Atlantic Telegraph.
In 1843 (Aug. 10),
Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse, who had endowed the electro-magnetic telegraph with intellectual power.
in a letter to the
Secretary of the Treasury of the
United States, remarked.
after alluding to recent experiments.
“The practical inference from this law is, that a telegraphic communication on my plan may, with certainty, be established across the
Atlantic.
Startling as this may
now seem, the time will come when this project will be realized.”
Almost eleven years afterwards an attempt was made to establish telegraphic communication between
America and
Europe by means of an insulated metallic cable under the sea.
Cyrus W. Field, a New York merchant, was applied to for aid in completing a land line of telegraph on the
Morse plan, then in the course of construction across
Newfoundland--about 400 miles. The question occurred to him, “Why not carry the line across the ocean?”
and with his usual pluck and energy he proceeded to the accomplishment
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of such an enterprise.
On March 10, 1854, five gentlemen met at the house of
Mr. Field, on
Gramercy Park, New York, and signed an agreement for an association called “The New York,
Newfoundland.
and London Telegraph Company.”
They obtained from the legislature of
Newfoundland a charter guaranteeing an exclusive right, for fifty years, to establish a telegraph from the
American continent to that island.
and thence to
Europe.
These gentlemen were
Peter Cooper,
Moses Taylor,
Marshall O. Roberts.
Chandler White, and
Cyrus W. Field. Twenty-five years afterwards.
all but one (
Mr. White) were living, and again met in the same room, and around the same table whereon that association was signed, with the same attorney of the association then engaged, David Dudley Field.
Mr. Cooper was chosen president of the company.
Mr. Field procured a cable in
England to span the waters between
Cape Ray and
Cape Breton Island.
It was sent out in 1855.
and was lost in an attempt to lay it. It was recovered, and was suceessfully laid in 1856.
The same year
Mr. Field organized in
London the Atlantic Telegraph Company to carry the line across the ocean.
Mr. Field subscribed for one-fourth of the stock of the company.
The American and British governments gave them aid in ships.
and during 1857 and 1858 expeditions were at sea, laying a cable across the ocean to
Valentia on the western coast of
Ireland.
Twice, in 1857, the attempt failed, but was successful the following year.
Two vessels, with portions of the cable.
met in mid-ocean.
July 28, 1858.
The portions were spliced.
and they sailed for
Ireland and
Newfoundland respectively.
and succeeded in laying a continuous line across the
Atlantic.
It was 1,950 miles in length, and traversed water two-thirds of the distance over 2 miles in depth.
These wonderful facts were communicated by
Mr. Field, by telegram, from
Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, on Aug. 5, 1858, and created intense interest all over the country.
The first public messages across the
Atlantic were transmitted, Aug. 16, 1858.
by Queen Victoria to
President Buchanan, and by him in an immediate reply.
in which they congratulated each other on the success of the enterprise by which the two countries were connected by such a mysterious tie. The
Queen hoped that it would “prove an additional link between the nations, whose friendship is founded upon their common interest and reciprocal esteem.”
To this the
President cordially responded, and asked: “Will not all nations of Christendom spontaneously unite in the declaration that it shall be forever neutral, and that its communications shall be held sacred in passing to their places of destination even in the midst of hostilities?”
Bonfires and illuminations throughout the
Union followed these communications.
The London
Times said (Aug. 6, 1858), “Since the discovery of
Columbus, nothing has been done in any degree comparable to the vast enlargement which has thus been given to the sphere of human activity.”
In a very short time the cable ceased to work, and it was pronounced a failure.
It was even intimated that the reputed despatches were only part of a huge fraud.
Mr. Field's faith never faltered, though discouragements that would have paralyzed the energies of most men were encountered.
He crossed the
Atlantic several times to resuscitate the company.
The cable had cost $1,256,250, and the expenses of the company up to Dec. 1, 1858, amounted to $1,834,500. The Civil War broke out in 1861, and it was not until 1865 that another expedition to lay a cable was fitted out. the
Great Eastern, then carried an improved cable.
While laying it, a sudden lurch of the ship snapped the line, and it was lost.
The company was discouraged.
Mr. Field went to
Thomas Brassey, a great and liberal English capitalist, and told him that the Atlantic Telegraph Company had suddenly come to a stand-still.
“
Mr. Field,” said
Mr. Brassey, “don't be discouraged: go down to the company and tell them to go ahead, and, whatever the cost.
I will bear one-tenth of the whole.”
That company and the “Telegraph construction and maintenance Company” joined in forming a new association known as the “Anglo-American Telegraph Company.”
with a capital of $3.000,000. Another cable was laid, and permanent electric communication between
Europe and
America was established July 27. 1866.
After twelve years of hard and anxious
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labor, during which time
Mr. Field crossed the ocean nearly fifty times, he saw the great work accomplished.
He had been nobly aided by men in
Europe and
America.
Congress voted him the thanks of the nation and a gold medal, while the
Prime Minister of
England declared that it was only the fact that he was a citizen of another country that prevented his receiving high honors from the
British government.
The glory of his achievement transcends all that man could bestow.
See
cables, Ocean. 
