The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
S. Canning, Engineer-in-Chief,
Telegraph Construction and Maintenance
Company.
James Anderson, Commander of the Great
Eastern.
Henry A. Moriarty, Staff Commander, R.
N.
Daniel Gooch, M.P., Chairman of "Great
Ship Co."
Henry Clifford, Engineer.
William Thomson, LL.D., F.R.S., Prof.
of Natural Philosophy in the
University of Glasgow.
Cromwell F. Varley, Consulting
Electrician Electric and International
Telegraph Co.
Willoughby Smith.
Jules Despecher.
This was a grand result to be attained in one short month; and if not
quite so gratifying as to have the cable laid at once, and the wire in
full operation, yet as it settled the chief elements of success, the
moral effect was next to that of an immediate triumph. All who were on
that voyage felt a confidence such as they had never felt before. They
came back, not desponding and discouraged, but buoyant with hope, and
ready at once to renew the attempt.
This confidence appeared at the first meeting of directors. The feeling
was very different from that after the return of the first expedition of
1858. So animated were they with hope, and so sure of success the next
time, that all felt that one cable was not enough, they must have two,
and so it was decided to take measures not only to raise the broken end
of the cable and to complete it to Newfoundland, but also to construct
and lay an entirely new one, so as to have a double line in operation
the following summer.
The contractors, partaking the general confidence, came forward promptly
with a new offer even more liberal than that made before. They proposed
to construct a new line, and to lay it across the Atlantic for half a
million sterling, which was estimated to be the actual cost to them,
reserving all compensation to themselves to depend on success. If
successful, they were to receive twenty per cent. on the cost, or one
hundred thousand pounds, to be paid in shares of the Company. They would
engage, also, to go to sea fully prepared to raise the broken end of the
cable now in mid-ocean, and with a sufficient length, including that on
board the Great Eastern, to complete the line to Newfoundland. Thus the
company would have two cables instead of one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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