Atlantic Cable

In July, 1856, the Government of the United States, at the request of Cyrus W. Field, sent Lieutenant Berry-man in the "Arctic" to run a line of deep-sea sounding along the path marked out on the map for the cable. This was done with Lieutenant Brooke's deep-sea sounding apparatus, and confirmed the existence of the "telegraph plateau." At the same time Mr. Field went to England and induced the British Government to send the "Cyclops," under Lieutenant-Commander Daymen, to run a similar line of soundings from Valentia, Ireland, which confirmed, in general, Lieutenant Berryman's results. The only exception to uniform depth was found two hundred miles off Ireland, where, within twelve miles, the depth sank from five hundred and fifty fathoms to seventeen hundred and fifty fathoms. The greatest depth on this plateau was two thousand fathoms, or twelve thousand feet. Meanwhile Mr. Field was in England carrying out the original design of the company by obtaining subscriptions, so as to enlarge its capital and include in one corporation the whole line from New York to London. Various companies set to work experimenting on cables. Professor Morse, by actual experiment, settled the practicability of telegraphing through the proposed Atlantic cable, and he enthusiastically calculated on sending, by a cable containing a single conducting wire, a twenty-word message in three minutes. The recommendations of other scientists soon obtained public confidence.

The English Government engaged to furnish ships for soundings, and to consider favorably requests for aid in laying the cable, and to pay pound 14,000 yearly, while the cable was in working order, for the conveyance of Government messages, to be reduced to pound 10,000 when the net profits of the company should give a dividend of 6 percent. Mr. Field returned to Washington to seek Government aid in the form of a subsidy. There was much opposition on political grounds, but the measure was championed by Seward, Douglas, and Rusk. The same privileges were asked as granted by England, $70,000 yearly for messages, and the use of naval vessels. After a hard fight the bill passed the Senate by a majority of one, and was signed by President Pierce on March 3, 1857, the day before he left office, when James Buchanan became President, 1857 to 1861. Mr. Field was made General Manager of the Atlantic Cable Telegraph Company. The first three attempts to lay the cable were unsuccessful, the cable breaking under strain. But the energetic perseverance of Professor Morse and Cyrus Field induced them to make a fourth attempt at once. On July 7th, 1858, the ships "Agamemnon" and "Niagara" sailed quietly out of the Cove of Cork, Queenstown. The cables were spliced in mid-ocean on July 29th. On August 5th the "Niagara" anchored in Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, and Mr. Field telegraphed the safe arrival of the cable to New York. On the same day the "Agamemnon" reached Valentia, Ireland, the former vessel having paid out 1030 miles and the latter 1020 miles of wire. The receipt of Mr. Field's dispatch caused intense excitement throughout the country. Congratulations came to him from the President, the Governor-General of Canada, from mayors, governors, and senators. On August 16th, 1858, the first message passed over the cable, between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan. On the next day there were salutes fired, and decorations and illuminations displayed in New York.

Mr. Field arrived on the 18th in the "Niagara," and on September 1st a grand ovation was tendered him, together with the officers of the expedition, by the city authorities. But even while these celebrations were in progress, and while directors on the other side were consulting in regard to opening the line for business, the cable stopped working, and public enthusiasm was succeeded by an equally profound reaction. Distrust and suspicion prevailed.

Little was done to further the Atlantic telegraph enterprise until 1861. An impetus was then given to the undertaking by the opening of overland telegraph communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of this country, and about this time cables were laid in the Mediterranean, Red Sea and Persian Gulf. In December of that year Mr. Field issued a circular letter calling the attention of capitalists to the Atlantic telegraph, and on May 1st, 1862, read a paper before the American Geographical Society on the same subject, pointing out the value a cable would have been in the "Trent" affair. In the autumn of the same year he went to England bearing a letter from Secretary Seward to Charles Francis Adams, the United States Minister. A definite offer to lay a cable was received from the firm of Glass, Elliott & Co., and the stockholders of the Atlantic Cable Company resolved to increase the capital by pound 600,000. Subscriptions were obtained in this country amounting to about $350,000. The contract was awarded to Glass, Elliott & Co., and with the expectation that the cable would be laid in 1864 Mr. Field sailed for home, where he was publicly thanked by the American shareholders "for his indefatigable exertions."

With all the improvements suggested by recent advances in science, work was begun at once upon a new cable weighing 300 pounds to the mile, as against 107 pounds, the weight per mile of the old cable. The "Great Eastern," the largest vessel afloat, was secured for the purpose of laying the cable, and Captain James Anderson, of the Cunard Line, engaged to command her. On July 15th the "Great Eastern" started for the Irish coast. The shore-end was taken to land on July 21st and 22d, not at Valentia, as before, but at Foilbummerum Bay. On July 23d the "Great Eastern" steamed westward. Two other vessels, the "Terrible" and "Sphinx," were in company. When 73 miles out a flaw was discovered, the "Great Eastern" turned about, picked up the cable, and a wire was found driven through it, afterwards discovered to have been done purposely. On the 29th another flaw was detected, the cable was picked up again, and spliced. On the 31st the cable on deck was examined, and another wire was found driven through it. This was afterwards ascertained to have been done by a man hired by a rival company, who, when arrested, confessed. On August 2d, when within 600 miles of Newfoundland, another flaw was discovered, and while attempting to pick up the cable a breeze caused the "Great Eastern" to drift over it, and the chafing caused it to break. Three times the cable was grappled and lifted hundreds of fathoms, but owing to the breaking of the grappling apparatus each attempt was unsuccessful, and the "Great Eastern" put back to Europe. To avoid legal difficulties a new company, the Anglo-American Telegraph, was organized with a capital of pound 600,000, which contracted with the Atlantic Company to manufacture and lay down a cable in the summer of 1866. The manufacture of another cable was begun at once, and 2400 miles of cable were taken on board the "Great Eastern" in May, 1866. This last attempt was successful, and Mr. Field's dispatch announcing the successful laying of the cable was received in New York July 29th, 1866. Thus, after ten years of toil, England and America were bound together by the electric cord. Mr. Field received numberless tokens of appreciation. Lord Derby addressed him a letter stating that the Queen desired to bestow British honors upon him, but his American citizenship made him unable to accept them.