Chapter I: Preface

The recent death of Mr. Cyrus W. Field recalls attention to the great enterprise with which his name will be forever associated. "The Atlantic Telegraph," said the late Chief Justice Chase, "is the most wonderful achievement of civilization, and entitles its author to a distinguished rank among public benefactors. High upon that illustrious roll will his name be placed, and there will it remain while oceans divide, and telegraphs unite, mankind." The memory of such an achievement the world should not let die. The story of its varied fortunes reads like a tale of adventure. From the beginning it was a series of battles, fighting against the elements and against the unbelief of men. This long struggle the new generation may forget, profiting by the result, but thinking little of the means by which it was attained. What toil of hand and brain had gone before; what days and nights of watching and weariness; how often hope deferred had made the heart sick: how year after year had dragged on, and seen the end still afar off--all that is dimly remembered, even by those who reap the fruits of victory. And yet in the history of human achievements, it is necessary to trace these beginnings step by step, if we would learn the lesson they teach, that it is only out of heroic patience and perseverance that anything truly great is born.

Twelve years of unceasing toil was the price the Atlantic Telegraph cost its projector; and not years lighted up by the assurance of success, but that were often darkened with despair: years in which he was restlessly crossing and recrossing the ocean, only to find on either side, worse than storms and tempests, an incredulity which sneered at every failure, and derided the attempt as a delusion and a dream. Against such discouragements nothing could prevail but that faith, or fanaticism, which, believing the incredible, achieves the impossible. Such a tale, apart from the results, is in itself a lesson and an inspiration.

In attempting to chronicle all this, the relation of the writer to the prime mover has given him facilities for obtaining the materials of an authentic history; but he trusts that it will not lead him to overstep the limits of modesty. Standing by a new-made grave, he has no wish to indulge in undue praise even of the beloved dead. Enough for him is it to unroll the canvas on which the chief actor stands forth as the conspicuous figure. But in a work of such magnitude there are many actors, and there is glory enough for all; and it is a sacred duty to the dead to recognize, as he did, what was due to the brave companions in arms, who stood by him in disaster and defeat; who believed in him even when his own countrymen doubted and despaired; and furnished anew men and money and ships for the final conquest of the sea. If history records that the enterprise of the Atlantic Telegraph owed its inception to the faith and daring of an American, it will also record that all his ardor and activity would have been of no avail but for the science and seamanship, the capital and the undaunted courage, of England. But when all these conditions were supplied, it is the testimony of Englishmen themselves that his was the spirit within the wheels that made them revolve; that it was his intense vitality that infused itself into a great organization, and made the dream of science the reality of the world. This is not to his honor alone: it is a matter of national pride; and Americans may be pardoned if, in the year in which they celebrate the discovery of the continent, they recall that it was one of their countrymen whom the Great Commoner of England, John Bright, pronounced "the Columbus of our time, who, after no less than forty voyages across the Atlantic in pursuit of the great aim of his life, had at length by his cable moored the New World close alongside the Old." How the miracle was wrought, it is the design of these pages to tell.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. Page 1

Discovery of the New World by Columbus. Relative Position
of the Two Hemispheres. Nearest Points--The Outlying
Islands, Ireland and Newfoundland. Shorter Route to Europe
suggested by Bishop Mullock. The Electric Telegraph Company
of Newfoundland. Project of Mr. F. N. Gisborne. Failure of
the Company

CHAPTER II. Page 15

Mr. Gisborne comes to New York. Is introduced to Cyrus W.
Field, who conceives the Idea of a Telegraph across the
Atlantic Ocean. Is it Practicable? Two Elements to be
mastered, the Sea and the Electric Current. Letters of
Lieutenant Maury and Professor Morse

CHAPTER III. Page 24

Mr. Field enlists Capitalists in the Enterprise. Commission
to Newfoundland to obtain a Charter. The New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company

CHAPTER IV. Page 38

The Land-Line in Newfoundland. Four Hundred Miles of Road
to be built, a Work of Two Years. Attempt to lay a Cable
across the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in 1855, fails. A Second
Attempt, in 1856, is successful

CHAPTER V. Page 51

Deep-Sea Soundings by Lieutenant Berryman in the Dolphin in
1853, and the Arctic in 1856, and by Commander Dayman, of
the British Navy, in the Cyclops, in 1857. The Bed of the
Atlantic. The Telegraphic Plateau

CHAPTER VI. Page 69

Mr. Field in London. The English Engineers and
Electricians. Result of Experiments. The Atlantic Telegraph
Company organized. Applies to the Government for Aid.
Contract for a Cable

CHAPTER VII. Page 91

Mr. Field returns to America. Seeks Aid from the
Government. Opposition in Congress. Bill passed

CHAPTER VIII. Page 112

Return to England. The Niagara--Captain Hudson. The
Agamemnon. Expedition of 1857 sails from Ireland. Speech of
the Earl of Carlisle. The Cable broken

CHAPTER IX. Page 142

Preparations for an Expedition in 1858. Mr. Field is made
the General Manager of the Company. The Squadron assemble
at Plymouth, and put to Sea, June 10. New Method of laying
Cable, beginning in Mid-Ocean. The Agamemnon in Danger of
being Foundered. The Cable lost Three Times. The Ships
return to England. Meeting of the Directors. Shall they
abandon the Project? One Last Effort

CHAPTER X. Page 165

Second Expedition Successful. Cable landed in Ireland and
Newfoundland

CHAPTER XI. Page 188

Great Excitement in America. Celebration in New York and
other Cities

CHAPTER XII. Page 213

Sudden Stoppage of the Cable. Reaction of Public Feeling.
Suspicions of Bad Faith. Did the Cable ever work?

CHAPTER XIII. Page 229

Attempts to revive the Company. The Government asked for
Aid, but declines to give an Unconditional Guarantee.
Failure of the Red Sea Telegraph. Scientific Experiments.
Cables laid in the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
Brief History of the next Five Years

CHAPTER XIV. Page 241

The Enterprise renewed. Improvement on the Old Cable. The
Great Eastern and Captain Anderson. Expedition of 1865.
Twelve Hundred Miles laid safely, when the Cable is broken

CHAPTER XV. Page 293

Formation of a New Company, the Anglo-American. New Cable
made and shipped on Board the Great Eastern

CHAPTER XVI. Page 306

The Expedition of 1866. Immense Preparations. Religious
Service at Valentia. Sailing of the Fleet. Diary of the
Voyage. Cable landed at Heart's Content

CHAPTER XVII. Page 347

Return to Mid-Ocean to search for the Cable lost the Year
before. Dragging in the Deep Sea. Repeated Failures. Cable
finally recovered and completed to Newfoundland

CHAPTER XVIII. Page 376

The Afterglow. Honors conferred in England and America.
Commercial Revolution wrought by the Cable. Mr. Field and
the Elevated Railroads in New York City. Tour round the
World. Last Years. Death in 1892

STORY OF THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH