Editing Lord Kelvin (section)

=== Later expeditions ===
[[File:Lord Kelvin's sailing yacht Lalla Rookh B31360403 0002 0053.jpg|thumb|Lord Kelvin's sailing yacht ''Lalla Rookh'']]
Thomson took part in the laying of the French Atlantic submarine communications cable of 1869, and with Jenkin was engineer of the Western and Brazilian and Platino-Brazilian cables, assisted by vacation student [[James Alfred Ewing]]. He was present at the laying of the [[Belém|Pará]] to [[Pernambuco]] section of the Brazilian coast cables in 1873.

Thomson's wife, Margaret, died on 17 June 1870, and he resolved to make changes in his life. Already addicted to seafaring, in September he purchased a 126-ton [[schooner]], the ''[[List of ships named Lalla Rookh#Lalla Rookh (1870 ship)|Lalla Rookh]]''<ref>{{cite book |author=Gurney, Alan |date=2005 |chapter=Chapter 19: Thomson's Compass and Binnacle |title=Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-60883-0 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.diomedia.com/stock-photo-lord-kelvins-sailing-yacht-lalla-rookh-c-1860-1900-image5525313.html |title=Lord Kelvin's sailing yacht 'Lalla Rookh', c 1860–1900 |website=stock images}}</ref> and used it as a base for entertaining friends and scientific colleagues. His maritime interests continued in 1871 when he was appointed to the [[Public inquiry|Board of Enquiry]] into the sinking of {{HMS|Captain|1869|6}}.

In June 1873, Thomson and Jenkin were on board the ''Hooper'', bound for [[Lisbon]] with {{convert|2500|mi|km|-1}} of cable when the cable developed a fault. An unscheduled 16-day stop-over in [[Madeira]] followed, and Thomson became good friends with Charles R. Blandy and his three daughters. On 2 May 1874 he set sail for Madeira on the ''Lalla Rookh''. As he approached the harbour, he signalled to the Blandy residence "Will you marry me?" and Fanny (Blandy's daughter Frances Anna Blandy) signalled back "Yes". Thomson married Fanny, 13 years his junior, on 24 June 1874.
[[File:Hubert von Herkomer03.jpg|thumb|upright|Lord Kelvin by [[Hubert von Herkomer]]]]