26. H.M.S. Agamemnon in a Storm 96 27. The Agamemnon Storm: Coals Adrift 103 28. In Collision with a Whale while Cable-Laying 123 29. Landing the American End 133 30. Newfoundland Telegraph Station, 1858 135 31. Facsimile of the First Public News Message Received through the Atlantic Cable 150 32. The North Atlantic Telegraph Project, 1860 162 33. The North Atlantic Exploring Expedition, 1860 167 34. The Main Cable, 1865-'66 180 35. The Great Eastern at Sea 183 36. Cable and Machinery aboard S.S. Great Eastern 185 37. The Picking-up Machine, 1866 191 38. Buoys, Grapnels, Mushrooms--and Men 193 39. "Foul in Tank" while Paying-out 196 40. S.S. Great Eastern Completing the Second Atlantic Cable 199 41. Diagram Illustrative of the Final Tactics Adopted for Picking up the 1865 Cable 203 42. S.S. Great Eastern with 1865 Cable at Bows 205 43. Anglo-American Atlantic Cable (1894): deep-sea type 217 44. Shore-End of the 1894 "Anglo" Cable 217 45. Atlantic Cable Systems, 1903 221 PART I INTRODUCTORY The Electric Telegraph--First Land Telegraphs--First Submarine Cables: Dover to Calais, 1850-'51--Other Early Cables: England to Ireland, 1853, etc. _The Electric Telegraph._--The advances made in electric science are so bold and rapid that our still comparative ignorance of the precise nature of electricity must always seem strange. We are not, however, here directly concerned with electricity as a physical science, but rather with its practical applications to the still present system of telegraphy, by way of introduction to the gradual development of Trans-Atlantic telegraphy. The electric telegraph, together with the railway-train and the steamship, constitute the three most conspicuous features of latter-day civilization. Indeed, it may be truly said that the harnessing of this force of nature (electricity) to the service of man for human intercourse has effected a change in political, commercial, and social relations, even more complete than that wrought by steam locomotion. Like its fellow emblems, the telegraph was the outcome of many years of persevering effort on the part of numerous scientific investigators and inventors; like them also, it was perfected for practical use on both sides of the Atlantic by men of our own race and speech, such as Cooke, Wheatstone, and Morse.