The results of the last expedition, disastrous as they were from a financial point of view, in no wise abated the courage of the promoters of the enterprise. During the heaviest weather the Great Eastern had shown exceptional "stiffness," while her great size and her maneuvering power (afforded by the screw and paddles combined) seemed to show her to be the very type of vessel for this kind of work. The picking-up gear, it was true, had proved insufficient, but with the paying-out machinery no serious fault was to be found. The feasibility of grappling in mid-Atlantic had been demonstrated, and they had gone far toward proving the possibility of recovering the cable from similar depths. _Further Funds._--To overcome financial difficulties, the Atlantic Telegraph Company was amalgamated with a new concern, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, which was formed, mainly by those interested in the older business, with the object of raising fresh capital for the new and double ventures of 1866. The ultimate capital of this company amounted (as before) to £600,000. In raising this, Mr. Field first secured the support of the late Sir Daniel Gooch, M.P., then chairman, and previously locomotive superintendent of the Great Western Railway Company, who, after what he had seen on the previous expedition, promised, if necessary, to subscribe as much as £20,000. On the same conditions, Mr. Brassey expressed his willingness to bear one-tenth of the total cost of the undertaking. Ultimately, the Telegraph Construction Company led off with £100,000, this amount being followed by the signatures of ten directors interested in the contract (as guarantors) at £10,000 apiece. Then there were four subscriptions of £5,000, and some of £2,500 to £1,000, principally from firms participating in the subcontracts. These sums were all subscribed before even the prospectus was issued or the books opened to the public. The remaining capital then quickly followed. The Telegraph Construction Company, in undertaking the entire work, were to receive £500,000 for the new cable in any case; and, if it succeeded, an extra £100,000. If both cables came into successful operation, the total amount payable to them was to be £737,140. In fact, it was, if possible, even more of a contractor's enterprise than that of 1865. It was now proposed not only to lay a new cable between Ireland and Newfoundland, but also to repair and complete the one lying at the bottom of the sea. A length of 1,600 miles of cable was ordered from the contractors. Thus, with the unexpended cable from the last expedition, the total length available when the expedition started would be 2,730 miles, of which 1,960 miles were allotted to the new cable, and 697 to complete the old one, leaving 113 miles as a reserve.