was horizontal. Plates vii and viii also show a stack of timber piled to receive the upper section of the obelisk should the tackles that were provided to keep control of the turning unexpectedly give way. These tackles were led from a strop round the bottom of the obelisk to posts led into the masonry towers. There were, theoretically, capable of raising fifteen tons. New rope and blocks of the best quality obtainable in Alexandria were purchased expressly for the purpose. The rope previously purchased had been so treacherous, and had parted so many times with inadequate strain, that it was deemed prudent to provide a safeguard against the obelisk revolving past the horizontal. The upper section was known to have a preponderance of three and a half tons of weight, given it to facilitate the operation of turning. TURNING THE OBELISK On the morning of December 4th an attempt was made to pull the upper end of the obelisk over by means of tackles. This attempt failed, owing to the further bending of the heel-beams, which caused the bottom of the obelisk to bind against the top of one of the crabs. The impression prevailed that the turning structure had settled and was therefore of inadequate strength to sustain the weight. Several engineers and others strongly advised abandoning the attempt to place the obelisk horizontal in the manner proposed; and letters were received protesting against the destruction of so valuable a monument by any further attempt to remove it. These expressions did not affect in any way the confidence I felt in a speedy termination of this, the first stage of the work, although they caused me great chagrin, and aroused every one associated with me in the work to an extra exertion in order to prove them senseless. Removing the crabs was rendered very difficult by the lead which had been poured into the mortices in the pedestal while molten. The angles of the dowels of the crabs had notches in them (see Plate vi), and the bottom of the mortice was larger than the top. These were devices of the Roman engineer to prevent the removal of the crabs, and were very effective. The process of lifting the obelisk, already described, was again resorted to, and having raised it clear of the crab the bottom was pushed over to seaward until the obelisk was in the position shown on Plate viii. In this position it remained seventeen hours without affecting any part of the structure in which it was suspended.
Rumors of a possible demonstration by the foreign residents when the obelisk was to be placed horizontal had been circulated until they reached Rear-Admiral Aslambekoff, of the Russian Imperial Navy, who was in the port of Alexandria in his flag-ship the "Minim." He was aware of the feeling that existed among the foreigners, and while unable to land an armed force for our protection, he landed a large force of unarmed trained seamen for the purpose of enclosing the grounds in a cordon of effective men and affording any assistance that was needed at a critical moment. His Excellency, Zulficar Pacha, Governor of Alexandria, the Egyptian officials, and a few acquaintances were notified that the turning would take place at 9 A. M. of the 6th. But his Excellency did not arrive until 11 A. M. As soon as he had reached the platform provided for invited persons, the word was given to slack the tackles. A large crowd of Greeks, Italians, and other Europeans had gathered in the vicinity, and occupied every available spot from which the movement could be seen. While we were waiting for the Governor, the crowd was noisy and at times unruly when they were prevented from going within the inclosure. But at the instant the obelisk began to move there was absolute silence and stillness. As it slowly turned not a sound but the rendering of the ropes around the posts and an occasional creak of the structure could be heard. Immediately following a creak louder than any previous one, the motion was suddenly arrested, then there was a sharp snap—one of the tackles had parted. Instantly the order was given to slack the other tackle rapidly, using it merely to retard the motion and not to arrest it; but the man attending the fall had lost his wits, and instead of slackening, he held it fast and it very soon broke. The obelisk was at that moment about half over; it moved slowly at first, and then more and more rapidly, until it struck the stack of timbers, rebounded twice, and came to rest in the position shown on Plate viii. There was intense excitement; many of the Arabs and Greeks about the grounds had fled precipitously when the obelisk began to move rapidly; and when it rested on the stack of timber uninjured there arose a prolonged cheer, which was the first friendly manifestation shown by the Alexandrians. The explanation given for the breaking of the first tackle by the man attending it was, that he looked up to see what the noise was, and in doing so involuntarily checked the passage of the rope through his hands; this brought the whole strain on his tackle and caused it to break. The other man was properly giving his whole attention to the command, and was unconscious of the accident until he saw that his companion had fled precipitately from under the obelisk, leaving him alone. Surely his loss of self-control was excusable. It was to provide against such contingencies that the timber stack was built. The two upper tiers of plank were crushed; aside from this no loss or injury to any person or any thing resulted from the successful accomplishment of the first essential feature of the work of removal. Simultaneously with the preparations for turning, other equally important parts of the work were being pushed forward; notably the construction of a wooden box or caisson in which the obelisk was to be carried by sea to the port, and the clearing away of ruins from, and grading of the sea-bed along, the route over which it had to be launched. By way of explanation it is necessary to recall the fact that an iron truss-cradle, moving on cannon-balls instead of wheels, in channel irons instead of on an ordinary rail, had been designed, made in the United States, and brought to Egypt for transporting the obelisk overland to the port for embarkation. The distance overland was less than a mile; and the route was over comparatively unfrequented streets, except for a short distance across what was once the ancient causeway connecting Eunostos Island with the mainland, and what is now an accumulation of sand and debris, occupied by the most important part of the city. An examination of Plate x will make this clear. Soon after our arrival at Alexandria an unofficial application was made to the Governor for permission to move the obelisk along the proposed route. A conference ensued during which the Governor stated, in effect, that in consideration for keeping the streets paved and clean the government had transferred all control of them to the foreign merchants. He agreed to ascertain the probable result of an application made to these merchants and to inform us. Several days afterward he advised us not to make the application until every other method of getting the obelisk to the port had been tried and had failed. It appears that the f0reign merchants had determined not to allow the obelisk to be moved through the city, giving as a reason the probability of its crushing in the sewers. Guarantees of repairing all damage done were of no avail; the transporting cradle, costing $5,100, had to be thrown away, and the expensive and very dangerous method of sea transport in a wooden caisson a distance of ten miles was the only resource. The expense was least of all in the construction of the caisson, which cost only $2,200; it was chiefly in the preparations for launching it over a shallow bank cumbered with heavy blocks of syenite and granite; the massive submerged foundations of one of the famous palaces of Alexandria were directly in the way. These obstructions could only be removed by means of divers, a serious undertaking in smooth water, and a most discouraging and almost hopeless task to accomplish on an open coast on which the surf was breaking two thirds of the time. Diving operations were commenced on November 5, 1879, and continued, whenever the sea would permit, until March 18, 1880. A pier with derricks for lifting out the blocks had to be constructed. The estimated weight of material removed is one hundred and seventy tons. The pieces ranged from three to seven tons in weight. In Alexandria competent divers are scarce, and in order to retain those we employed they had to be paid whether at work or not. The cost of this submarine work was nearly $4,000. It will be shown hereafter that the cost of the caisson and submarine work necessary for launching it were inconsiderable and unimportant when compared with the cost of launching and the imminent danger involved in the operation of getting it afloat, due to the displacement of the ways by the surf. Plate iii shows the frame of the caisson in course of construction, and Plate viii shows the end sections nearly completed in the pit. The floor timbers of these sections were made to form a part of the timber stacks on which the obelisk was lowered, as shown in Plate iii. Work on the middle section could not be commenced until the pedestal, steps, and foundation had been removed; and their removal could not be accomplished until the turning structure had been released and taken down, and its foundation piers demolished. LOWERING THE OBELISK The preparations for releasing the machinery and for lowering the obelisk from its elevated position, forty-three feet above the bottom of the pit, into the caisson are illustrated on Plate iii. After the obelisk had been placed horizontal, the upper section was temporarily supported on two spars under the pyramidion. The stack of timber placed to receive it was then removed. After several experiments in building the stacks, the plan illustrated in Plate iii was finally adopted. Planks three inches thick, nine inches wide, and sixteen feet long, were piled in groups of three, at right angles to each other, up to the level of the top of the pedestal; the lengths were then fourteen feet for two thirds the remaining height, and finally twelve feet for the remainder. Heavy timber, diagonal shores were placed against the sides and ends of the piles to insure stability. Oak beams were slung by iron rods under the obelisk, and fastened to it at the points against which the pistons of the pumps were to bear; and other beams were placed on top of the piles for the pumps to stand on, so as to distribute the bearing over the whole pile uniformly. The tops of the stacks were cut down through the middle to give room enough for the pumps to be worked,—(see Plate iii),—the ends being left to receive the weight of the obelisk when it was necessary to shift the pumps down. The pumps were fitted with lowering valves, an indispensable substitute for the ordinary method of tripping the plunger when releasing the strain from the piston. By means of these valves the liquid in the cylinder is allowed to escape to the chamber as rapidly or as slowly as the operator pleases, thereby allowing the piston to descend at any desired speed. 
Very great inconvenience resulted from the use of small instead of large timber for the stacks, and it may well be asked why small timber was used. Relying on the order of Riaz Pacha to the Governor, to "offer him (the officer sent to remove the obelisk) the same assistance for removing it from its site and embarking it as was offered at the time of removing the other obelisk that was given to the English government," and knowing that the timber used by the English was still in the government store-house, no effort was made to find other timber until the time for lowering the obelisk had nearly arrived. Application for the loan of government timber was made. The officer in charge happened to be a European, and he managed to evade the order, even after it had been reiterated, by delays and other means, until it was too late. The obelisk was ready for turning, timber for lowering it had to be provided, and the only kind available was the soft planks that were bought at an exorbitant rate. Here again the vicious obstruction of Europeans failed to retard the work, and had no other effect than to increase the cost of its execution. In this instance the unnecessary expense for timber amounted to $4,300. The operation of releasing the turning structure was very troublesome, owing to the elasticity of the stacks. The total compression in the forty-three feet was twenty-two and a half inches under the weight of the obelisk. As soon as the weight had been transferred to the stacks, the towers and trunnions were removed, and demolition of the masonry piers commenced. The operation of lowering was as follows: The pistons of the pumps were forced out to within four inches of their limit of fourteen inches; blocking was then supplied to whatever space intervened between the caps and the oak beam under the obelisk; the piston was then forced out the remaining four inches, or as much as was needed to lift the obelisk clear of the blocking on the ends of the stacks, on which it had been landed while the trunnions and towers were being removed; nine inches of this blocking was then gradually taken away, while the pistons of the pumps were allowed to descend slowly; when nearly down to their limit, removing the blocking was stopped, and the obelisk once more rested on it with the pumps free. The planks that were parallel with the direction of the obelisk had to be sawed in two places to allow of removing the middle section so that the pumps might be lowered nine inches. Those that were laid in the other direction could be removed without being cut. When the pumps had been lowered the process above described was repeated. The average rate of lowering was about three feet per day. It must, however, be remarked that owing to the height of the stacks and to insure safety, work was not carried on simultaneously at both ends. It was difficult to maintain uniformity of pressure on the pistons; and instead of pumps capable of sustaining sixty tons each, it would have been much better to have had them capable of sustaining one hundred. Considerable delay resulted from the disabling of three of the pumps; the system was new to the mechanics of Alexandria, and restoring the pumps to efficiency was a tedious and expensive process. Demolishing the foundation piers without blasting was also troublesome, the cement having set to a degree entirely unexpected. As soon as they had been demolished the pit was enlarged on the east side, and the pedestal steps and foundation moved out from under the obelisk and placed in the enlargement. The pedestal was raised clear of the steps by driving steel wedges under it until there was room enough for the end of a bent steel bar or link to be inserted. (See Fig. L, Plate xi.) Hydraulic pumps acting on the upper part of this bar or link then raised the pedestal clear of the steps and held it suspended until channel irons and cannon balls could be placed underneath. The pedestal was then lowered on top of the channel irons and balls. It was moved with the greatest ease over a track of channel irons prolonged to the position assigned it. A section through the pedestal and channel iron tracks with the balls in position is shown on Plate xi, Fig. M. This plate also shows the position in which each piece forming the steps and foundation was found, and gives the form and dimensions of all the essential pieces of the structure, including the pedestal. The curious features of the foundation are the forms and positions of certain pieces of syenite, and the marks and characters that are cut on other pieces that occupy the axis and east angle of the structure. Whatever their significance there is something striking in their arrangement, and almost any explanation is more reasonable than the assumption that it was accidental.
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