The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
Such acknowledgments, constantly repeated, showed a mind incapable of
envy or jealousy; that was chiefly anxious to recognize the services of
others, and that they should receive from the public, both of England
and America, the honors which they had so nobly earned.
After two or three days' delay at St. John's, which the Niagara was
obliged to make for coal, but which the people spent in festivity and
rejoicing, she left for New York, where she arrived on the
eighteenth--two weeks from the landing of the cable in Trinity Bay.
These had been weeks of great excitement, yet not unmingled with
suspense and anxiety. The public, eager for news, devoured every thing
that concerned the telegraph with impatience, but all was not
satisfactory. Despatches from Trinity Bay said that signals were
continually passing over the cable, yet no news reached the public from
the other side of the Atlantic. This was partially explained by a
message from Mr. Field, sent from Trinity Bay to the Associated Press as
early as the seventh:
"We landed here in the woods, and until the telegraph
instruments are perfectly adjusted, no communications can pass
between the two continents; but the electric currents are
received freely.
"You shall have the earliest intimation when all is ready, but
it may be some days before every thing is perfected. The first
through message between Europe and America will be from the
Queen of Great Britain to the President of the United States,
and the second his reply."
But as the public grew impatient, and friends sent anxious inquiring
messages, he telegraphed again from St. John's on the eleventh:
"Before I left London, the Directors of the Atlantic Telegraph
Company decided unanimously that, after the cable was laid, and
the Queen's and President's messages transmitted, the line
should be kept for several weeks for the sole use of Dr.
Whitehouse, Professor Thomson, and other electricians, to
enable them to test thoroughly their several modes of
telegraphing, so that the Directors might decide which was the
best and most rapid method for future use: for it was
considered that after the line should be once thrown open for
business, it would be very difficult to obtain it for
experimental purposes, even for a short time.
"Due notice will be given when the line will be ready for
business, and the tariff of prices."
Still the public were not satisfied, and many were beginning to doubt,
when, on the sixteenth, it was suddenly announced that the Queen's
message was received. It was as follows:--
"_To the President of the United States, Washington_:
"The Queen desires to congratulate the President upon the
successful completion of this great international work, in
which the Queen has taken the deepest interest.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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