The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
And here is Mr. Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph
Construction and Maintenance Company, which has undertaken by contract
to manufacture this cable and lay it safely across the ocean; and Mr.
Gooch, chairman of the company that owns the Great Eastern--two
gentlemen to whom the Atlantic Telegraph is under the greatest
obligation, since it was they who, six months before, when the project
seemed in danger of being given up or postponed for years, took Mr.
Field by the hand, and cheered him on to a last effort. Blessings on
their hearts of oak! Mr. Gooch accompanies the ship, while Mr. Glass,
keeping Mr. Varley at his side as electrician, remains on shore, to
receive reports of the daily progress of the expedition, and to issue
his orders. What a post of observation was that telegraph house on the
cliffs of Valentia! It commanded a far broader horizon than the top of
Fiesolé, from which Galileo looked down on the valley of the Arno, and
up at the stars. Was there ever a naval commander favored with a power
of vision that could sweep the boundless sea? What would Nelson have
said, if he had had a spy-glass with which he could watch ships in
action two thousand miles away, and issue his orders to a fleet on the
other side of the ocean? With such a long range, he might almost have
fought the Battle of the Nile from his home in England.
Standing on such a spot, and surrounded by such men, representing the
capital, the science, and the skill of England, with all those gallant
ships in sight, one's heart might well beat high. But there were other
reflections that saddened the hour, and caused some at least to look
once more on the rocks of Valentia with deep emotion. Some of their old
companions-in-arms had fallen out of the ranks, while the battle was not
yet won. Brett, Mr. Field's first friend in England, was in his grave.
Beyond the Atlantic, Captains Hudson and Berryman slept the sleep that
knows no waking. They were not forgotten by their survivors, who mourned
that those who had toiled with them in former days, were not here to
share their triumph.
The feeling, therefore, of many on this occasion, was not one elate with
pride and hope, but subdued by serious thoughts and tender memories. In
harmony with this feeling, and with the great work which they were about
to undertake, it was proposed that before the expedition sailed they
should hold a solemn religious service.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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