The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
The voyage of the Great Eastern was ended. Twice had she been victorious
over the sea; twice had she laid the spoils of victory on the shores of
the New World, and her mission was accomplished. All on board, who had
been detained weeks beyond the expected time, were impatient to return;
and accordingly she prepared to sail the very next day on her homeward
voyage. The Medway, which had on board the cable for the Gulf of St.
Lawrence, remained two or three weeks longer, and with the Terrible,
whose gallant officers had volunteered for the service, successfully
accomplished that work. But the Great Eastern was bound for England, and
Mr. Field had now to part from his friends on board. It was a trying
moment. Rejoiced as he was at the successful termination of the voyage,
yet when he came to leave the ship, where he had spent so many anxious
days and weeks, both this year and the year before; and to part from
men to whom he was bound by the strong ties that unite those embarked in
a common enterprise--brave companions in arms--he could not repress a
feeling of sadness. It was with deep emotion that Captain Anderson took
him by the hand, as he said, "The time is come that we must part." As he
went over the side of the ship, the commander cried, "Give him three
cheers!" "And now three more for his family!" The ringing hurrahs of
that gallant crew were the last sounds he heard as he sunk back in the
boat that took him to the Medway, while the wheels of the Great Eastern
began to move, and the noble ship, with her noble company, bore away for
England.
Our story is told. We have followed the history of the Atlantic
Telegraph from the beginning to the end; from the hour that the idea
first occurred to its projector, turning over the globe in his library,
till the cable was stretched from continent to continent. Between these
two points of time many years have passed, and many struggles
intervened. Never did an enterprise pass through more vicissitudes;
never was courage tried by more reverses and disappointments, the
constant repetition of which gives to this narrative an almost painful
interest. Yet that background of disaster only sets in brighter relief
the spirit that bore up under all, the faith that never despaired, and
the patience that was never weary. It was a pathetic as well as heroic
story which Mr. Field had to tell when it was all over. He said:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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