The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
In London he sought at once Mr. Brett, with whom in his two former
visits to England he had already discussed his project, and found in him
a hearty coöperator. As we go on with our story, it is a melancholy
satisfaction to refer to one and another worker in this enterprise, who
lived not to see its last and greatest triumph. Mr. Brett, like
Berryman, is dead. But he did not go to his grave till after a life of
usefulness and honor. He was one of the men of the new era--of the
school of Stephenson and Brunel--who believed in the marvellous
achievements yet to be wrought by human invention, turning to the
service of man the wonders of scientific discovery. He was one of the
first to see the boundless possibilities of the telegraph, and to
believe that what had passed over the land might pass under the sea. He
was the first to lay a cable across the British Channel, and thus to
bring into instantaneous communication the two great capitals of
Europe--an achievement which, though small compared with what has since
been done, was then so marvellous, that the intelligence of its success
was received with surprise and incredulity. Many could not and would
not believe it. Even after messages were received in London from Paris,
there were those who declared that it was an imposition on the public,
with as much proud scorn as some a few years later scouted the very idea
that a message had ever passed over the Atlantic Telegraph!
This friendship of Mr. Brett--both to the enterprise and to Mr. Field
personally--remained to the last. In every voyage to England the latter
found--however others doubted or despaired--that Mr. Brett was always
the same--full of hope and confidence. In 1864, when they met in London,
he was unshaken in faith, and urgent to have the great enterprise
renewed. The triumph was not far off, but he was not to live to see it.
But, though he passed away before the final victory, he did his part
toward bringing it on, and no history of this great enterprise can
overlook his eminent services.
To Mr. Brett, therefore, Mr. Field went first to consult in regard to
his project of a telegraph across the ocean. This was a part of the
design embraced in the original organization of the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company; and when Mr. Field went to
England, he was empowered to receive subscriptions to that Company, so
as to enlarge its capital, and thus include in one corporation the whole
line from New York to London; or to organize a new company, which
should lay a cable across the Atlantic, and there join the Newfoundland
line.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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